Compare ….
…. Ceylonese watching cricket at Galle Face Green in the 1890s or 1900s — Pix from https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/410812797236791685/?nic_v2=1a3x9t0TA — where you will find some intriguing photogrpahs from olden time presented at times in jargon that will jar …. for e, g. “coolies”
PERTINENT SCEPTICISM from ISMETH RAHEEM of Colomb0, 27August 2020: “My simple issue is how could anyone be certain that this is the first inaugural Royal Thomian Cricket Match?
How will one date the image? I have with me a similar image on the same grounds. Cricket was played at Galle Face- but was it the Galle as face we know. Cave has a similar almost same image in his book on Ceylon. It was also played at a grounds between the Pettah and Fort — so it is almost impossible to pin the image down.,
Very cleverly the caption just indicates that this was the grounds and not specifically that this is image that represents the original first match!
A NOTE: Ismeth Raheem has a marvellous collection of old photograps and paintings of colonal times and is the principal and behind IMAGES OF BRITISH CEYLON. Nineteenth Century Photography of Sri Lanka, Singapore 2000, https://www.amazon.com/Images-British-Ceylon-Nineteenth-photography/dp/9812047786
- Hardcover : 155 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9812047786
- ISBN-13 : 978-9812047786
- Publisher : Times Editions (January 1, 2000)