6th Lawyers World Cup kicks off in Colombo on 10 August

The 6th Lawyers Cricket World Cup will be kicked off on 10 August at the P. Sarvanamuttu (Oval) Cricket Stadium with Chief Justice Priyasath Dep as the Chief Guest and the legendary cricketer and Minister Arjuna Ranatunga, as the Guest of Honour. 6th Edition of the biennial Lawyers Cricket World Cup will be played until 20 August. The hosts, Sri Lanka Lawyers Cricket Club (SLCC), came forward and assumed the responsibility of holding this event at the meeting of the International Committee during the course of LCWC5 at Brisbane, Australia in 2015-16. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) is supporting the event and is also hosting the Sports Law Conference on 13 August. While 12 teams are playing in two pools followed by Semi-finals and Finals for the Cup, the remaining teams would be competing to win the Plate Championship. Through the introduction of Plate, the hosts SLCC are making an effort to keep the tournament interesting. The Sri Lanka Lawyers Cricket Club under the stewardship of Teja Silva has been working round the clock to make the mega event a success and memorable. Commonwealth Lawyers Association International Lawyers Cricket Council President R. Santhanakrishnan narrates the origins of the competition and other interesting details:

The foundation for the concept of competitive cricket among lawyers was laid in 1989, when the then young cricketing lawyers at Hyderabad, India got together and gave shape to the IDEA brought forward by ‘Suri,’ one of the founder members. The first All India Advocates Cricket Tournament, which had four teams to begin with in 1989, grew up in size as more number of units joined. Today for its 29th edition there are 18 teams of lawyers from across India competing for the Cup annually. 

Invitation from Justice Suresh Chandra, a passionate lawyer, cricketer and radio commentator and now a retired Judge, Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, coupled with the initiative from Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), made it possible for the first of the series of overseas visits of lawyer cricketers from India. 

1st Lawyers 

Cricket World Cup

The motto ‘Cricket for Friendship’ coupled with the zeal of spreading the message beyond the boundaries took a team of lawyer cricketers from India to Sri Lanka in 2004. Factually the first-ever visit was to Bangkok in 1994. This was followed by various annual visits to England 2005, Trinidad, Barbados and England 2006, England, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore in 2007-’08, paving the way for the first-ever ‘Lawyers Cricket World Cup’ in Hyderabad. 

The Commonwealth Law Conference in September 2005 provided an opportunity to interact with delegates from a number of commonwealth jurisdictions leading to exchanging ideas regarding cricket among lawyers in Trinidad, Barbados, South Africa, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Kenya, New Zealand, Australia, etc. It was at this conference I met Ron Heinrich, Australia (the then Vice President of Commonwealth Lawyers Association). Meeting Geoffrey Henderson (Trinidad), Anthony Audain (Barbados) and few others gave fillip to the thought of getting cricket across to various Commonwealth countries. 

The idea of Lawyers Cricket World Cup (LCWC) germinated during the course of these visits. Constant exchange of emails, telephonic conversations, visits, etc., paved way for first ever Lawyers Cricket World Cup. But it became a reality only when Shivlal Yadav offered the facilities at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium and the full assistance of Hyderabad Cricket Association for hosting and conducting the event. 

It was a team effort of a number of lawyer cricketers, who looked forward to meeting their counterparts from other Commonwealth jurisdictions. The story of LCWC would not be complete without making reference to certain individuals who took the initiative and also motivated their fellow colleagues at the Bar. Sri Lankans and the English Barristers were the first to welcome this idea and assured of their participation. 

Suresh Chandra took the lead and was pivotal in ensuring support of Bar Association of Sri Lanka. Diehard enthusiasm of James Cartwright made the English Barristers come to participate in the event. And Robert Percival took it further. The zeal and persistence of Vasheist Kokaram, actively supported by Prakash Moosai made the West Indian participation possible. Extraordinary efforts made by Ron Heinrich, the then President of Commonwealth Lawyers Association, resulted in the Australian team reaching Hyderabad. The most courageous effort was made by the Pakistanis led by Asad Munir (Judge, Lahore High Court retd.,) who braved the tragedy that struck their country and came to participate in the event. 

Words cannot match the painstaking efforts made by one and all towards making the Lawyers Cricket World Cup a reality. The enthusiasm generated could be felt only in Cambridge where we met for the second cup. A number of lawyer cricketers expressed their happiness about the concept as such and the fact that it was taking shape despite the difficulties faced both by the hosts and the guests. 

Thus the first-ever Lawyers Cricket World Cup (LCWC) was held in Hyderabad, India from 30 December 2007 to 7 January 2008. But for the active support from the Bench and senior members of the Bar, hosting such a mega event would not have been possible. 

Justice L. Nageswara Rao, Judge, Supreme Court of India, a founder member of Lawyers Cricket in India also a participant and supporter of the visits to various countries, was also a prime mover of the concept Lawyers Cricket World Cup. Most importantly the enthusiasm and initiative shown by all the teams, ably represented by Suresh Chandra (Sri Lanka), James Cartwright (England), Vasheist Kokaram (West Indies), Ron Heinrich (Australia) and above all Asad Munir (Pakistan) laid down the platform and for making the Cup a reality. 

Midway during the event we had a seminar on ‘Developments Public Law,’ where one from each team presented a paper hosted by and at NALSAR University of Law in the outskirts of Hyderabad. 

2nd Lawyers 

Cricket World Cup

To organise cricket between various Commonwealth Jurisdictions on a systematic and regular basis, an International Committee of the Lawyers Cricket World Cup (LCWC) was formed on 3 January 2008 on the outskirts of Hyderabad at Leonia Resorts. At the meeting, all the representatives persuaded the English Barristers to host the 2nd Cup. 

