Ceylon Cricket Association is formed

Cricket as it was played in the 1870s

Cricket is easily the most popular game in Sri Lanka today. Records indicate that the game was being played here from at least the 1830s. According to the 'Colombo Journal,' the first match was played on September 6, 1832 between the 97th Regiment (a British Army unit) and the Civilians (all Englishmen) which led to the formation of the Colombo Cricket Club. By the early 1860s, the principal match was between Colombo and Up-country. All the players were Englishmen involved in the commercial sector. The earliest record of this match was the one played in 1875. Only one innings a side was played and Colombo had won, scoring 99 and Up-country had only got 43.

Dr. John Rockwood

Although a number of cricket clubs had been formed between 1872 and 1900, it was on July 14, 1922 that the Ceylon Cricket Association (CCA) was formed. The formation of the CCA gave a firm footing to the game making numerous innovations over the next 40 years. It was instrumental in arranging many overseas tours for our teams as well as visits by overseas teams.

A founder member of Tamil Union C & A C (1899), Dr. John Rockwood was the first President of the CCA. He was instrumental in organizing visits by several teams from India and his own team met all the leading clubs in the country from 1920 to 1934. It was reported that no individual since 1920 had spent so much money for so many young cricketers. Time and money seem to have been no concern to him.

O. B. Forbes was the first Secretary of the CCA with L. E. T. Holsinger as Treasurer and S. P. Foenander as Recorder. CCA was in existence until 1965. In the meantime the Board of Control for Cricket was established in 1948.

Donoughmore Commission Report published

The report of the four-member Commission which came over to examine the constitutional changes in Ceylon under the Earl of Donoughmore was published on July 16, 1928.

The Commission's most far-reaching recommendation was the introduction of full adult suffrage giving the right to vote to everyone over 21 years of age. Earlier the voting was on an income qualification limiting the vote to just 200,000 of the island's four million population. Sri Lanka was way ahead of the other British colonies in enjoying adult suffrage.

The Commission recommended an elected State Council of 50 members and three officers of state and up to eight members nominated by the Governor.

Young Sumanapala dons robes

It was on July 14, 1918 that a 20-year old youth named Sumanapala from Kotahena donned the robes at Vajiraramaya, Bambalapitiya as Narada Thera. A student of St. Benedict's College, he went on to distinguish himself as the most reputed Buddhist missionary who toured the world spreading the message of the Buddha.

The author of many books on Buddhism, his best known work is 'The Buddha and His Teachings' which, he said, was "not intended for scholars but students who wish to understand the life of the Buddha and His fundamental teachings." He had the ability to write in simple terms thereby creating a deep interest among everyone to study the Dhamma.

He also had a style of his own in preaching the Dhamma and his sermons were very popular.

Narada Thera was instrumental in establishing Buddhist temples in Nepal and in Singapore.

He passed away in 1983 having lived up to 85 years.

Symbols in place of colours

The use of colours as identity by candidates contesting a general election was replaced by symbols when the elections to the first parliament were held in 1947. On July 18, 1947, 24 approved symbols to be used in front of the candidate's name were gazetted.

The approved symbols were aeroplane, bicycle, bird, bus, butterfly, cart wheel, chair, clock, cup, elephant, eye, flower, hand, house, key, ox, pair of spectacles, pineapple, scales, spoon, star, table, tree, and umbrella.