Bloomfield to celebrate 1st Sara Trophy win 50 years ago

Bloomfield to celebrate: One of the oldest cricket playing clubs in the country _ Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club is all geared up to celebrate their first Sara Trophy Championship win 50 years ago (1963/64) which will bring back nostalgic memories followed by a felicitation ceremony to three stalwarts - namely Kumar Dharmasena, Roshan Mahanama and Ruchira Palliyaguru who have reached great cricketing heights in the international cricket arena by being recognised by ICC as Elite Panel Umpires and Roshan Mahanama as as a ICC Match Referee.

The grand felicitation ceremony followed by a dinner will take place at the club house at Reid Avenue on the 30th of May under the patronage of Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.

The club was inaugurated 122 years ago in the Raquet Court in Pettah formerly Chalmers Granaries and later the authorities were compelled to move to Campbell Park due to urban expansion. Bloomfield did not possess a play ground of their own for practices. Despite this set-back they have produced a galaxy of many national, first-class and Test cricketers who have contributed much towards Sri Lanka cricket in no uncertain terms.

Bloomfield won Sara Trophy

The 18th century club which was founded in 1893 after shifting to Campbell Park (adjacent to the present Wesley College ground) had their makeshift club house on wheels. In the 1963/64 domestic cricket tournament, Bloomfield created history by winning the then coveted Sara Trophy which was rated the pinnacle of Sri Lanka cricket. Bloomfield have also won all the major domestic tournaments conducted by SLC _ namely Daily News Trophy, Lakspray Trophy, Saravanamuttu Trophy, Under 23 Tournaments and the Premier League Trophy which they last won in 2010/2011.

In 1972, the late K.B.Ranayake - then Minister of Sports allowed the club to use the Reid Avenue premises on a request made by the President of the Club at that time Shelly Wickremasinghe the use

of the club premises as the club had no ground of its own for cricket despite their achievements. The first Test captain Bandula Warnapura was also from Bloomfield.

Noel Perera - first 'Sara' caption

The first Sara Trophy winning team for Bloomfield was captained by the late Noel Perera and his deputy was Mahinda Wijesinghe. The rest of the players were: late Norton Frederick, Ranjith Malawana, D.P.Wickremarachci, Nihal Jayasinghe, late Charlie Warnakulasuriya, K.M.S.Perera, D de Silva, Daya Amerasinge, Stanley Amendra, W.A.N.Silva, late Lucky Abeywardena, Dhanasiri Weerasinghe, G.Moilligoda, T.D.Rajapakse, Mahinda Athulathmudali.