A brief History of Galle Cricket Club will be of interest to cricket enthusiasts. The Galle Cricket Club was formed about 1875. Colombo Cricket Club, Malay C. C. and Dambulla A. C. C are the only other Cricket Clubs in Ceylon to be formed prior to 1875.
Cricket was first played in Galle about 1868. As was the custom in those early years, British Navy and Army carried their cricket gear across the seven seas and helped to propagate the gospel of cricket in addition to colonization. The earliest reported match in Galle is on 15th January 1875 between the Civilians of Galle and The Garrison on 7th September l876 a report appears in the newspapers of a match between K. Company 97th Regt. vs Galle Cricket Club. A match between H. M. S. Audacious vs Galle is reported in January 1875, but it does not say whether it is the Galle Cricket Club.
The Club had as its pioneer, military personal of British Garrison, British Businessmen, Planters and Civil Servants. The most famous of the lot was G. Vandesper a millionaire business-man who later moved to Colombo for business reasons and played for the Colombo Sports Club. The Ceylonese Cricketers of that period owe a debt of gratitude to him for the encouragement he gave by selecting promising young Ceylonese in what was exclusively in European affair.