Colombo Cricket Club


The Colombo Cricket Club is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. It is the oldest in the country, having been formed in 1832, and is headquartered at 31 Maitland Crescent, Colombo 7, close to the headquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket.

History

The idea of a gentlemen's team for British colonists in Ceylon was first mooted among the patrons of the Colombo Club- a social club for the British upper class then located at the Galle Face Green. The beginnings of the club proper can then be traced back to a notice in the Colombo Journal of 5 September 1832, which called for "...gentlemen who may be inclined towards forming a Cricket Club..." to "...meet at the Library at 2 o'clock precisely on the 8th instant". Sources then differ as to the exact date of the formation of the Club, some citing 8 September, October, or November of the same year, with all sources agreeing that a cricket club was formed sometime in 1832. The newly formed club was located in Slave Island, on the land that later became the Rifle Green. The first officially recorded game of cricket in the country was that between the eventual CCC and a team fielded by the 97th Regiment of the British Army stationed in Ceylon at the time, in November 1832. The club soon became a hub for cricketing activity in the country, becoming the de facto governing body for cricket in Ceylon.
The Colombo Club went through an expansion phase in 1863, becoming the Colombo Gymkhana Club, a parent/umbrella organisation that acted as a social club while at the same time administering a number of different sports clubs- the CCC included. The CCC is thought to have been formally named with its current name sometime in 1863, and moved to Galle Face Green sometime during this period as well.
In 1894, the club moved again, this time to its present address at Maitland Crescent. It remained a Europeans-only club until 1962, and celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2013.

Honours

These players featured in matches for Colombo CC in 2019/20
Players with international caps are listed in bold