Bloomfield still akin to a ‘club on wheels’
On February 17, 1982, Bandula Warnapura was appointed as Sri Lanka’s first official captain when the island nation earned Test status and played the first match against England at P. Saravanamuttu Stadium. He was 29 then. Exactly 39 years later, by February 17, 2021, Warnapura, now 67 has reached the helm of his club, Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club.
Bandula Warnapura - Pic Nilan Maligaspe
Warnapura, one of the proudest products of Nalanda College, was one of many youngsters after school who walked across the Bloomfield C&AC, which was then located near Campbell Park. The club was initiated on a racquet court in Pettah, before moving into a wooden clubhouse on wheels near Campbell Park, where C.W.W. Kannangara Maha Vidyalaya is now located. Later during the 1960s, Bloomfield permanently moved to the present location in Reid Avenue.
Warnapura, who holds the honour of making Sri Lanka’s first toss with England skipper Keith Fletcher, which was won by the hosts, also faced the first ever delivery, scored the first Test run and became the first to be dismissed. His international career was limited to only four Tests and 12 One-Day Internationals, yet Warnapura and others to follow had managed to create an impact on the brand of cricket they played years to follow. This he identified as a challenge of a certain stature.
Today, as a devoted father and a grandfather to his family, and a straightforward character in the cricketing world, Warnapura has earned tremendous amount of respect. This, he said, is an important component for an administrator, as he intends to give Bloomfield the shine and glory once the whole of Sri Lanka saw.
“Both are challenges, of different nature. But this one right now, is a very difficult task. I can’t see a proper pyramid at the moment, not only here, but everywhere. We have set couple of targets, and we’ll seriously focus on that this year,” Warnapura revealed.
The former opener, who made Bloomfield his second home, is determined to achieve the two objectives they have set for 2021. The top priority will be to obtain the lease again and enter into a long-term agreement with the Urban Development Authority (UDA). Making a strong comeback into Tier ‘A’ cricket will be the second target set to achieve by the Warnapura-led Bloomfield officials.
Both these objectives, as Warnapura explained, are linked to one another and if Bloomfield is to regain its past glory and pride, both these must be achieved.
“Bloomfield was then known as the ‘poor man’s club’, because it was the only club to open doors to the public. With that there was a huge following of loyal cricketers and supporters. Nowadays, sadly, it’s not there anymore. If we achieve both, we will be able to fulfill both,” he stated.
What Warnapura longs for is to make Bloomfield strong in all aspects again. The reputation Bloomfield had as a club that contributed nearly 50 cricketers to represent the country, being a small fish in the pond among the much bigger ones. With the players’ list ranging from Dhanasiri Weerasinghe, D.S. de Silva, Lalith Kaluperuma, Anura Ranasinghe, Jayantha Seneviratne, Ajit de Silva, Sanath Kaluperuma, Brendon Kuruppu, D.L.S. de Silva, S. Illangaratnam, Russell Harmer, Shabhir Asgerally, Sunil Jayasinghe, Granville de Silva, Priyankara Wickremasinghe, Roshan Mahanama, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Dharmasena, Keerthi Ranasinghe, T.M. Dilshan, Ruwan Kalpage, Thilina Kandamby, Pulasti Gunaratne, Pubudu Dassanayake, Suraj Randiv, Mahela Jayawardena, Farveez Maharoof, Chamara Silva, Nuwan Pradeep and Prasanna Jayawardena, to Warnapura himself, the Reid Avenue club owes immensely to Shelly Wickramasinghe, the legendary president who helped Bloomfield become what it is today.
Wickramasinghe was able to obtain a 99-year lease with the help of former Minister of Sport, K.B. Ratnayake in the early 1970s, but later it was found out that the agreement was only for 35 years. Currently Bloomfield is run by a short term lease, without any benefits.
“We don’t know when we’ll be asked to leave this premises as at the present situation. To be frank, Bloomfield is a building without a foundation now. There are nearly 50 who represented the nation from this club and after we came to the present location here Bloomfield has produced national cricketers at a rate. Being a poor man’s club, the challenge is on my shoulder at the moment,” he went on to say.
Bloomfield has been turned down many a times by potential sponsors. Nor can they put up permanent structures and sell advertising space because of the nature of the current lease. The club has been thwarted of those advantages by the UDA.
“Give us that chance like other clubs, that’s our request. Sponsors don’t come forward because there’s no clear idea of what the club has. We have everything planned and filed, even the UDA is very supportive now. But you never know, anything could happen between the cup and the lip,” Warnapura explained with his experience.
In 2015, a joint venture between UDA and Bloomfield was announced, in which included a modern pavilion building and a city hotel with 150 rooms with Sri Lanka Insurance coming in as the investor. The plan was to launch in January 2015 and complete within a period of 18 to 24 months, but nothing became a reality. This was during the time when the incumbent President was the Defence Secretary, under which the UDA was. What Warnapura wants to leave behind at the end of his tenure is the sturdy Bloomfield that once was.