About Us

We Are

Canberra Ceylonese Cricket Club

The reason for calling our club Canberra Ceylonese Cricket Club is mainly due to our senior members being Ceylonese (Sri Lanka was originally called Ceylon)

Founding members:

The club in its present form was founded by five people, namely Mr. Kayilayapillai Thiruchelvam, Mr. Chelliah Aiyelananthan, Mr Chelvanayakam Kumaranayakam, Mr Mailvaganam Ganeshalingam and Mr Wesley Anantharajah. Having organised a couple of games in 1984 we found that we did not have the proper gear and decided to pool some money and buy a proper set of cricket equipment. In the summer of 1985 we were fully fitted and the group unanimously decided to elect Mr. Thiruchelvam as the Manager, which he reluctantly agreed to, being the senior member of the group.

Early Days:

During the summer of 1984 we played our very first game against the Sydney Tamils Team using borrowed cricket gear. The following players took part in the game: Wesley, Kumar, Ahil, Prabha, Sri, Richard and Ganesh. From then on, the club grew, the arrival of Nithi from Melbourne and Adrian from Sydney added some vigour, but the enthusiasm of the boys did not match with that of their partners. There were difficulties in keeping the club going, but when Dr. Siva arrived in Canberra, the club was rejuvenated as he is a man young at heart and has a lot of enthusiasm for the game.

Cricket:

In the 1990’s with further addition of Preeya, Shiva and others joining, CCCC’s cricketing activities expanded. Since the formation of the club we had played a few games every year. Under Shiva’s management the Club participated in the ACT Grade A Social Cricket Competition for many years. In most seasons we played against Cricket Teams from Sydney and Melbourne. Annually we played against the Canberra Lions Club. During this time, players from other communities joined the club and were a welcome addition to the team.

In 2008 the club joined the Sydney Tamil Masters competition in its inaugural year. CCCC played all its matches on the famous Kenmore hospital turf wickets in Goulburn. The regular outings to Goulburn were most enjoyable and the player pool expanded again giving the club a new lease of life. In 2015 the Club played in the newly formed ACT Veterans competition and continues to do so. In order to maintain its connection to the Sydney Tamil Masters, the Club plays two games each season against a combined STM team.

Since 2016, the Club has an annual booking at the picturesque Bradman Oval in Bowral. This is a marquee event for the club and we invite friends from the ACT and other states to join us in a day of cricketing entertainment. This event has been fully subscribed in all four years.

Tours:

The club has arranged 6 overseas cricketing tours, New Zealand (1997), Singapore & Malaysia (2000), Malaysia (2002), Malaysia (2008) Senior team and Junior U17 team, Sri Lanka (2014) and Sri Lanka (2018)