1876-1900
1901-1951
1951-2001
1955 - Openning day of the pavillion
1876-1900
This period saw the participation of the G.C.C with other cricket clubs-Colombo Cricket Club, Colombo Colts Club, Malay Cricket Club, Mc Cleand s XI, Royal Dublin Fuisters. The adminstrative responsibilities of the G.C.C. soon fell into the hands of the members interested in these games. George Vanderspar’s contribution in the administration of the club is fondly remembered even today.
In the 1879, G.C.C. vs. Mc Cleand’s encounter, Vanderspar and G.S. Saxton playing for the G.C.C. set up a first wicket partnership record of 250 runs, scoring 120 and 123 runs respectively and this record lasted 76 years till 1952.
During the period 1876-1900, the G.C.C. had three fixtures with the Colombo Colts Club, who won two and the third was an indecisive draw. In the 1893 match Colts C.C. vs the G.C.C. suffered a hopeless defeat after scoring 29 and 49 runs in the first and second innings respectively. A stalwart crickter, Percy Mack, in one of his “hits” from the clock tower end made the ball pass well over the boundary line to reach the then Police Superintendent’s residence. In like manner, J. W. Erskine, batting from the pavilion end, saw the ball spear-heading over the “Sight Screen” and bounce on the ramparts . This is recorded as the most powerful sixer in the cricket history of the Club. In 1896, J.W. Erskine who captained the G.C.C team against Royal Dublin Fuisters, holds the record of scoring the first century on the Galle Cricket Club grounds.
In the match of G.C.C. with Malays of Galle team, the G.C.C. were victors by 17 runs and in the 1897 fixture, the G.C.C. lost to the Malay Cricket Club team by ten wickets. J.G.de Silva (G.C.C.), however had 07 wickets in this game.
In 1893 J. W. Erskine won the Ceylon Golf Championship and he repeated the performance in 1895 too.
1901-1950
“Hand Book of Ceylon Cricket” (1901-first Issue) mentions that G.C.C. was Judged to the 7th place among the other sports clubs, having participated in 5 games and winning 2 of them. “The Hand Book of Ceylon Cricket and Other Field Sports” (1902-first issue) records that of the 12 sports clubs. the first place goes to the Colombo Colts Club while Galle Cricket Club is placed second.
On March 11,1902 the G.C.C. emerged victorious by an innings in the match played at Elpitiya against the South African Borah prisoners of war In 1921 W.T playing for the Colombo Cricket Club against the Galle Cricket Club, holds the record of capturing 4 wickets in four consecutive balls A. Hettiarachchi represented the G.C.C. the team of The Ceylones. In 1924, a student of Richmond College, Galle R.M.M. de Silva representing the G.C C.scored 111 runs against the S.S.C. team. In 1925 according to a classification by the Ceylon F.C. Club, R M.M.de Silva was in the forefront having taken 56 wickets for 88 runs. The same years saw E. Wijetilake of the G C.C., in the match against Colts C C., bagging 9 wickets for 35 runs in the first innings and 6 wickets for 45 runs in the second. B.E. Austin (G.C.C.) a classy batsman as well as a bowler. represented the Ceylon team against the Europeans in 1927.
D.A. Abeysekera was another skilful player In the match G.C.C. vs Colts C.C. (1925) while scoring 61 runs. he had 8 wickets for 35 runs. The B.R.C vs G.C.C. (1925) saw young Abeysekera scoring 84 runs and taking 5 wickets for 14 runs. In this match the entire B.R.C team was caught out. In the match G.C.C. vs. Colts C.C. played in Galle (1926) his score was 98 runs and 3 wickets for 19 runs. B.de Krester (Colts C.C.) had an outstanding performance of 10 wickets for 28 runs in 14 overs, 4 being maidens. Abeysekera, as a student had a creditable performance of 98 runs with 9 sixers and 8 boundaries in 35 minuts in the 1925 B.R.C. vs G C.C. match. Although most players of B R.C. represented “The Ceylonese” team. the G.C.C. secured an easy victory by scoring 212 runs.
Another important cricket fixture was in 1920 on October 20, G.C.C. vs Dr Rockwoods XI. Dr. Rockwood led the guest team and E.M. Karunarathna the home team The guest team which had very skilful and capable players, was dismissed for 14 and 55 runs in the first and second innings. The G.C.C. scored a massive total of 280 runs in the first innings and forced a victory of an innings and 211 runs.