James Cartwright came forward and announced that they would conduct the second cup in 2009. He framed rules for the LCWC and also created a website. But it was the driving force of Robert Percival, who took all of us to the 800-year-old Cambridge University in United Kingdom during July/August 2009. The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales formally declared open the 2nd Lawyers Cricket World Cup at the Cambridge University grounds. 

After the opening ceremony the Lord Chief Justice symbolically faced the first ball from the legendary opening bowler of West Indies Michael Holding. Australia and India reached the Finals which was held at Oval in London on 4 August 2009. In the keenly-fought and enthusiastically-watched nail-biting finals, Australia beat India by a whisker. 

In the penultimate ball of the 2nd Cup, Australia scored the winning runs to get the coveted 2nd Lawyers Cricket World Cup, which was instituted in memory of late Sam Butterfield, a Barrister. Sam and Michala, who were on their way to Rajasthan for a honeymoon trip after the Hyderabad event, died in a tragic accident. The trophy was presented by Justice Sir Neil Butterfield, to the winning Captain from Australia. Midway during the event a seminar titled ‘Justice Beyond the Borders’ was organised at Churchill College in Cambridge. Sports Law was also a subject for discussion. 

3rd Lawyers 

Cricket World Cup

Deliberations at the meeting of the International Committee in Cambridge lead to the bid going in favour of West Indies to host the next event in Barbados. It was Ralph Thorne, who initiated the entire process took the lead to organise the 3rd Lawyers Cricket World Cup at Barbados in August 2011. 

Both the opening and closing ceremonies were held at 3 Ws Oval, University of West Indies on 7 and 21 August 2011. After winning the round robin league matches India met West Indies in the Semi-finals and Sri Lanka met Pakistan. After winning the exciting Semi-final matches, India and Sri Lanka met in the finals and India went on to win the 3rd Lawyers Cricket World Cup at 3 Ws Oval. 

Besides cricket, the guests carried with them the nostalgic memories of being with the legends of cricket history and interacting with them. The guests also carried in their memory host of other things which Barbados could offer to a tourist. 

Sir Garfield Sobers’ gracious presence at the opening and closing ceremonies, to formally declare open the 3rd Lawyers Cricket World Cup and to present the World Cup to the winning team was the highlight of the Barbados event. Sir Everton Weekes (one of the 3 Ws), Wesley Hall, Charlie Griffith, Desmond Haynes, Cammie Smith, Joel Garner and others also spared their time to be amongst the lawyer cricketers and to interact with them throughout the event which lasted for more than couple of weeks. A seminar on Sports Law was organised at the University. 

4th Lawyers 

Cricket World Cup

At the meeting of the International Committee in Barbados it was unanimously decided to go over to India once more for the 4th Lawyers Cricket World Cup in Delhi during October 2013. 

We met again in Delhi for the LCWC4 during October 2013. The Delhi event started with a Sports Law Conference, held over two days with half-day sessions on each day.

LCWC4 was formally set in motion when Arjuna Ranatunga, the legendary cricketer from Sri Lanka, faced the first ball from K.T.S. Tulsi, Chairman, Organising Committee, who formally declared it open at Jamia Milia University Cricket Grounds. After being successful in the round robin league matches, India and Pakistan met at Ferozeshah Kotla for the Finals. The match was live telecast and Pakistan convincingly beat India to take the Cup. The Cup was presented to the winning Captain by Chetan Chauhan, the former Test Opener for India. 

5th Lawyers 

Cricket World Cup

At the initiative of the Australian Lawyers Cricket Council (ALCC) the 5th Lawyers Cricket World Cup was hosted in Brisbane, Australia. Most of the guests were housed at the students’ hostel of Kings College. All the matches were played at the Campus grounds of the Queensland University and at the nearby Wests Cricket Club. 

Queensland Cricketers Club, Gabba was the venue for the Opening Ceremony on 30 December 2015, where Justice Ian Callinan QC AC, Patron, ALCC, formally declared Open LCWC5. Midway through the tournament a Sport Law Conference was hosted at and by the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland. Prof. Sarah Derrington, Dean, welcomed the participants and Anthony Crocker from South Australian Bar conducted the entire conference. 

Hayden Opie, Director of Studies, Melbourne Sports Law Programme spoke on ‘The Long Arm of Anti-Doping Rule,’ tracing the 25 years history of law on anti-doping. Jim Holding from DLA Piper and Head of Queensland Cricket spoke on ‘Corporate Governance of Cricket’. Christopher Johnston from the Queensland Bar Spoke on ‘Burden of Proof under WADA Code’. Lyndon Fahey, an intelligence analyst who specialises in analysing betting to detect instances of match fixing and corruption, spoke on ‘Betting Exchanges – What they are and what do they have to do with cricket’. The last speaker Yasin Patel, a Barrister from London, spoke about his experience as a lawyer for some of the cricketers involved in a no-ball controversy in a Test Match between England and Pakistan. 

The two unbeaten teams in the Round Robin leagues, Pakistan and India met Sri Lanka and Australia in the Semi Finals. For the second time in succession both Pakistan and India reached the finals. In a closely-fought day-night match, Pakistan beat India to become Champions for the second time in succession. Pursuant to glittering fireworks, curtains were brought down, after Alex Martin handed over the Butterfield Cup to Pakistan and Ron Heinrich handed over the Baton to Theja Silva of the Sri Lankan Lawyers Cricket Club, the next hosts.

I have personally witnessed their preparations at least on two occasions in the last 10 months and I am confident that we will be in for a treat from our hosts and carry back nostalgic memories. As everybody else, I will also be eagerly looking forward once again to meet one and all for renewing friendships and also to make new friends.