The Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) is a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

club in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. It is the oldest in the country, having been formed in 1863, and is headquartered at 31 Maitland Crescent, Colombo 7, close to the headquarters of

Sri Lanka Cricket Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It was first registered with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports as the Board of Cricket for Sri Lanka (BCCSL) on 30 June 1975 as a national sports body. The board was rename ...

History

The idea of a gentlemen's team for British colonists in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

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 Galle Face is a ocean-side urban park, which stretches for along the coast, in the heart of Colombo, the financial and business capital of Sri Lanka. The promenade was initially laid out in 1859 by Governor Sir Henry George Ward, although t ...

(not to be confused with the 1871 club of the same name and location). 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 (located in the Pettah) 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 (now the site of the Defence Services School). 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 The Colombo Gymkhana Club is a social club for men in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It also owns and administers the Colombo Cricket Club, the Colombo Hockey and Football Club and the Queen's Club, as well as the Colombo Cricket Club Ground. History Es ...

, 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 (alongside the CH&FC for

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

in 1892 and the

Queen's Club The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships men's grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "cinch Championships" for sponsorship r ...

for

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

and squash in 1899). 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

* Premier Trophy (5) - 1979–80, 1984–85, 1987–88, 1995–96, 2006–07,2012,2021

Current squad

Players with international caps are listed in bold. Updated as on 31 July 2022

References

* ''Wisden Cricketers Almanack'' (annual)

External links

Sri Lanka domestic cricket: A brief history, by ESPNCricinfo
{{Sri Lanka first class cricket teams Sri Lankan first-class cricket teams Sports clubs in Colombo Cricket in Colombo Gentlemen's clubs in Sri Lanka