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| Sunday, 6 October 2002 |
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Another first for the P. Sara Stadium Flashback- When the Oval, now renamed the P.Saravanamuttu Stadium, was the venue for staging famous international cricket matches.Here, Veteran All Ceylon batsman Mahes Rodrigo acknowledges the cheers of the crowd as he registers his century against the mighty West Indian team led by Goddard, which included 2 of the famous W's, Walcott and Weekes. West Indies scored 482 and Sri Lanka were 242 for 9 at the time with all the details been registered on the scoreboard which came in for high praise from Sir Don Bradman(inset). by Pelham Juriansz The P. Sara Stadium, formerly known as the Colombo Oval, is back on track once again as it hosts the first 'neutral' Test on Sri Lankan soil between Australia and Pakistan at its hallowed precincts. Once referred to as the Mecca of cricket in Sri Lanka, much akin to Lord's in England, it could now be referred to as the Medina of cricket in Sri Lanka, with the SSC being given the Mecca status. But, significantly, the Sara stadium is entwined with an inseparable bond with Sri Lankan cricket. It is the oldest cricket ground though strangely has been meted out step motherly treatment. Not in over one and a half decades has a Test match involving home country, Sri Lanka been staged at this once cricket infested ground, except for the solitary First Test against minnows Bangladesh in July 2002, which was seen as a non event, which ended in a lack-lustre affair. The P. Sara Stadium is looking a picture, as was seen at the impressive reception for the two teams organised by the host Hotel Galadari last week. And it is on its way to be counted once again as the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club (whose ground it is) has carried out major improvements to its facilities in order to stage international games. For instance, it has a new media centre (press box) perched on the 3rd floor of its sports complex, and plenty of additional dressing room space above its old team dressing rooms. The late Sir Don Bradman once referred to the Oval as the best ground in the East, and certainly the scoreboard is very impressive indeed with the ivy growing up it. The Tamil Union grounds at Wanathamulla was an automatic choice as a venue for international matches in the pre-Test era. Following the country being accorded Test status in 1981, it was the automatic choice as a venue for Sri Lanka's inaugural Test match against England in 1982. Then in 1985 Sri Lanka recorded its first Test win at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium defeating India. Tryphon Mirando, President of the Tamil Union was all agog at the press conference for the teams, and said that the Tamil Union jumped at the idea to host the first Test between Pakistan and Australia when Chishty Mujahid, Director of the Pakistan Cricket Board inquired if they could host it there.The P. Saravanamuttu Stadium thus becomes the first venue in a Test playing country to host a Test match between two other cricketing nations. Founded in 1899, the Tamil Union Cricket & Athletic Club, until 1940 had its club house and grounds at Campbell Park in Borella. Once known as the Colombo Oval at Wanathamulla, which was originally a marshy land, the P. Sara Stadium has been converted into a beautiful stadium. Amongst the distinguished personalities who graced the then Oval turf have been the late Sir Don Bradman, Sir Leonard Hutton, Sir Leary Constantine, Sir Clyde Walcott, Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Richard Hadlee, Lord Colin Cowdrey, the 'Black Bradman' George Headley, Lindsay Hassett, Keith Miller, Ray Lindwall, Neil Harvey, Richie Benaud, Peter May, Wesley Hall, Rohan Kanhai, Vinoo Mankad, Vijay Merchant, Fazal Mohammed, just to name a few. Following his visit in 1948, the late great Sir Don Bradman wrote thus of the scoreboard. "Worthy of mention is the Colombo Oval's scoreboard which in some respects gives more information than any board in the world - a tribute to local enthusiasm". The mercurial Mahadeva Sathasivam, who had the unique distinction of leading two countries (All Ceylon and Malaya) at cricket, and one of contemporary cricket's greatest ever - the off spinning genius Muttiah Muralitharan stand out in the distinguished line of the club's cricketers who did honour for the country. Others who had Tamil Union proud were A. S. Eliyathamby, S. Nagendra (Snr), S. Saravanamuttu, C. S. Hubert, Johnpulle, A. J. D. N. Selvadurai, Sathi Coomaraswamy, C. T. A. Schaffter, S. Nagendra (Jnr), M. Kasipillai, C. Dharmalingam, Anton Sethupathy, B. W. R. Thomas, Muthiah Devaraj, Sritharan Jeganathan, Rohan Jayasekera, Athula Samarasekera, Champaka Ramanayake, Chandika Hathurusinghe, Upul Chandana and Niroshan Bandaratilleke. At the time of writing, the first 'neutral' Test on Lankan soil is about to unfold. Let's hope that this venue, which was the venue for many a school match from the 1940s onwards, would once again spring to life like the mythical phoenix. |
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