Charles Edward Manoharan "Mano" Ponniah (born 3 May 1943) is a Sri Lankan architect and engineer who played

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 ...

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 ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

from 1964 to 1969.

Cricket career in Ceylon

Mano Ponniah attended S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, before studying engineering at the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univer ...

. He was a member of the University team that won the P. Saravanamuttu Trophy in 1963. He played for

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 ...

as an opening batsman while still a student, making his first-class debut in the

Gopalan Trophy The M. J. Gopalan Trophy was an annual first-class cricket competition played between Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), ...

match against

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 ...

in 1963-64, when in 76.1 overs in the second innings he made 60 not out, Ceylon's highest score of the match, to help Ceylon to victory by six wickets. He toured

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

with Ceylon in 1964-65, playing in seven of the eight first-class matches and scoring 325 runs at an average of 25.00. He played in all three matches against India.

Cricket career in England

In 1966, Ponniah went to

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican m ...

, to continue his studies. He played cricket for

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

from 1967 to 1969. His best season was 1967, when in 13 matches he scored 800 runs at an average of 36.36. His highest score in 1967 was 98 not out against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbourin ...

, when he opened the innings and added 194 for the second wicket with

Roger Knight Roger David Verdon Knight (born 6 September 1946) is an English administrator, cricketer and schoolmaster. He was awarded the OBE in 2007. He is an Honorary Life Member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and was President of the club from 2 ...

. He was selected to tour England with the Ceylon team in 1968, but the tour was cancelled just before it was due to begin. In 1968, Cambridge won no matches, and "despite a rather limited range of strokes" Ponniah scored their only century. In the match against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

, he made 101 not out in the first innings and 67 in the second, while his team-mates made only 93 and 63 respectively. In his last match, against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1969, he made 27 and 50 not out, sharing an unbroken third-wicket partnership of 123 in 92 minutes with Knight.

Architecture career

Ponniah worked in England until 1990, when he returned to Sri Lanka and founded the Colombo architectural firm Mano Ponniah & Associates. The firm has won several awards, including one for an ocean resort in the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives,, ) and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is a country and archipelagic state in South Asia in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about from the A ...

.Mano Ponniah & Associates website
/ref> He and his wife Radhika, whom he married in 1971, have two sons.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponniah, Mano 1943 births Living people Sri Lankan cricketers All-Ceylon cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia Alumni of the University of Ceylon (Colombo) Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Tamil architects People from Kalutara Sri Lankan Tamil people Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers 20th-century Sri Lankan architects 21st-century Sri Lankan architects Cricketers from Western Province, Sri Lanka