NCC hopes to REVIVE sports activities in a big way

By Ranjan Anandappa

The Nondescript Cricket Club (NCC) will be celebrating their 125 year of excellence and a members family get- together will be held on November 23 at the club house.

Former Sri Lanka cricketer and a former President of NCC Ranjit Fernando who has spent more than half a century at NCC playing cricket and serving the club in various capacities said that what the club has been trying to do is to uplift the standard of the membership.

"The fact ,that we are a club which at least ,by name Nondescripts has brought in members of all walks of life here.What we have tried to do is to strive and uplift the members also. We are wisely selective at times and the main thing is who ever comes here, leaves like a true Nondescript.That's what we try to tell our players. If you look at some of the players around who have captained the club, like Malcolm Spittel, Vernon Prins, Michael Tissera, Ranjan Madugalle, Aravinda de Silva, Hashan Tillekeratne, Kumar Sangakkara and now Dinesh Chandimal, you could really pick them out from a crowd as being gentlemenof stature. They mix well with the 'kings' and the common man. To me that's what NCC has taught and those are the values we stand for."said Ranjit Fernando

The Nondescripts Cricket Club (NCC) was started by a group of executives 125 years ago ,as they got together and wanted to play cricket irrespective of cast and creed and the club was officially formed in 1888. The then Attorney General was President of the club.

The club originally had people like the first Prime Minister D.S.Senanayake, the De Saram's and the first Speaker Sir Francis Mollamure. A few years later they left NCC and formed the SSC.

The SSC was at the Vihara Maha Devi Park at that time. Great stalwarts carried NCC forward.

The NCC in those early days had some outstanding sportsmen apart from the cricketers. Cecil Horan was one of the most brilliant left arm leg spin bowlers ever produced.

Carl Van Geyzel the other personality, also was a fine cricketer and a dynamic athlete who also went on to represent Cambridge and England at the Olympics.

There was Pat Mcarthy who played in the Bradman era for Western Australia and thereafter, looking at most of the cricketers who went and played in England like Stanley Jayasinghe, Clive Inman, Dan Piachaud, Malcolm Francke (Played in Australia). All were from NCC and they all made their names for themselves.

Later on, it was Dr. Sproule who played a big role in developing the club.After that came the younger generation like Michael Tissera, a stalwart of the club. During that era, it was the NCC and the SSC who were the leading clubs of Sri Lanka cricket.

NCC had it's ups and downs. There was a time when a group broke away from the club due to some misunderstanding. Tissera joined the CCC, but NCC continued their winning streak. With Tissera, a good number of players, like Ranjan Goonetileka, Nirmal Hettiarachchi, they all joined CCC some where in the mid seventies.

Mervyn Fernando stuck on with the club, but NCC lost David Heyn and Sunil Fernando as they migrated to the UK. But NCC still won the Sara Trophy with a set of young players like Ranjan Madugalle, Nimal Ranchigoda, Tony Opatha the lynch pin of the side, Sridharan Jeganathan, Yohan Gunasekera, Prasanna Amarasinghe, and Ravi Ratnayake.

Almost all the youngsters went on to represent the country. Rumesh Ratnayake, Rohan Buultjens and Amal Silva joined the club later on and took it forward and the club thrived.

Many trophies won

With the club winning many trophies ,the focus was shifted to some extent to produce quality players rather than just winning tournaments or trophies.

As a result, the club's performance in last few year's have not been as successful in terms of winning trophies as such.

But the record in producing players for the national team has continued.

NCC, now has to look at a more balanced angle because local club cricket is also important to sustain the game in the country.

"The club has been having many dynamic President's during the past years coming down from Dr.N.M. Perera,Lalith Athulathmudali,Alex Fonseka, Lance Seneviratne, Camillus Abeygunawardena, Chanaka de Silva, Leslie Hewage and Elmo Silva. They have been really dynamic. The incumbent President of the club is Lucky Fernandez.

NCC has turned out to be a most thriving family club in the country where it is patronised by the families and at the same time doing a lot to see that the game is run professionally. To do that, a lot of money is required. The club is making all efforts to give all the facilities to the players.

It is the responsibility of the clubs like NCC, SSC, Bloomfield, CCC, BRC and Colts who have the facilities to ensure they lead the way and NCC is basically trusted with that responsibility."

A swimming at club

The club has a swimming pool which is probably considered to be a leading swimming academy in the country with facilities run by the Bollings (Julien).

It is a place with a hive of activity all the time. That also should be looked as a level of excellence.

NCC has been striving for excellence in the last many years. It is nice to see the second generation of Nondescripts coming into involvement. We have got Sohan Perera ,son of K.M.T.Perera the stalwart many years ago.

Leo Wijesinghe - a great stalwart

Leo Wijesinghe, a long standing member of the NCC and the Cricket Manager for over a decade, has been a great source of inspiration to the club. He said that he was a follower of NCC since his school going days at St.Joseph's College. He has watched cricketers of the calibre of Malcolm Spittel, Vernon Prins, Fitzroy Crozier, Stanley Jayasinghe and Clive Inman playing. There after he has also seen players like Michael Tissera, Ranjit and his brother Sunil Fernando, Ronald Reid, David Heyn, and many others. The club has won several tournaments. Under Ranjit Fernando NCC won the Sara Trophy too. Wijesinghe further said that the NCC wickets were always good. Chaps like groundsmen Junaid, Alagasamy and Nandasena did a wonderful job in pitch preparation.

The NCC are what they are today because of people like the stalwarts care for all the workers. All the Presidents of the club gave their hundred percent and still we are maintaining a good profile, Wijesinghe added.