{"id":105378,"date":"2022-12-09T08:27:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T08:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=105378"},"modified":"2022-12-09T08:29:13","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T08:29:13","slug":"sri-lankas-first-international-cricket-half-century-by-vinod-moonesinghe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/sri-lankas-first-international-cricket-half-century-by-vinod-moonesinghe\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka\u2019s First International Cricket Half-Century – By Vinod Moonesinghe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sri Lanka\u2019s First International Cricket Half-Century – By Vinod Moonesinghe<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Source :\u00a0roar.media<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sri<\/p>\n

\"Sri
Don Bradman receives a souvenir from \u201cthe Wisden of the East\u201d, S.P. Foenander, Sports Editor, Ceylon Observer, October 1930. Image courtesy State Library of South Australia<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On 5 September 1832, a\u00a0notice appearing in the\u00a0Colombo Journal<\/i><\/a>\u00a0inviting \u201cgentlemen who may be inclined towards forming a Cricket Club\u201d to attend a meeting at the Colombo Library three days later, resulted in the formation of the Colombo Cricket Club (C.C.C.). Shortly after, the first recorded cricket match in Sri Lanka took place between the C.C.C. and the British\u00a097th Regiment of Foot<\/a>\u00a0(now the Princess of Wales\u2019s Royal Regiment), on the Rifle Green in Slave Island. The C.C.C. faded away afterward, but revived in 1863.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ethnic Cricket<\/span><\/h3>\n

The players on both sides were all White British\u2014in fact, the C.C.C. remained European-only until 1962. British planters formed the Radella Club (officially Dimbula Athletic and Cricket Club) in 1856, and the Darawella Club (Dickoya Maskeliya Cricket Club) in 1868\u2014which year saw the first Dimbulla-Dickoya cricket encounter. Other, all-European outstations clubs, such as the Athletics, Boating, Cricket, and Dancing (A.B.C.D.) Club\u2014now the Kandy Sports Club\u2014followed.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the locals began to pick up the game after its\u00a0introduction<\/a>\u00a0at the Colombo Academy (now Royal College) in 1838. In 1879, the first inter-school cricket match between the Colombo Academy and St. Thomas\u2019 College inaugurated the second longest uninterrupted school cricket series in the world:\u00a0the Royal-Thomian<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Galle Face Cricket Ground HW Cave; Caption: Galle Face Cricket Ground, from H.W. Cave\u2019s Book of Ceylon <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, non-European clubs began to be formed mainly on ethnic lines. The Malay soldiers of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment, quartered next to the Rifle Green, came to love the sport through watching the British playing it. They formed the Malay Sports Club in 1872, on a corner of the Green. The (mainly Burgher) Colombo Colts followed the next year; their ground, the \u201cRacquet Court\u201d, came to be known as \u201cthe cradle of Ceylonese cricket\u201d. The Singhalese Sports Club (S.S.C.) and Tamil Union followed in 1899; Moors\u2019 in 1908; and the refreshingly non-ethnic Nondescripts (N.C.C.), open to all Sri Lankans, in 1891.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ashes Teams<\/span><\/h3>\n

England\u2019s defeat by the Australians in 1882 led to the fixtures against Australia being dubbed \u201cAshes\u201d tests, from the \u201cashes\u201d of the England team. Within a fortnight of that defeat, an England team led by Ivo Bligh set out for Australia to \u201cregain the ashes\u201d. They stopped in Colombo on 13 October and played a two-day game against C.C.C.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the 19th century, inexperienced teams commonly fielded more players, in so-called \u201codds\u201d games. In this match, in which Bligh, being unwell, could not take part, the England Eleven faced 18 C.C.C. players. C.C.C. scored 92 and 16 for 7, the visitors replying with 155 for a draw. This, Sri Lanka\u2019s first game against an overseas side, inaugurated a tradition of Ashes teams stopping over in Colombo to play local teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ivo Bligh\u2019s Ashes squad, from the Australasian. Image courtesy Wikipedia <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unofficial tests<\/span><\/h3>\n

