Lam Seneviratne, whose choice of title is “Lords -My Claim to Fame” … quite an appropriate point
I had presented to the MCC at Lords a painting of the Singhalese Sports Club grounds in 1975 to mark the first ODI World Cup event.
First, Col. F.C De Saram’s permission to do the painting and honour his Club was sought and he agreed to pay the Artists fee of Rs.5000.00! I then commissioned famed landscape artist Ivor Baptiste and gave him a picture of an actual cricket match in progress to enable him to visualize a cricket scene. It was of the S.L v. West Indies match played some months earlier and shows occasional West Indies bowler Roy Fredricks being smashed to square leg by Duleep Mendis.
Neil Chanmugam, the Manager of our Team to the World Cup, readily agreed to take the painting across to Lords.
The painting was hanging in the Memorial Gallery of the Lords Museum when I visited in 1977. I was in England on an ILO Fellowship and the Curator of the Museum kindly invited me to the ‘Friends of the MCC’ Marquee to witness the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Test match England v Australia at Lords. Drinks and lunch with other invitees like Norman Yardley, Laker and Dexter was a personal highlight. I remember the distinctive upright and erect stance of Greg Chappel and the century by Craig Sargent, his fellow Aussie.
Yesterday [ 3 November 2024], my son Rohantha visited Lords and was able to see this painting, now catalogued as a MCC collection, and hanging in the Long Room Bar. Shall be celebrating 50 years of this event next year!!
SPIN-OFF PIX From 1975
Duleep Mendis in action
All the 1975 World Cup Squads assembled at Lords
Very interesting. We were living in Deal Place and F C De Saram was living in the adjoining road, as I remember.