The first love

THE May 21 issue of The Hindu Metro Plus carried an interesting article by Prema Srinivasan on two of the oldest sporting institutions in Chennai - the Madras Gymkhana and the Madras Cricket Club. Both have maintained the sporting culture of a bygone era. I had heard about the MCC whose members were some of the outstanding cricketers in the city.

Everyone has his own favourite cricket club, both at home and abroad. When I was seven or eight, I closely followed the English county cricket and admired the great achievements of the Surrey and Yorkshire Cricket Clubs under the captaincy of Stuart Surridge and Brian Sellers respectively. Surrey won seven championship titles in a row, while Yorkshire almost defeated Bradman's invincible team of 1948.

Closer at home I had two other favourite cricket clubs. I began following the game when we lived at Tambaram (East). During the late 1940s a lot of league cricket was played in Madras and my favourite club was the Tambaram Cosmopolitan Cricket Club (TCCC). Today, I have only vague memories of the activities of the Club and if I remember rightly, the club won the second division title during this era.

Cricket at Tambaram in those days was played on the Christian College ground or the Lake ground. During the season, the TCCC had a match on almost every Sunday. For me, it was a big event. But sneaking out of the house was a problem. Father did not want me to be out in the sun during the hot afternoons. "Your eyes become red like a drunkard's, stay at home and do something better," he often ordered.

But cricket was an irresistable attraction and somehow or the other I sneaked out to the Lake Ground to watch my favourite team in action. The patron of the team was a local businessman, Govinda Naicker, who was also our landlord. Naicker was a man of many interests and managed to rope in talented players from outside Tambaram. In fact, there were more outsiders than locals in the team.

Who were the leading players of the TCCC? I remember Venku, a tall, lanky lefthander who opened the innings and also kept wicket. Nagasundaram was a slow left arm bowler who flighted the ball with skill. E.D. Babu, who bowled left arm quickish spinners, was the best bowler in the team. The batting was capably handled by opener M.K. Ranganathan and Lakshman Rao, who came one drop and scored consistently. My best friend in the team was the opening bowler, Kulasekharan, who belonged to Chingelput and made the weekly pilgrimage to the Lake Ground for the league matches. Kulasekaran bowled at brisk medium pace and in a key math against Christian College XI, took a wicket with the last ball of the match which ended in a tie. Another medium pace bowler, Narayana Rao, was supposed to swing the ball more than anyone else. He was highly successful with the new ball.

I think the TCCC won the second division league championship during that period. I remember a key match against the strong Harnath Cricket Club, which had the services of left arm medium pace bowler, Y. Ramachandran, who played for the State. All that the TCCC needed was a draw, but there was terrible tension in the ground as wickets tumbled. Fortunately, last batsman Babu held on tightly and managed to play out the final over from Y. Ramachandran. He was the hero of the day and was carried out on the shoulders of his jubilant team mates. We, the TCCC supporters, were in ecstasy.

Our family left Tambaram and I could not follow the fortunes of the TCCC. Former test player and now umpire, S. Venkataraghavan, once told me that league cricket was still going strong in Madras though he could not say much about the fortunes of the TCCC. For me, during those tender years, there was just one cricket team in the world and I readily risked scolding from father to be present at the ground and support them. I hope TCCC is still active in the Madras city league.

It was then time to move on from Tambaram. During the early 1950s when my father was posted at Fort Cochin, I became a fan of the Cochin United Club (CUC). For the locals, football was the game, and not many followed cricket. But Fort Cochin had the right, charming atmosphere for cricket. The beautiful, grassy parade ground was lined by trees. Adjoining the ground was the church where Vasco de Gama was buried. The foreign companies in Fort Cochin employed many Englishmen and they turned out regularly for the CUC.

In those days, the club fielded an all-White cricket team, with the exception of its star batsman, Timmins, who was an Anglo- Indian. I admired the club's approach to the game which was one of enjoyment. They played for fun and did not bother about winning or losing. Some of the players, like the portly wicket keeper Sim, were hardly capable of playing cricket, but turned out every week with great enthusiasm.

Occasionally, the Club came out with sterling performances. Timmins, who played for Kerala in the Ranji trophy, was always consistent. The captain, White, was a serious-minded cricketer who had played for Europeans in the Pentangular. Peacock and Hutton, the two fast bowlers were energetic and troubled the opening batsmen from the opposition. The club welcomed Hickey, tall and powerful, whose huge sixers were a menace to the glass windows around the ground. He also bowled brisk off-cutters.

The CUC did not win many games. But who bothered? It was wonderful watching cricket being played on the lush green Parade ground. Often, it rained, the clouds gathered on the sky and we had a typical English atmosphere. Hickey hit one more six. I chewed on some chocolate, cheered and was in seventh heaven. God bless the English for giving us cricket!

V. GANGADHAR

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