Twenty teams vying for Donald Ganeshakumar Trophy in Jaffna

The Centralites Sports Club, Jaffna will conduct the 12th Annual Donald Ganeshakumar 50 over Cricket Tournament after a lapse of 6 years at the Jaffna Central College grounds on Saturday.

This tournament was held last in 2005 in which the Jaffna University emerged champions. This has been a very popular sporting event in Jaffna which draws a very large crowd annually. No doubt, the Jaffna cricket fans will be delighted by the resumption of this tournament.

Donald Ganeshakumar was an outstanding sportsman, born to a sports family and he excelled in different sports at Jaffna Central. But his passion for cricket made him an outstanding all rounder in the game.

He played for the college 1st, 2nd and 3rd eleven cricket teams and led the college first eleven team in 1965. He had the distinction of being selected to play for the the Ceylon Schools team that toured Australia in 1964 and performed well by which he placed Jaffna Central on the map.

One of his remarkable innings was his 175 against St.Sylveter’s College, Kandy.

His hundred in this innings came in 66 minutes which is the second fastest century in the Sri Lankan school cricket history.

He captained the Jaffna Combined Schools cricket team in 1966 and his team entered the finals by beating the Colombo South Schools captained by Anura Tennekoon.

His knock of 70 runs in the finals against the very strong Colombo North Schools team was memorable. After leaving the college he joined Macwoods and played cricket for them. hi He was a member of the Tamil Union cricket team too.

He then joined the Sri Lankan Police as a Sub Inspector which is a prestigious job for the school leaving sportsmen.

He passed away in the early eighties. Centralites will always remember this cricketing genius and they will be happy to know that he has been honoured by the Centralites Sports Club in very fitting manner.