A Brief History Of TNCA

Organized league cricket in the State began in Madras in 1932.The Indian Cricket Federation staged what is now acknowledged as the first cricket league in India when it conducted a competition for the clubs of Madras in 1932.The ICF and Madras Cricket Club often assumed adversarial positions and even conducted important matches independently on the same days, creating confusion and chaos among the armatures who wanted nothing more than a day’s entertainment. In time, however, good sense prevailed and the two rival bodies joined hands to form the Madras Cricket Association. (The romance of Tamil Nadu cricket-V.Ramanarayanan 2006)

The Madras Cricket Association was formally constituted on April 30, 1935.The Association was shortly thereafter affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The Cricket Association was to control representative Cricket in the Province. The following members were elected as office -bearers:

President-Dr.P.Subbaroyan, Vice-President-Mr.C.K.Krishnaswamy Pillai, Hony. Secretary & Treasurer Mr.K.S.Rnga Rao.Ten member clubs were elected to the Committee. H.E. Lord Erskine was the Patron of the Association. (The Spirit of Chepauk-S.Muthiah 1998).

Earlier to the formation of the Madras Cricket Association, The Indian cricket federation formed a league championship with 18 teams taking part in the competition for a trophy for the trophy presented by the Rajah of Palayampatti which is contested for to this day. The first Madras Championship in 1932-33 was won by the Triplicane Cricket Club.

By 1933-34, a second division was added to the league and in the very next season, a third division. The Bishop Waller Shield for the second division (donated by S.Kannan) and Dr.Subbaroyan shield for the third division were now added to the Rajah of Palayampatti shield. By 1938-39, the league had grown substantially and it became necessary to restrict the number of clubs in each division to twelve. A fourth division was added in 1939-40 season, the C.R.Pattabhiraman Shield for the fourth division being donated by (late) C.R.Pattabhiraman.

In 1953-54, M.C.A. restricted the total number of teams to twelve in each zone of each division. The pattern continues to the present time except for a change in nomenclature introduced in the 1967-68 season. The First Division “A” zone became the First Division. and I”B” became the II division, I”C”now the third vision, the original II division became the fourth and so on. There are now five divisions, with subdivisions in the third, fourth and fifth divisions. The league has now a total of 132 teem.

Apart from the 132 out of the 148 member Clubs participating in the City league, 30 District Associations who are the members of the Association are conducting various league and other tournaments in the in respective districts,