The Colombo Malay Cricket Club (CMCC), Sri Lanka’s oldest cricket club established in 1872, will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2022. To mark this momentous occasion the CMCC has organised a series of sports activities throughout the year. “The anniversary celebrations will kick off with the launch of the First Day Cover to mark CMCC’s [...]

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Colombo Malay Cricket Club to celebrate 150th anniversary in 2022

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(From left) CMCC officials Hussain Jayah (Vice President), Roshan Allang (General Secretary), Rizwan Badoordeen (President), Rilwan Lantra (President SLMA), Rinaldin Rahaman (Club Captain), Rilwan Careem (General Secretary SLMA) at the press conference held at the Padang

The Colombo Malay Cricket Club (CMCC), Sri Lanka’s oldest cricket club established in 1872, will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2022. To mark this momentous occasion the CMCC has organised a series of sports activities throughout the year.

“The anniversary celebrations will kick off with the launch of the First Day Cover to mark CMCC’s 150th inauguration on March 19. This will be followed by a cricket encounter between the CMCC and Sri Lanka Cricket Board President’s XI. The highlight of the celebrations will be a commemorative Charity Dinner on March 26, where the keynote speaker will be Sri Lanka’s cricket legend and former MCC Chairman Kumar Sangakkara,” said Rizwan Badoordeen, the President of CMCC at a press conference held at the ‘Padang’.

“We have also lined up several tournaments throughout the year such as an invitation 6-a-side cricket tournament, a hockey and netball carnival, sepak takraw and a open invitation badminton tournament and a rugby competition,” he added.

CMCC club captain Rinaldin Rahaman speaking on the occasion said the main objective of holding a Cricket Charity Dinner is to raise funds to buy cricket equipment to junior and senior school teams.

“We have identified two rural schools in the country. As the leading cricket club in the island, we want to give back to the cricket community,” he said.

To create more interest and camaraderie, CMCC will host an Invitation 6-a-side Cricket Tournament in May.

“It is basically a fellowship event where we are going to invite about 10 Tier ‘A’ teams. Since the CMCC is celebrating 150 years we want to foster goodwill and camaraderie among the premier clubs like SSC, NCC, Bloomfield and CCC. There may be national players joining in for this Tournament and even our past Test captains and players may represent their clubs,” said Rahaman.

A badminton tournament will be held in June and this will be conducted at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium. It will be an open event for Men and Women to participate in different age categories with attractive prizes on offer.

The CMCC will conduct a ‘Walk’ in the month of July. All participants will begin from the Padang premises where a carnival type atmosphere with papare music, decorated vehicles and fun-loving characters will be a part of the procession. Once the procession reaches the Padang grounds, a Tag Rugby Tournament will be conducted amongst the Malay Associations. The Netball Carnival to be held in July will be a unique competition.

“Play will be controlled by the whistle of the master referee whilst matches are being played simultaneously on different courts. In fact, this event has been conducted only in Singapore and we conducted a similar competition two years ago,” Rahaman said.

This will be followed by an Open Sepak Takraw Tournament in August.

“As you may be aware, Sepak Takraw is of Malaysian origin. CMCC are the pioneers of the sport in Sri Lanka which requires football and gymnastic skills. It is now even popular in the Services where it has been incorporated as a fitness programme,” added Rahaman.

The Hockey Carnival will be a 7-a-side invitation tournament featuring eight school teams and eight club sides. Hockey also has a rich history at the CMCC being the oldest club affiliated to the Colombo Hockey Association.

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