Colombo Cricket Club

History

The idea of a gentlemen's team for British colonists in Ceylon was first mooted among the patrons of the Colombo Club- a social club for the British upper class then located at the Galle Face Green (not to be confused with the 1871 club of the same name and location). The beginnings of the club proper can then be traced back to a notice in the Colombo Journal of 5 September 1832, which called for "...gentlemen who may be inclined towards forming a Cricket Club..." to "...meet at the Library (located in the Pettah) at 2 o'clock precisely on the 8th instant". Sources then differ as to the exact date of the formation of the club, some citing 8 September, October, or November of the same year, with all sources agreeing that a cricket club was formed sometime in 1832. The newly formed club was located in Slave Island, on the land that later became the Rifle Green (now the site of the Defence Services School). The first officially recorded game of cricket in the country was that between the eventual CCC and a team fielded by the 97th Regiment of the British Army stationed in Ceylon at the time, in November 1832.{{cite web | access-date = 2008-09-15| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081012172614/http://thinkingcricket.tripod.com/cricket/id2.html| archive-date= 12 October 2008 | url-status= live}} The club soon became a hub for cricketing activity in the country, becoming the de facto governing body for cricket in Ceylon.

The Colombo Club went through an expansion phase in 1863, becoming the Colombo Gymkhana Club, a parent/umbrella organisation that acted as a social club while at the same time administering a number of different sports clubs- the CCC included (alongside the CH&FC for rugby and hockey in 1892 and the Queen's Club for tennis and squash in 1899). The CCC is thought to have been formally named with its current name sometime in 1863, and moved to Galle Face Green sometime during this period as well.

In 1894, the club moved again, this time to its present address at Maitland Crescent. It remained a Europeans-only club until 1962, and celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2013.

Honours

• Premier Trophy
  • Winners (5): 1979–80, 1984–85, 1987–88, 1995–96, 2006–07, 2012, 2021

Current squad

Players with international caps are listed in bold. Updated as on 31 July 2022

References

• Wisden Cricketers Almanack (annual)

References

1. "Domestic Clubs#Colombo Cricket Club". Sri Lanka Cricket.
2. "Test venues in Sri Lanka: The Oldies". The Papare.
3. "Colombo Cricket Club".
4. (October 2013). "The 'Gymkhana' For All Reasons Celebrates Its 150 Year Rhapsody". Serendib Magazine/SriLankan Airlines.
5. (2005). "Sport in Asian Society: Past and present". Taylor & Francis e-Library.
6. (1 December 2012). "Cricket in Sri Lanka during the good old days". Dailynews.lk.
7. (20 November 2012). "A New Dawn- Confidential Report for SLC Executive Committee".
8. (10 November 2013). "CHOGM, CCC and the cricket legacy". SundayTimes.lk.
9. "97th (The Earl of Ulster’s) Regiment of Foot". [[National Army Museum]].
10. (2012). "Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice". ABC-CLIO.
11. (2005). "Encyclopedia of Sri Lanka". Sterling Publishers.