Cricket

As documented by some our Founding Fathers, the game of cricket was the catalyst that led to the formation of the Lanka Union, which was later reconstituted to the Ceylon Sports Club. It all began in the year 1918 when a young man named T.E.K Retnam watched a game being played on a Bras Basah Road field opposite the building which until recently was St. Joseph's Institution. The match was played between a "Tamil team from Kuala Lumpur and a team from the local medical college." T.E.K later came to know that among those local boys were some Ceylonese who were interested in forming a cricket team.

There were five who were interested. They were G. Oorloff, M. Thiruchelvam, P. Nadarajah, M. Supramaniam, and Thillianathan. Together with some others, they formed a Club they named the Lanka Union. T.E.K. Retnam became the first captain of the Lanka Union Cricket team. In those early years, they played where they could, as they did not have a ground of their own. Dr. Kiramathypathy (Dr. Pathy) wrote in 1958 that both physical and financial assistance was rendered by S. K. Ratnam and another who preferred to remain anonymous. He continued that the Padang Clubs, Singapore Recreation Club and Singapore Cricket Club assisted in granted facilities for practices and for matches, and that "Dr. Noel Clarke and Theo J. Leijssius encouraged us."

In 1922, a piece of land was leased out to the Lanka Union. And "Members lost no time erecting a small shed which served as a clubhouse and the kebun's quarters. In 1924 a turf wicket and a practice pitch were laid. Dr. J.A. Scharenguival, a Ceylonese cricketer of repute was a great source of encouragement to the Union and helped establish the Lanka Union on the cricketing map of Singapore. In the preparation of pitches much physical help was rendered by S. K. Ratnam, T. E. K. Retnam and a large number of young Ceylonese students who eventually became members of the Ceylon Sports Club.

Among the earlier cricketers were A.P. Rajah who was selected to play in the Europeans vs The Rest. According to Mr S.M. Vasagar, after the World War II, talented young men were literally queuing up for a place in any of the three teams CSC was able to field in the League (Kailasapathy, Umapathy, and others were S. K. Sundram, S. Velupillai, Devadas, and K. T. Rajah and V. R. Sabapathy, Muthucumaru, and Vijiaratnam....). Mr. Ambiavagar says, "The Lanka Union was already playing cricket in 1920. Young V. Ambiavagar first played for the Union's 2nd team. "On Balestier Plain, T.E.K., Kumaravelu and Ambiavagar pooled their resources and put up an attap hut which served as a clubhouse.. Before every match, TEK, Ben Dudley and Ratnasabapathy put up the wickets, laid out the matting , erected the sight-screens, and drew the boundary lines. The most prominent cricketers at that time were T.A. Chunchie, Jayasinghe, Ponnuduraai, R.V.S. Sundram, V.R. Sabapathy, A.S.A. Jansen. On 29 March 1929, the TPCA games started in Kuala Lumpur. R.V.S. Sundram remembers playing in the company of A. P. Rajah, and Ernest Wicks besides the others already mentioned. According to RVS, after the war he and some others went around collecting funds to buy cricket equipment. Up to 1951 all League games were organised by the SCC. In 1951 when SCA started the Senior and Junior League cricket tournaments, CSC were Champions. Vijiaratnam was also a stalwart who played among Carl Schubert, Yogarajah, Stan Nagaiah, and Soocelaraj among others. Viji led the CSC cricket and hockey teams in 1958 and 1959.

The year 1977 should go down in the Club's history as one of its extremely successful season in the SCA Senior League. Before the start of the League of that year, Mr. S.M. Vasagar promised that he would organise a tour to Sri Lanka for the Club's 1st team, if it won the Senior League. It did. CSC flew high in the Senior Knock-Out title with a win and made the trip in March 1978.

The CSC continues to participate in SCA League cricket. The 1999 captain of the CSC Premier Cricket Team was Sarika Prasad who will go down in history as the first Indian National to lead the team. 

Ladies' Cricket, anyone ?

"CSC Ladies have been playing the gentleman's game since 1993, but have not been able to form a team due to lack of support." So said Ms Sheila McCrae who until recently did her best to get Singapore women interested in the game. Sheila, however, is going home to Australia soon, but her place will be taken by Ms Lorraine Meyer. That will leave only 5 ladies who will be the nucleus of a ladies' team the Club hopes to form.

Meanwhile. the lasses are practising regularly every Saturday and hope that in the coming years, their efforts will lead to Ladies' Cricket teams participating in SCA League tournaments. For the record, with their knowledge of the game,

Sheila, Lorraine and Thanes have been regular scorers at Singapore Cricket Association matches. Sheila's hopes and aspirations for the coming century are that Ladies' cricket will be a regular item on the SCA programme.

So, Ladies, if you are interested in wielding the willow, call Ms. Thanes at pager 95705022.