THE WAR OF THE ROSES

HOW MRC AND TCC VIED WITH EACH OTHER FOR THE TOP SPOT

The first two decades of the league were dominated by two teams, Triplicane Cricket Club and Mylapore Recreation Club. The other strong combinations of the period were Sounder Cricket Club and Minerva CC, each winning the title twice, with Chepauk United Club and Madras Cricket Club bringing up the rear among the champions, with one success each. MCC was a late entrant into the league, but won the shield in the second year of its participation.

This is how the balance of power shifted during the two decades:

Year                                        Champion

1932-33                                   Triplicane Cricket Club (TCC)

1933-34                                   TCC
1934-35                                   TCC and Mylapore Recreation Club (MRC)
1935-36                                   MRC and Minerva Cricket Club (Minerva)
1936-37                                   Minerva
1937-38                                   MRC
1938-39                                   MRC&TCC
1939-40                                   MRC & Minerva
1940-41                                   Chepauk United Club
1941-42                                   TCC
1942-44                                   League was not conducted
1944-45                                   Sounder Cricket Club
1945-46                                   TCC
1946-47                                   MRC ‘A’
1947-48                                   MRC ‘A’
1948-49                                   Sounder Cricket Club
1949-50                                   MCC

Among the first detailed accounts of the league available to us were those of the 1939-1940 season, mainly from the Madras Sports Annual brought out by SK Gurunathan, the sports correspondent of The Hindu, who went on to become its Sports Editor.

MRC ‘A’ and ‘B’ Top the Tables

The Madras league was already seven years old when the 1939-1940 seasons began. It was a season to be remembered for the Mylapore Recreation Club for each of its teams, A and B, finished at the top of the table in its division. MRC ‘A’ shared the top spot with Minerva Cricket Club in the ‘A' Division, while MRC ‘B’ annexed the ‘B' Division title.

The following was the first division league table that season:

Club                                                                P          W        L         D         Pts

MRC ‘A’                                                         11        8          2          1          42

Minerva                                                          11        8          2          1          42

Nungambakkam Sports Club                       11        7          2          2          39

Madras Cricket Club                                     11        6          1          4          38

Chepauk United Club                                   11        5          3          3          31

Triplicane Cricket Club                                 11        4          3          4          28

Saidapet Gymkhana                                      11        4          4          3          26

Spencer Sports Club                                      11        4          7          0          20

South Indian Athletic Association                11        2          4          5          20

M & SM Railway                                           11        3          7          1          17

Saraswath Recreation Club                           11        1          8          2          9

Corporation Sports Club                               11        0          9          2          4

Mylapore Recreation Club continued to be one of the premier teams in the league, while archrival Triplicane Cricket Club had moved down the table to occupy the sixth spot. MRC had the following players doing service through the season: BS Tyagarajan, M Swaminathan and PN Sundaresan, sharing the responsibility of opening the innings; the hard hitting AV Rajagopal, BS Bhadradri, G Parthasarathi, MA Ganapathi,
A Rangarajan and CR Pattabhiraman in the middle order; and the bowling in the hands of PS Ramachandran, MA Ganapathi, BS Venugopal, R Narayanaswami, and BS Krishna Rao. The wicket keeping was shared by SK Gurunathan and TM Doraiswami.

AG Ram Singh was undoubtedly the star of Minerva CC. He was well supported by VN Madhava Rao, an opening batsman, who would soon join M&SM Railway, TS Parankusam, the off spinner, and TD Narayanaswami Rao and CV Krishnaswami, the opening bowlers.

By the 1944-45 season, MRC and TCC were seen to be struggling, MRC missing most of the action, the B team playing more cricket than the A team (perhaps a result of the ongoing World War II).  TCC became league champion again in 1945-46, while MRC had slid to fourth place. Here’s a look at the 1945-46 season-end league table:

1945-46

Club                                                                            P          W        L         D         Pts

Triplicane CC                                                             9          7          2          0          35

Sounder CC                                                                9          6          0          3          33

Minerva CC                                                               9          6          1          2          32

Mylapore RC                                                              9          6          2          1          31
Egmore RC                                                                 9          4          2          3          23

Nungambakkam SC                                                  9          4          4          1          21

M&SM Railway                                                         9          4          5          0          20

Anglo-Indian SC                                                        9          1          8          0          5

Corporation SC                                                          9          0          8          1          1

 

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