A Sri Lankan Becomes President of the MCC

Sangakkara first non-Brit to helm the club

If you ask an islander to name someone who he or she thinks is a ‘world-class Sri Lankan,’ chances are a few personages would feature commonly in everyone’s leading list… for instance, the late Sri Lankabhimanya Lakshman Kadirgamar in the arena of local and international politics, and his compatriot Jayantha Dhanapala in the sphere of civics and government, may be mentioned in the same breath.

But one may be hard-pressed to agree on many others…

So it is a matter of great pride perhaps for arguably all islanders – and a demonstrable reason for sublime joy among aficionados of the summer game – that the island’s classiest (and after this most high profile into the bargain) gentleman cricketer may well be included in these hallowed ranks by all and sundry.

The locus for Kumar Sangakkara’s adventures under a benign global sun is indubitably the Marylebone Cricket Club or MCC. Being the former governing body of the game that began in the era of the British Empire and maybe before, the club was this dashing young man’s stamping grounds for many a year before he became the epitome of its elegant leadership.

‘Sanga’ (as he is most popularly known far and wide) had been intimately involved with the workings of the MCC for a long while before he assumed its helm. His rise to prominence among cricket’s most respected voices – and indeed, his reputation as an outspoken orator – was sealed when Sangakkara delivered that MCC Cowdrey Lecture in 2011.

The acme of his achievement at the mecca of cricket came the next year when Sangakkara was nominated for the club’s presidency by outgoing head Anthony Wreford. And in doing so, he ensured that the charismatic Sri Lankan cricketer became the first non-British president in the long and illustrious history of the MCC.

He had been previously awarded honorary life membership of the club (2012). And in the wake of the havoc wreaked by COVID-19, Sangakkara – who began his term of office in October 2019 – was invited by the club’s membership to remain in situ and serve as President of the MCC until September 2021.

When Sangakkara was nominated for the club’s presidency … the charismatic Sri Lankan cricketer became the first non-British president in the long and illustrious history of the MCC