Super weekend at Maitland Crescent

Last weekend was a momentous occasion for the Colombo Gymkhana Club under whose ageis is the Colombo Cricket Club (CCC), the Colombo and Hockey Football Club (CH&FC) and the Queen’s Club. The CCC won the plum of Sri Lanka’s domestic cricket when they finished on top of the Premier League Super Eight standings to win the title for the sixth time in their history. It was after a lapse of 12 years that they have won the country’s major domestic crown. The last occasion they won was in 2006-07 under the captaincy of slow left-arm bowler Nishitha Rupasinghe.

The other previous occasions were in 1995/96 under the captaincy of Jerome Jayaratne, 1987/88 under Owen Mottau, 1984/85 under Roger Wijesuriya and 1979/80 the first time they laid their hands on the country’s cricket coveted title under the inspired leadership of former Sri Lanka captain Michael Tissera.

To top up an eventful weekend for the Maitland Crescent club their rugby XV CH&FC pulled off a stunning 40-33 points win over ‘A’ division league table leaders Havelock SC. It was the CH&FC’s eighth successive win in the league. Their golden run started from their 34-26 defeat of the Air Force in the first round. They are currently no. 3 in the league standings behind Havelock SC and Kandy SC, a position they have held since beating CR&FC 33/5 in the second round. With only one weekend of matches left in the league and ten points separating them from the leaders the highest position CH&FC can attain is third even if they win their final league match of the season against Army SC. However with a new system operative from this season CH&FC who are led by Yoshitha Rajapaksa by finishing third will qualify for the Cup Super Round where the top four ranked clubs compete. Having beaten both Kandy and Havelocks in the second round CH&FC could be in contention to win the league this year if they can take their current form into the Cup Super Round. Overall when you look at it, it’s one helluva achievement for a club that finished fourth last season (2017/18) and had gone through two entire seasons (2016/17 and 2015/16) without a single win. They have also been deprived of home advantage as the ground is being used for cricket and they play all their matches at the Racecourse Stadium.

Coming back to the cricket CCC this season had a star studded side with no less than eight national caps in their ranks – Lakshan Sandakan, Malinda Pushpakumara, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Gamage, Dilshan Munaweera, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Madushanka and skipper Ashan Priyanjan. Left-arm spinner Pushpakumara finished as the leading wicket-taker of the season with 63 wickets (avg. 20.98) and this haul included a unique bowling performance where he captured all ten Saracens SC wickets in the second innings to become only the second Sri Lankan bowler to achieve the feat in first-class cricket after former Sri Lanka and SSC fast bowler Pramodya Wickremasinghe. Apart from Pushpakumara’s heroics CCC owe their success to an all-round contribution from the rest of the team with Priyanjan proving to be a capable leader having captained his country in the 2008 Youth World Cup and also Sri Lanka ‘A’ and Board team’s against visiting sides. Picked regularly in the ODI team Priyanjan has to compete for a middle order place with several others. He holds the record for the highest ever score made by a Lankan in an ODI debut by scoring 74 against Pakistan at Abu Dhabi on Christmas Day in 2013.

Shammi Silva the chairman of Colombo Gymkhana Club who was also chairman when CCC last won the title in 2006-07 said: “In previous years also we came quite close to winning but we lost vital matches. We have worked hard and planned that’s how we have won it this time. It’s not easy to win the championship because the competition amongst clubs is very high. The team has improved since Nalin Aponso (formerly of Sri Lanka Ports Authority) joined as our cricket convener. Last year we won the fifty overs tournament and somebody went to courts and they played a district tournament and the Colombo district side that took part was our team.”

On the rugby front Silva said: “We are any way a multi sports club unlike other clubs even at rugby we are doing really well. We were down but we are coming up. Thanks to the Rajapaksa boys Namal, Rohitha and Yositha it is very well organized. They are the ones who are handling rugby with the club secretary Major Tanesh Dias.”

“Our chances of winning the title is very good. We would have been on top of the table if we didn’t lose by one point to Havelocks and to CR&FC in the first round. We were unlucky in the first round but they have got over that disappointment and are playing really well in the second round.”

However playing rugby during the cricket season has deprived the players of home advantage and also loss of revenue from the gates.

“We are the only club playing rugby and cricket in this country at top level. The foreigners who ran sports in the early days had a reason for separating the seasons. They had done it with a purpose but SLR has brought cricket and rugby together which is depriving many sportsmen from playing both sports. In those days people like Ashantha de Mel, Jagath Fernando and Chandrishan Perera played cricket as well as rugby for the club sides. Now they can’t play even for the school because the seasons are the same. We can’t play rugby at home because it affects our cricket pitches,” said Silva.

“We also lose revenue on good rugby matches by playing at Racecourse. It is an open area and we can sell tickets only for the pavilion. We lose about Rs. 2-3 million each season easily. If we play our matches at Maitland Crescent we can make a profit with our ticket and bar sales. At Racecourse the people watch the match and go home. When you are playing at home your loyalty will be there towards the club and the players will be very comfortable.”

Silva proudly stated that the club was on a sound financial footing and that’s why they have been able to spend a lot of money towards sports. “Sometime back our financial situation was not good but now we have improved because of that we are able to pump a lot of money to sports, our hockey is also doing very well. Rugby we spend about Rs. 40 million for a season and for cricket around Rs. 20 million. Most of the clubs today are struggling to do well financially but we saw this ahead of time and took appropriate steps and put plans in place and we are okay.”

The cricketers have done their part and now its upto the rugby players to bring the coveted Dialog league title to Maitland Crescent after 2000 when they became the first winners of the Caltex Rugby League under the captaincy of Nazim Mohammed with 12 wins out of 14 matches.