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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

Sri Lanka 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, ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

from 1964 to 1969.

Cricket career in Ceylon

Mano Ponniah attended

S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia (abbreviated as STC), is a fee-levying Anglican selective entry boys' private school in Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by James Chapman, the first Anglican Bishop of Colombo, in 1851, it was founded as ...

, 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 Univ ...

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

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 (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 against

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

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, 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 ...

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 mo ...

, to continue his studies. He played cricket for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

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 counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, 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 a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, 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 The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

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 an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

.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