Pongal and cricket go together
As any cricket follower in Chennai that was Madras will testify, this is the time to get nostalgic and take many trips down memory lane
By Partab Ramchand
14-Jan-2001
As any cricket follower in Chennai that was Madras will testify, this
is the time to get nostalgic and take many trips down memory lane. For
traditionally, the Pongal (or harvest) festival which is observed
around this time in this southern state, coincides with the peak of
the cricket season. Pongal and cricket are inseparable and frequently
Pongal and the Chepauk Test match have gone hand in hand. The weather
in the southern city at this time is generally bright and sunny
without getting too hot and so even from this viewpoint, playing
cricket would seem the right and proper thing to do.
The tradition of Pongal and cricket goes back to the annual Madras
Presidency match between the Indians and Europeans. The first such
game was played in 1916. On and off (but more on than off), the
matches were played during the Pongal weekend, generally in the second
or third week of January. The last match was held in 1952. Out of a
total of 30 matches, the Indians won 14, the Europeans eight and the
remaining ended in draws. Chepauk reverberated to the feats of well
known players like HP Ward, Ron Nailer, PE Palia, CP Johnstone, CK
Nayudu, JWA Stephenson, RD Richmond, E Britton Jones, AG Ram Singh, C
Ramaswami, MJ Gopalan, B Subramaniam and M Baliah.
Administrators were keen that tradition should continue even after
international cricket came to India and Madras became one of the
regular venues. Test matches and Pongal were for some time synonymous
but the crowded international calendar changed the scenario and Madras
staged Test matches in months as diverse as December and February,
March and October, September and November.
Actually however, the tradition that Pongal and international matches
have gone hand in hand has not always been true. Even in the days when
the international calendar was not chock-full, Madras has not always
held Test matches during the festive period. A glance at the 39 Test
matches, official and unofficial, played between 1934 and 1999, would
show that only 14 games have been played during the festive period
proper.
A small matter, really. To the cricket lover in the city, Pongal and
cricket do go together. And while the game is played round the year,
there is little doubt that cricketing activity reaches a frenzy at
this time and the bat and ball are seen all over Chennai as much as
the traditional sugarcane and "sakkaraipongal."