In 1927 the Colts C.C. vs G.C.C. match witnessed B. de Krester of the Colts dismissing the opposing team for 28 runs. (10 wkts for 28 runs)
In 1934 E.M. Karunarathna captained Galle C.C. in a match against the M.C.C. which included D.R. Jardine, exponent of body line bowling International matches became a feature of cricket in Galle and some of the notable foreign teams that played here were the Indian Universities Occasienals (cap: S. wazir), New Zealand (In a one day fixture in 1937) All India (Capt. Vijay Merchant). The West Indies (capt: J.D. Ceddard, which had in the team the three Ws-Weeks. Worrell, and Walcott). They created a new Ground Record – 435 runs for 9 wkts on the fifth day of play in 300 minutes. Other teams were the Madras Cricket Association C.C., a team from Hongkong, the Holkar state side Pakistan (capt. Inticam Alam) and the Derrick Robin’s xi (1977). Names like Mustaq Ali, Vankaraganan also associated with on the Galle esplande.
In 1936 the Colts C.C. vs G.C.C., encouter, K. C. Tennyson had a match bag of 7 wickets for 14 runs, taking 3 consecutive wickets for the first time.
In 1938 in the Daily News Trophy Series, G.C.C. defeated the S.S.C. team.
E.M. Karunaratna had a 10 year long tenure of office as the President of the G.C.C. (1946-47, 1949, 1951-54 and 1963-65). He captained the Galle Cricket Club team from 1922-1945 and again in 1948. He adorned the Presidentship of the Ceylon Cricket Association from 1933-1934. Simon Wijeratne was the Secretary for 20 years.
1951-2001
The most significant event of this period was decision of the G.C.C. to put up its own pavillion. The G.C.C. organized a lottery and collected Rs.60000/-. The Galle Gymkhana Club on the principle of donating one rupee to every rupee that was collected by the G.C.C., funded Rs 60000/- With the additional contributions by the members, the completed G.C.C. pavilion was declared open by the then minister of Food and Agriculture, Hon. J.R. Jayewardena on 18 th Sep. 1955. The credits of this exercisegoes to Dhanapala Hawa who spared no pains to see this plan through.
George Fonseka Served the as its Cricket Captain for over 16 years horn 1963-1965. and as joint captain with Upali Delpachitra – 1974-1977, and with Tissa Dias – 1978 – 1979.
In the history of the G.C.C. in 1963, the “Daily News Trophy” was won for the first time by the Club’s team, captained by George Fonseka. Another notable achievement in the history of Sri Lanka’s Club history, was R.L.Hewa representing the club, recording the second fastest double century against the Chilaw C.C. in 1972. Range Hewa scored 223 runs not out with 14 sixers and 27 boundaries against Chilaw C.C. In the match against Aquinas he had to his credit 73 runs in 33 minutes, with 5 sixers in a single over and also he had a record of taking 4 wickets for 15 runs in the same series (1975).
In this period, D.L.S. de Silva was a another famous cricketer who has played for this club. But unfortunatley he met with a motor cycle accident at the age of 24, and his untimely death deprived Sri Lanka, one of her bright young stars. He was a right arm fast medium bowler and batted right hand and was a safe fieldsman. He played in 1975-76 for G.C.C.in Donovan Andree Trophy Tournament. In 1975, he played for southern Province under 19 team against Pakistan under 19-team. And then, he toured Pakistan with Sri Lankan under 19 team in 1976. The very same year-1976-he played for Sri Lanka Board President xi vs. Pakistan at Galle In 1977, he representened the Sri Lanka Board President xi vs Derick Robins xi at Galle. In 1979, he played for Sri Lanka Board President xi vs West Indians at Galle, and Sri Lanka vs West Indians in Colombo, and Sri Lanka vs Pakistan in Colombo, same year The last match he played for the country, is in 1979, he toured U.K. with Sri Lanka Presidential world cup team.
In the Donovan Andree Trophy, the G.C.C. was the runner up in 1975. In 1976 G.C.C. qualified itself to play in the P. Saravanamuttu A Group series. In 1979 the G C.C. established a Sri Lankan record of scoring 160 runs for the 9th wicket partnership. This was by V. Wicramasinghe (100x) and G. Pitigala (60x)against the University of Peradeniya in the P. Saravanamuttu series of matches.
“George” Aackman served as a ground boy for 55 years and passed away on 4th January 1977.
In 1980 the prestigious “Daily News Trophy” was won by the G.C.C. for the second time and the Captains were George Fonseka and Upali Delpachitra.
Thereafter the most outstanding and versatile cricketer of the club was Jayananda Warnaweera. In the “Lakspray” series in 1985,Jayananda estalished a Sri Lanka record of collecting 121 wickets for 1507 runs. In the first unofficial test encounter, Sri Lanka vs England B Team. Jayananda had 9 wickets for 125 runs. Jayananda Warnaweera was judged “Man of the Match”. The first official Test in which Jayananda participated for Sri Lanka was Sri Lanka vs Pakistan test match at Asgiriya, Kandy, on 24th February 1986. In this match Jayananda obtained the first wicket. Very unfortunately after bowling 45 deliveries, he had to withdraw himself from the match due to an unexpected mishap.
