The M. J. Gopalan Trophy was an annual

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 officia ...

competition played between

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 ...

(now Sri Lanka) and

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...

(now Tamil Nadu) between 1952–53 and 2007–08.

History

The idea of the competition came about with the starting of a silver jubilee fund in 1952 to celebrate

M.J. Gopalan Morappakam Josyam Gopalan (6 June 1909 – 21 December 2003) was an Indian sportsman who represented India in cricket and field hockey, hockey. Gopalan hailed from the village of Morappakam in Chingleput district, some 50 kilometres from Chenn ...

's 25 years as a cricket and hockey player. Through the fund, an annual cricket match was instituted between Madras and Ceylon and named after Gopalan. The trophy was donated by the Madras cricket administrator V. Pattabhiraman and was presented to the victors after the first match by

Learie Constantine Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine, (21 September 19011 July 1971) was a West Indian cricketer, lawyer and politician who served as Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and became the UK's first black pee ...

. Ceylon won the first match. The match became a regular fixture in the calendar until Sri Lanka received Test status and the competition was stopped. It was revived in 2000 with a match between Tamil Nadu and a Colombo District Cricket Association. Two years later the fixture was dropped again but in 2007 the Sri Lankan and Tamil Nadu boards agreed to restart the competition. A match was played in September 2007 between Tamil Nadu and a Sri Lankan XI, won by the Sri Lankan team. No matches for the trophy have been played since.

Results

There have been 27 first-class matches for the Gopalan Trophy. The names of the competing sides have varied, especially the Sri Lankan teams. Ceylon/Sri Lanka have won 10 times, Madras/Tamil Nadu 5 times, and 12 matches have been drawn.

Individual records

The highest score for Ceylon/Sri Lanka is 212 by Ievers Gunasekera in 1958-59, and the highest for Madras/Tamil Nadu is 179 by

Michael Dalvi Michael Dalvi (born 18 May 1945, Mumbai, Bombay, Maharashtra) is a former Indian cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1966 to 1982. Life and career Dalvi is the son of Brigadier John Dalvi and was educated at the all-boys boarding schoo ...

in 1974-75. The best innings figures for Ceylon/Sri Lanka are 8 for 43 by

Lalith Kaluperuma Lalith Wasantha Silva Kaluperuma (born 25 June 1949, Colombo) is a former Sri Lankan Test cricketer and ODI cricketer, who played first-class cricket from 1970 to 1983. He played in Sri Lanka's first Test team in 1982. Cricket career Kaluperum ...

in 1975-76, and the best for Madras/Tamil Nadu are 8 for 60 by V.V. Kumar in 1957-58. The best match figures for Ceylon/Sri Lanka are 11 for 43 (6 for 17 and 5 for 26) by

John Arenhold John Adolf Arenhold (9 May 1931 – 30 September 2017) was a South African cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1953 to 1960. Arenhold went to school at Diocesan College, Cape Town, before attending University College, Oxford. He pl ...

in 1956-57,Ceylon Cricket Association v Madras 1956-57
/ref> and the best for Madras/Tamil Nadu are 12 for 108 (4 for 48 and 8 for 60) by V.V. Kumar in 1957-58. Dalvi of Tamil Nadu, and

A. C. M. Lafir Abdul Cader Mohamed Lafir (27 October 1935 – 18 May 2022) was an opening batsman who played for Ceylon from 1953 to 1970 before Test status was awarded in 1981. Early life Abdul Cader Mohamed Lafir was born on 27 October 1935 at Katugast ...

and

Duleep Mendis Deshamanya Louis Rohan Duleep Mendis (born 25 August 1952), known as Duleep Mendis, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain of the team, who captained Sri Lanka to their first Test series victory in 1985. He was primarily a special ...

of Sri Lanka, have scored two centuries.

Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan ( (informally Venkat, born 21 April 1945) is an Indian former cricketer. He captained the Indian cricket team at the first two ICC Cricket World Cups, and later became an umpire on the elite International Cr ...

of Tamil Nadu has taken 10 or more wickets in a match four times.

References

External links

*{{cite web, url=http://static.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1950S/1956-57/MADRAS_IN_CEYLON/GPLN/CEYLON_MADRAS_GPLN_13-15APR1957.html, title=Ceylon v Madras. Colombo 13-15 April 1957, work=Cricinfo.com, access-date=2009-11-01

History

Results

Individual records

References

External links

Further reading