Sri Lankan clubs in France (16 October 1998)

16 October 1998

Sri Lankan clubs in France

by Peter Christie

Sri Lankans in Paris have helped French Cricket by providing a number of extremely talented cricketers to the le Federation Francaise de Cricket.

The game was not altogether unknown in France, for a century ago, France met and lost to England in the Olympic Games. However the revival of French interest was kindled by the visit of a young teacher Daniel Beynet to England. The Frenchman with eyes for the aesthetic was impressed by the men in white but realised the game took too long for French liking. He was back in Chauny, a mining village and taught the rudiments of the game to his English language students and chose to play limited 25 overs. In the early eighties Chauny were touring England playing village schools. Cricket had come to stay.

A visit to the picturesque grounds in the middle of the woods showed that cricket followed the English everywhere they went not just to the Colonies. The Standard Cricket Club celebrated it centenary in 1986.

English teams drove over to Paris throughout the summer to have weekend games and they always won.

I joined the Standard Cricket Club in summer 1977 and toured Holland with them. Despite the posh atmosphere, the level of cricket I found was low and in my opinion only a handful of the Englishmen would have made a first class club team here. The tour of Holland was a near disaster.

Then Asian expats joined the Club and fortunes changed. The Pakistanis had excellent spin bowlers and brilliant batsmen, the Sri Lankans provided the rest. The only problem was that the English players now felt neglected by their own Club.

President Ian Cully came up with an idea that 'caught on' and within months Le Federation Francaise de Cricket was formed in 1985.

This was after a tournament was played between the members of the expatriate British (The Standard Cricket Club), Pakistanis (Khyaam CC) Chauny SA., and Sri Lankans CC teams.

A Sri Lankan CC depleted by dissension won the championship in 1989 beating a very strong Pakistani team in the finals.

Dissension however saw the creation of five other teams.

A strong Saracens SC led by Rizwie Gafoor, was formed and they strode comfortably into the finals of the Nationals against the Standard Cricket Club. The slow clay based wicket caused the downfall of the exuberant Sri Lankans who had played their season on a concrete pitch.

The following season saw the evolution of two other teams -- Paris Cricket Club and United Sri Lankan Cricket Association. Old Boys Vijith Karunaratne (Dharamarajah) Nalendra Amerasinghe and Anjula Fernando ( Wesley) Shiron Liyanage and Mano Perara (Sri Jayawaradenapura) Dicky Gamwasam, Deepal Perera and Rizwie Gafoor (Isipathana) brothers Sujith and Ajith Karunanayake (Royal) and Prasad and Sajith Wijeysekera all performed magnificently and were often on call for the French International teams.

France has been in the forefront of the European Cricket Championships since the first was held in 1991 in the Channel Island of Guernsey. Sir Colin Cowdrey was amazed to note the progress made by the French, against teams from Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Greece and Luxembourg. Every team except the Greeks had Sri Lankans dominating. The rule was that two local born players had to be included in each team and one added on as each year passed so that in 2001 the entire team will be 'home grown'.

It could be hardly amusing to the English today, when they are reminded that their famous Marylebourne Cricket Club (MCC) team with Sir Len Hutton's son Richard and a host of other leading professional cricketers sneaked out 'low tailed' from the match awards beaten by a French Cricket team in 1988. A hundred years earlier England had beaten France at cricket at the Olympic Games. The centenary celebrations brought the MCC team, their 'bacon and egg neck ties' and smart navy blue blazers back to parade patronisingly before the match began.

With 'the' dinner served the previous day I was not able to 'rub in the salt' but a little chat with Roger Knight Secretary of the MCC (Knight captianed Surrey in the sixties) some years later showed, that they will not take the French lightly any more. I reminded him that cricket was an expatriate's game in Australia, South Africa and the West Indies before the locals took it on and then crushed the English.

Cricket is now played in practically every region of France. This is due to the exodus of Britishers seeking employment on the continent and the cheaper cost of land and housing in rural France.

Beside three cricket grounds in the Parisian region, France has got an International Cricket Ground with a castle and a zoo at Chateau Thoiry fifty odd miles southwest of Paris. The Zoo is well known for its African Elephants and Lions who roam their sanctuaries within the Zoo grounds in liberty. Touring cricket teams are sometimes hosted by Le Count and Countess de Thoiry. The Count is an expert on Sri Lankan Wild life.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)