In the 1987-1988 Lakspray Series of matches. Jayananda representing the G.C.C. bagged 11 wickets for 139 runs against the Sri Lanka Air Force Team. In the same year he was successful in getting 8 wickets for 44 runs in a single innings in match aganist Bloomfield Sports Club. The 1990 Lakspray Series saw him getting 12 wickets for 42 runs against the Sri Lanka Air Force Team. A special feature of this game was the fall of 3 wickets for 3 consecutive balls.
With the awarding of Test Status in Cricket to Sri Lanka, Galle Cricket grounds is the 57th International Test Cricket field. The first International Test fixture was between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, on 9th March 1998. Sri Lanka won this Test game.
The other interesting indoor sports is Billiard, the older members spend their leisure time playing Billiards and enjoying a glass of Beer in in the Affternoon.
The Administration Committee of Galle Cricket Club is doing a magnificent keep the Club and the sports on the track. When the G C C was in the deepest crisis (1996), former President Air Cdre Ravi Aruthavanathan (1996-14.10.2001), took. all responsibiiities to his shoulders to keep the Club on the real track without any hesitation. the General Committee consists with Mr. Jayantha Dharmadasa (Hony.President from 14.10.2001). Hony. Vice President Mr Sarath Kahaduwarachchi, Mr.G.K.C.D. Wijethilaka(Hony. General Secretary),Mr.Shanthilal Abeygoonwardana(Hony.Tresurer), Mr.Athula Wijesinghe (Hony.Asst.Secretary) Mr. Darsin de Silva (Hony Bar secretary), Mr. K.P.S. Wamweera (Hony. Pavilion secretary), Mr. L. Samarasinghe (Hony Billiard Secretary) Mr. C.K. Hewamanna (Hony. Ground secretary), Mr. Hiran Gunsekara (Hony. Cricket Secretary) and the committee members are Mr. N.D. Jayasundara, Mr. Shashi Welgama, Mr. Palitha Bandusiri de Silva and Mr. A.H.H. Devinda Fernando.
In the evenings, those in the balcony of the pavilion feast their eyes not only on the matches but also on the antics of courting couples seated on the grass on the ramparts of the old Dutch Fort, some of them using open umbrellas as a cover. At sunset, with a glass of beer . hand, any environmentalist surveying the scene in front of him will wonder whether there is any other place on this planet that will provide such opportunities to lovers of nature!.
1955 – Openning day of the pavillion
At Galle, on Sunday next, a new pavilion of the Town Cricket Club will be declared open and it seems most appropriate now that I should give a brief story of the activities of the club that began eighty years ago.
In fact Galle takes rank with Colombo, Kandy and Kalutara as one of the four oldest cradles of cricket in Ceylon.
My mind travels vividly back to 1895. when on a brief holiday in Galle, I watched one of the earliest annual race meetings held in that town and saw for the frist time the old club house that was used as a grandstand for the races and also as a pavilion for the cricketers. It was only seven years ago that I sat in this old pavilion for the last time and watched the Southern province cricketers, aided by some of Colombo’s leading players opposed to the famous West Indies Test team led by John Goddard. And now that historic landmark on the esplanade is no more but has made way for a more modern and commodious pavilion with all the amenities needed by cricketers.
Galle, as the most famous seaport in Ceylon with its magnificent natural harbour, then had a large European population drawn mainly from the Military and Naval units stationed there. I have a newspaper report telling me how a team of Colombo European cricketers travelled all the way in home drawn coaches to Galle to play the cricketers of that old dutch town. It was col. Cleland, who led the Colombo team, mostly composed of military cricketers. Galle was captained by George Vanderspar, a former member of the M.C.C. and in later years the G.O.M. of cricket in Colombo.
There is a reference in one of those records to a first wicket partnership of 250 by G.S Saxton of the C.C.S. and George Vanderspar for the Galle vs Colombo.
That partnership stood as a Ceylon record till 1927 when it was broken by M.K. Albert and C. Wittatchy who put up 290 for the S.S.C. vs the Malay C.C.
In 1914 the first “International” team from aborad visited Galle. I had the privilage of arranging that match between Rev E.F. Waddy’s Australian team and a Southern Province XVIII , led by M.S. Gooneratna. the “G.O.M. of Galle cricket of today.” The scores of that match show that Waddy’s team totalled 270 and the Southern Province XVIII 124, I remember the brilliant innings of Norman Elsworth who scored 97 and hit six sixes, one of which cleared the pavilion and the road behind it. That was the biggest hit ever saw in this ground. Arnolis top scored with 48 for the home side.
Since 1910 Galle cricket developed and progressed considerably thanks to the enthusiasm of E.M. Karunaratne, G.R.A. Fernando and other outstanding cricketers of that ‘era”.
Galle has every reason to feel proud of its cricketers past and present and of the great love of the game shown by the various schools and mainly by the Galle C.C. that in the past fifty years has recived most generous financial help from the Galle Gymkhana Club.
Article written by by S.P. Foenander on 16th September 1955. – The Ceylon Daily News