Anurudda "Anura" Polonowita (born 23 July 1938) is a former

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

who played for

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

from 1960 to 1969. He later became a prominent cricket administrator and groundsman. In September 2018, he was one of 49 former Sri Lankan cricketers felicitated by

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 (Sri Lanka), Ministry of Sports as the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka on 30 June 1975 as a national ...

, to honour them for their services before Sri Lanka became a full member of the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC).

Early life and playing career

Polonowita attended

Ananda College Ananda College () is a Prestigious Buddhist school in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is often known as "The Pinnacle of buddhist education " It is the largest national Buddhist school for boys in Sri Lanka, with a student population exceeding 8000 ac ...

, where he played in the first XI for five years. In his final year, 1958, he captained the team and took 80 wickets in nine matches with his left-arm spin. On his first-class debut he took 5 for 45 in the first innings of the

Gopalan Trophy The M. J. Gopalan Trophy was an annual first-class cricket competition played between Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Madras (now Tamil Nadu) between 1952–53 and 2007–08. History The idea of the competition came about with the starting of a silver ...

match in 1959–60. In the Gopalan Trophy match in 1960-61 he took 4 for 16 in each innings (match figures of 29.4–14–32–8) to help Ceylon to a 169-run victory. Polonowita played a part in Ceylon's first two important international victories. When Ceylon defeated a Pakistan team in 1964–65 in Colombo he took three wickets in the second innings. Four months later, against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

, he top-scored in Ceylon's first innings with 53, took three catches, took 3 for 7 in India's second innings, and was at the wicket when

Michael Tissera Michael Hugh Tissera (born 23 March 1939) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played in the 1975 Cricket World Cup. School Tissera was born at Colombo and educated at S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, where, initially appearing in 1954 aged fo ...

hit the winning runs. He was selected to tour England with the Ceylon team in 1968, but the tour was cancelled just before it was due to begin. After playing for

Sinhalese Sports Club The Sinhalese people, Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) was a first-class cricket club in Colombo, Sri Lanka till 2025 when they were relegated after enduring a horrendous 2024-25 version of the Major Club 3 day tournament in which they could only m ...

for a few seasons he helped to form the Nomads Sports Club in the 1960s and take it shortly afterwards to the premiership in the P Saravanamuttu Trophy.

Later life

When President Premadasa built the Khettarama Cricket Stadium (later named Premadasa Stadium) in the 1980s he sent Polonowita to Australia on a three-month course to study curatorship to ensure the ground would be properly maintained. From 2000 to 2013, Polonowita was the chief curator for

. He prepared more than 90

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

pitches. He has also been the chairman of the umpires committee, chairman of the tournament committee, a member of the selection committee, vice-president, national coach, and manager of the Test and Sri Lanka A teams. He also coached the Ananda College cricket team for 38 years. Polonowita worked for

Colombo Municipal Council The Colombo Municipal Council is the municipal governing body of Colombo, the largest city and financial centre in Sri Lanka. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of Colombo, and elected 119 municipal councilors. The council was f ...

for 40 years. He oversaw the establishment of 23 pre-schools for less privileged children in Colombo and the training of 45 pre-school teachers to staff the schools. At the time of his retirement he held the position of Director of Sports. He and his wife Chitrangini have two daughters and a son.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Polonowita, Anurudda 1938 births Living people Alumni of Ananda College Cricketers from Colombo All-Ceylon cricketers Sri Lankan cricket administrators Sri Lankan cricket coaches Sinhalese Sports Club cricketers Nomads Sports Club cricketers Sri Lankan civil servants