An English village cricket ground in a distinctly Kerala setting. That was the Palace Oval at Tripunithura years back; a small, compact, lush green ground, surrounded by trees and a canal on one side and with an animated crowd breathing down the necks of the players from the stone wall on two sides.
The smell of newly mown grass and fresh paint permeated the ground during the Pooja tournament days (the limited-over tournament started in 1951 is considered to be the oldest in the country and perhaps even the world). The scoreboard and pavilion would gleam, ready for the visiting teams. These are a few things that remain deeply rooted in the collective imagination of a cricket buff who has visited the Palace Oval during the tournament days.
Palace Oval, owned and maintained by Tripunithura Cricket Club, always had a pavilion. And if there is something missing today it is the absence of one.
The ground is very small and compact. Somehow it looks best during these tournament days. “The ground was developed by the late 40s, coconut trees that stood right in the middle of the playing area were chopped down and there was a nice ground to play,” recalls P. Ravi Achan, club member and former Kerala skipper. By the time the inaugural Pooja tournament was played on this ground in 1951 there was a pavilion here.
This structure that stood on the western side of the ground was built with raised platforms moulded on the bungalow style. “I don’t know if we could call this a pavilion in today’s standards. It was a semi-permanent structure that had two small ‘dressing’ rooms and a space in front for the players and guests.
The rooms were tiny with just space for a couple of benches where we changed from our mundus to the ill-fitting whites. But it served the purpose,” says Ravi Achan.
This pavilion with its white picket fence and two galleries on either side was the grandstand of those days. “I have never been into the dressing rooms of this pavilion. As a schoolboy I remember sitting inside the pavilion and watching a few games but was never here as a player. Whenever Tripunithura club won a game Kelappan Thampuran, who was instrumental in starting the Pooja tournament, used to celebrate by giving us kids and the women in the pavilion groundnuts and orange crush,” remembers P. Balachandran, coach and former Kerala and South Zone star.
V. Achuthankutty, who had a long and successful innings as club captain, also never got to use this pavilion “There were the two galleries outside made of concrete where we sat and watched the matches. I still recall the relaxed ambience in which matches were played and the sound of the ball on the bat carried right to the pavilion, “he says.
Some the seniors and parents who often came to watch their wards at training sat here . “I joined the club immediately after school, sometime in 1958. I remember my father watching me practise and also being there when I played for the club’s ‘B’ team in the Pooja tournament for the first time. The pavilion was small, the club had its own room and the other was for the visitors. The space in front was used for the prize distribution function at the Pooja final,” says Jayachandran Thampuran, player and retired Physical Education teacher.
This pavilion was demolished sometime in the early 1960s. “Before it was pulled down the new one on the western corner of the ground, where originally the scoreboard stood, was constructed. I think this must have been 1964. We were staying close to the ground and I remember the Police Games being organised here and the popular songs from the just-released film Pazhassi Raja blaring from the loudspeakers,” recollects Balachandran.
Ramdas Varma, player and former office-bearer of the club reminisces about the togetherness among the club members that helped them construct the new pavilion.
“This one had an upper storey, which during the Pooja tournament days was reserved for women. Members pooled in with money and the club also put in its share. The dressing rooms were bigger and had attached toilets and a space behind which was used to serve lunch and snacks for the players. There were steps or galleries in front and a space below which was used mainly by players and guests. The building was constructed by a local contractor named Raphael. The scoreboard was shifted and placed on a building that stands even now.”
The Pooja tournament is into its 64th year. For the past few editions the players and guests have had to use a temporary pavilion that now stands on the eastern corner of the ground. Today, the Palace Oval plays host to numerous cricket tournaments. An indoor cricket facility has come up where the old pavilions once stood. But what it misses is a small, snug pavilion. “Yes, we don’t have a permanent facility now. The plan and design for a new one, again a semi-permanent one is ready. This will have two dressing rooms with a view to the ground, steps in from that will serve as galleries, space for officials and guests, a canteen, toilets and a room for umpires. What is holding us back is our financial constraints. But we are sure that we will be able to build one in the next couple of years. And this one will be exactly where the first, original, pavilion stood,” informs Sabi John, secretary, Tripunithura Cricket Club.
