M. J. 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 jubilee fund in 1952 to celebrate M.J. Gopalan's 25 years as a cricket and hockey player.[1] Through the fund, an annual cricket match was instituted between Madras and Ceylon and named after Gopalan.

Ceylon won the first match.[2] The match became a regular fixture in the calendar until Sri Lanka received Test status in 1983 and the competition was stopped. It was revived in 2000 with a match between Tamil Nadu and a Colombo District Cricket Association.[3] Two years later the fixture was dropped again but in 2007 the Sri Lankan and Tamil Nadu boards agreed to restart the competition.[4] A match was played in September 2007 between Tamil Nadu and a Sri Lankan XI, won by the Sri Lankan team.[5] 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.

Season Venue Result
1952-53 Chepauk Stadium, Madras Ceylon by 95 runs
1953-54 Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground, Colombo Ceylon Cricket Association by an innings and 108 runs
1955-56 Nehru Stadium, Madras Ceylon by an innings and 14 runs
1956-57 P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo Ceylon Cricket Association by 5 wickets
1957-58 Chepauk Stadium, Madras Madras by 2 wickets
1958-59 P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo Drawn
1959-60 Nehru Stadium, Madras Madras by 8 wickets
1960-61 P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo Ceylon Cricket Association by 169 runs
1961-62 Nehru Stadium, Madras Ceylon by an innings and 66 runs
1963-64 P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo Ceylon Board President's XI by 6 wickets
1965-66 P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo Drawn
1966-67 Chepauk Stadium, Madras Drawn
1967-68 P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo Ceylon Board President's Under-27s XI by 105 runs
1968-69 Chepauk Stadium, Madras Drawn
1969-70 P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo Drawn
1970-71 Chepauk Stadium, Madras Drawn
1971-72 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Tamil Nadu by an innings and 9 runs
1972-73 Chepauk Stadium, Madras Tamil Nadu by 3 runs
1973-74 P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo Drawn
1974-75 Mahatma Gandhi Stadium, Salem Tamil Nadu by an innings and 73 runs
1975-76 Colombo Cricket Club Ground, Colombo Sri Lanka Board President's XI by 22 runs
1976-77 Chepauk Stadium, Madras Drawn
1980-81 Mahatma Gandhi Stadium, Salem Drawn
1982-83 P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo Drawn
2000-01 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Drawn
2001-02 Chepauk Stadium, Madras Drawn
2007-08 Colts Cricket Club Ground, Colombo Sri Lanka Cricket XI by an innings and 96 runs

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,[6] and the highest for Madras/Tamil Nadu is 179 by Michael Dalvi in 1974-75.[7] The best innings figures for Ceylon/Sri Lanka are 8 for 43 by Lalith Kaluperuma in 1975-76,[8] and the best for Madras/Tamil Nadu are 8 for 60 by V.V. Kumar in 1957-58.[9] The best match figures for Ceylon/Sri Lanka are 11 for 43 (6 for 17 and 5 for 26) by John Arenhold in 1956-57,[10] 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, A. C. M. Lafir and Duleep Mendis have scored two centuries. Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan has taken 10 or more wickets in a match four times.

Notes

External links