Three generations who nurtured Asgiriya grounds

 The Asgiriya turf with the scenic beauty with the hard work of the three groundsmen through- out the years. ( Pics. By Upananda Jayasundera-Kandy Sports spl.Corrs)

Trinity College, Kandy has been playing Cricket at the Asgiriya Stadium for the last century or so. Asgiriya has a turf strip and playing on this turf strip has brought memorable moments to the Trinitians.

A turf wicket needs the loving care of groundsmen who have learnt the ‘A’B’C’ of wicket preparations for a long time. A turf wicket has to be looked after by the grounds-man as a child needs the care of the mother. There are no short-cuts about getting turf wickets ready for cricket matches, as ill-prepared turf strips can turn out to be dangerous and they also can ruin the smooth conduct of the match.

Trinity, however, had the good fortune of having had three generations of ‘experts’ as groundsmen. T.G.Marthelis Appuhamy was at Trinity as groundsman from 1914 to 1964, his Son, T.G.Wickremapala was there from 1964 to 1998 and Wickremapala’s Son. T.G.Nimal, the third generation who had been training under his father, is presently in charge of the Asgiriya International Stadium, Kandy 1976 up to date.

The ‘father’ of the Turf, Marthelis did not get an opportunity to see the Asgiriya Cricket Grounds becoming an International Stadium in early ‘eighties’ but his Son and Grandson were fortunate to serve as ground boys when Sri Lanka was given Test Status when an Old Boy of Trinity, Gamini Dissanayake was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka.

 

Share on Google Plus

About Unknown

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Featured Post

Raveen and Pawan guide SL U19 to series win

Raveen de Silva made a fine all round performance while Pawan Pathiraja hit superb knock of 60 as Sri Lanka under 19’s recorded a co...

Blogger news