In April 1884, the Australian Ashes team, led by Billy Murdoch, arrived in Colombo. After a tour of the sights, including a visit to the exiled \u201cdisturber of Egypt\u201d, Arabi Pasha, the team\u00a0played an odds game<\/a>\u00a0against Colombo on Galle Face Green, watched by<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cbetween 4000 and 5000 persons, white and black, well dressed, half dressed and some boasting the sole adornment of a cloth round the loins\u2026 Large numbers of the military were interspersed through the crowd, their snow white uniform forming a grateful contrast to the glaring red and yellow affected by the natives\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1889, G.F. Vernon led an all-amateur England team which toured the subcontinent, the first to visit India. The team played the first ever \u201cunofficial test\u201d against an (all-European) All-Ceylon team in Kandy. In reply to All-Ceylon\u2019s 155, the visitors scored 234 for 8, anchored by Vernon\u2019s 105 not out. Thereafter, all international matches played by the Sri Lanka team until 1981 were to be \u201cunofficial tests\u201d. England teams playing All-Ceylon were labeled M.C.C. (for Marylebone Cricket Club), reflecting the \u201cunofficial\u201d status of the tests they played.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Billy Murdoch keeping wicket. Image courtesy State Library of Victoria <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

W.G. Grace<\/span><\/h3>\n

Cricket was evolving slowly into an expression of national (as opposed to ethnic) pride, as Sri Lankans became more confident at the wicket. In 1887\u00a0an annual fixture<\/a>\u00a0began, lasting until 1933, in which the \u201cEuropeans\u201d played the \u201cCeylonese\u201d, the latter being more often victorious. This led to the progressive indigenisation of the All-Ceylon team.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the Australians returned in 1890, they faced a team which, for the first time, had equal numbers and also included Burghers, so they faced Asians for the first time ever.\u00a0Playing in front of 6,000 spectators<\/a>\u00a0on Galle Face Green, the Australians piled on 187 runs, and the locals replied with 95. As usual at the time, the Australian team was not at full strength, so the numbers were made up of the passengers and crew of their ship.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next year, W.G. Grace\u2019s England XI took the field against an All-Ceylon XVIII. Facing Tommy Kelaart, Grace, with 14 runs under his belt, hit his own wicket and left the crease, despite the umpire ruling him not out\u2014the only time he ever did so<\/a>. Kelaart, considered Sri Lanka\u2019s best-ever left-arm spin bowler, went on to take over 2,000 wickets in a career spanning 36 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1894 the M.C.C. XI led by Andrew Stoddart played a test in Colombo in 1894, being remarkable because a local player, Alan Raffel, clean bowled ten players, including Stoddart, with a tally for the match of 14 for 97. It was also the last M.C.C. match on the island for 14 years: although the England Ashes team did visit the island, they did not play any matches. Similarly, following an Australian match in 1896, an 11-year hiatus occurred in tours by antipodean teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tommy Kelaart, from P Bartholemewsz\u2019 Ceylon\u2019s Champion Bowler \u2013 A Sketch of Tommy Kelart <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

India, the Straits, and Boers<\/span><\/h3>\n

Sri Lankan cricketers filled the vacuum by playing regional neighbours. The\u00a0first Sri Lankan tour of India<\/a>\u00a0took place in 1884, to Kolkata, the first ever international match in India. The next year the team visited Bangalore and in 1886-87 toured Mumbai, Agra, and Peshawar. These Sri Lankan teams were European. In 1890, a Sri Lankan team (including two Burghers) toured the Straits Settlement (as Malaysia and Singapore were known then). In turn, Sri Lanka hosted teams from the Straits, Mumbai, and Madras. In 1903, two Sri Lankans, Tommy Kelaart and Douglas de Saram, were selected to represent India in a tour of England, which unfortunately proved abortive, for want of funds.The first all-indigenous team toured Mumbai in 1906, winning three of six matches and drawing the rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

