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| Tuesday, 2 December 2003 |
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Unsung hero of Galle cricket by Dr. Ajith C. S. Perera As the first test match between Sri Lanka and England unfolds, this is the time focus will be centered of all cricket loving Sri Lankans and millions in the cricketing world on Galle International Stadium. We are also on the eve of the 27th death anniversary of E.M. Karunaratne. No worthwhile writing concerning 'Galle Cricket' can ever be done without reference to 'EMK', the real backbone of cricket in Galle for many decades of time, which he first saved and then resurrected. He was a highly successful lawyer by profession with a winsome manner of speech and above all with cricketing philanthropy that is said knew no bounds. It was this disarming lawyer and a genial gentleman who shouldered the cricket burden of Galle "single-handed" from 1920 to 1952! It was his larger role as administrator and benefactor, along with his leadership, in matter and manner, more than as a player is where he really earned his name and made his mark. His words and thoughts with much foresight, soon turned into results producing action, (and that is what we badly need today in Sri Lanka) and paved the way for plethora of quality players starting from D.D. Jayasinha to Nuwan Kulasekera emerge from Galle and enter Sri Lankan cricket, including the present-day curator of the Stadium and the dual purpose bowler Jayananda Warnaweera. Whilst studying at the Colombo Law College, he played for the SSC and thereafter went on to play cricket for Galle CC, captaining them for 25 long years, (1922 - 1945) and then again in 1948. In 1933-34, he was the President of the 'Ceylon Cricket Association'. From time to time until 1965, he was also the President or the Secretary or the Treasurer of the Club. Endowed with a thriving legal practice, he bore the brunt of the club's expenses virtually single handed in those hard-pressed days and even had found employment for many a promising cricketer from Galle. It was also the period during which he got many an overseas team that included internationally known cricketers such as Mankad, Amaranath, Naidu and Merchant to play Cricket in Galle. Because of his devotion and love for Cricket, he even spent lavishly out of his own purse on most of these occasions and at other times got the support of the Galle Gymkhana Club, a thriving sporting and social club there then. 'EMK' is dead and gone and as the tragic happening even in our cricketing sphere another life silently dedicated to cricket is long forgotten as well. But for him, cricket in the South of Sri Lanka would not have prospered to the extent it did. Until his death in December 1976, "EMK was Galle Cricket and Cricket in Galle was "EMK". If yet not done, it is highly pertinent to have at least a portrait of this eminent cricketing personality at the Galle International stadium. Sri Lankan Cricket and Cricket in Galle particularly, owe this tribute to him even after so long. |
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