Fifth IFCR World Festival, Colombo - August 2007
IFCR’s Fifth World Festival took place in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 12 to 18 August 2007. Twelve teams, three from Australia, five from India, plus Great Britain & Ireland, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, with representatives from Pakistan and South Africa, took part. Over 300 people attended the Festival, and were treated to excellent hospitality, and some great cricket on the top grounds in Colombo.
All stayed at the excellent official hotel, the Hilton Colombo, which provided a lot of opportunity for camaraderie.
Each team played four matches, reduced from the normal 35 to 25 overs, partly because of concerns about the heat, but mainly to allow two matches per day on each ground. Matches were played at excellent grounds in Colombo, and IFCR was extended the rare privilege of having the use of both the current and former Test Match stadia.
After a mass photography session at the Sinhalese Sports Club stadium, the hosts opened the tournament against the GB& I team.
A player in each team was awarded a Man of the Match trophy, a bat & ball shaped silver & ruby tiepin donated by Rotarian Careems Jewellers. The Festival tradition of match report ceremonies every evening continued.
Off the field, there were numerous excellent functions. The opening ceremony at the beachfront Galle Face Hotel was very successful. On Tuesday 14th there was a superb reception by the Sri Lankan Tourist Board at the deceptively named Mount Lavinia, again a beachfront resort. Dinner under the stars on the beach, with wonderful traditional dancing, attended by Sri Lankan Test player Aravinda da Silva, and the event finished with a flourish when, at midnight, the large Indian contingent celebrated Independence Day, with not a little help from the rest of the party.
A charity auction raised over $10,000 for local projects. Prior to the tournament, the GB& I team had bought new equipment from Sri Lankan sources, and that was left for distribution to school cricket development projects in Sri Lanka.
On Wednesday 15th, there were opportunities to visit special meetings of two local Rotary Clubs.
Many attended Rotary Club of Colombo East, at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, and enjoyed the opportunity to chat with and listen to an excellent talk by Sri Lanka’s current Captain, Mahele Jayawardene.
He described how he had developed his cricketing career from the schools coaching structure, and he was delighted that IFCR was providing support and equipment to extend and develop the scheme into schools for under-privileged children. He also remarked that he had watched one of the Festival games, and had been impressed by the skill and enthusiasm of the veteran players, particularly in the warm, humid conditions.
Official events concluded on Friday 17th with a dinner and entertainment at the Bay Leaf Restauarant. A second auction featured a large gem-studded silver elephant, which now adorns a home in New Zealand (assuming it got through excess baggage and customs!) .
Many members from various teams stayed in Sri Lanka post the festival for a few days’ touring.
Additional reports are available at Fifth IFCR Festival, Colombo - GB & I and 5th World Festival, Colombo - Indian Report, and some match scores on World Festival Sri Lanka 2007 - Scores