The over 5,000 Boer War prisoners held in Sri Lanka, also helped fill the gap, playing a game against\u00a0the Colts<\/a>\u00a0in Colombo, and\u00a0an odds game<\/a>\u00a0against a local XVIII at Diyatalawa. These were the first matches ever played in the subcontinent by South Africans.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Boer team poses with the Colts <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Racial Storm<\/span><\/h3>\n

When matches against Ashes teams resumed in 1908, the six professional members of the England team (including Jack Hobbs) refused to play All-Ceylon without payment of \u00a310 each. The C.C.C., which organised the match refused to pay, so the amateurs cobbled together a team which played an indigenous one.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Australians touring the next year also demanded payment, which the C.C.C. refused, so the S.S.C. organised a gate and paid them \u00a310 each. Consequently the European cricketers refused to play, which in turn resulted in a non-European team beating the Australians in two games, the first time All-Ceylon had won against Australia. This caused a racial storm,\u00a0the London\u00a0Truth\u00a0<\/i><\/a>calling it \u201ca degrading match against a purely native team, which degraded the white man in the native\u2019s eyes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the next few years, these racial tensions simmering below the surface boiled to the top, \u00a0exacerbated by the \u201cWhite Australia\u201d policy. In 1913, a Sri Lankan doctor, Christian Victor Aserappa, working as ship\u2019s doctor on the\u00a0Orontes<\/i>, was discontinued on the ship\u2019s arrival in Fremantle following protests in the Australian Parliament. This caused an outcry against the \u201cWhite Australia\u201d policy, spilling over to include the tour by Rev. Mick Waddy\u2019s New South Wales team in 1913-14, the first dedicated tour of Sri Lanka by an Australian team. Two important cricketing brothers, Douglas and Eric de Saram, boycotted the series.<\/span><\/p>\n

Returning to Australia, one of the cricketers, William Cameron,\u00a0hinted at racial tensions<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe colour, caste, or class line is, however, very sharply drawn. One or two members of the team \u2018fell in\u2019 rather badly over some indiscreet, or unguarded remarks at the expense of the \u2018niggers\u2019, as they termed them\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Locals watching cricket at Galle Face, from H.W. Cave\u2019s Book of Ceylon <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bodyline<\/span><\/h3>\n

Another hiatus occurred during the First World War, but international tours resumed in the 1920s. The Australian Ashes team\u2019s visit in 1930 stands out, being the first played by Don Bradman outside Australia. He wrote later:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe cricket enclosure was a pleasant surprise; it was an excellent ground, and a big<\/span><\/p>\n

crowd turned out to paint a picture of many colours. The people were most enthusiastic, and they had infinitely more than a nodding acquaintance with the game\u2026 The standard of play was appreciably higher than I had expected.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He complained of the awkwardness of the\u00a0solar topee<\/a>\u00a0(Sinhala:\u00a0gal thoppiya<\/i>) he wore, considered\u00a0de rigueur\u00a0<\/i>for European cricketers at the time. In a rain-interrupted match, Bradman was out, hit-wicket to Neil Joseph for 40, one of only two such dismissals in his career.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two years later, Douglas Jardine visited Colombo with his England team on the famous \u201cBodyline\u201d series against Australia. At the S.S.C. Grounds, W.T. Brindley, later Inspector General of Police, anchored All-Ceylon innings of 125 for 3, when the local team declared to allow the crowd of 10,000 see the visitors bat. Jardine did not use his \u201csecret weapon\u201d, the bowler Harold Larwood, although the latter did bat. The Nawab of Pataudi, who batted for three hours, top-scoring for England in the drawn game, with 62 out of 186 for 7, described it as the most interesting innings he had ever played.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The \u201cBodyline\u201d team. Pataudi is third from the left and Larwood, third from the right, back row; Warner is extreme left, middle row; and Jardine, centre, front row. Image courtesy Wikipedia<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Later that year, All-Ceylon embarked on their first unofficial test series against India, nearly winning the first game at Lahore in December. It was a fitting climax to a century of cricket and a half-century of international cricket, but it would be a further half-century before Sri Lanka received test status.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n