Colombo Cricket Club

Two months later the group that answered it played its first recorded match, against the 97th Regiment of the British Army.

For close to a century membership stayed closed to Europeans; the rule fell only in 1962, when the committee opened the club to all communities.

The club left Galle Face Green in 1894 for the ground on Maitland Crescent that has been its home since, a venue that staged its first Test match in 1984 and now holds around 6,000 spectators. Maroon has remained the club colour throughout.

Angelo Mathews made his first-class debut here in November 2006 and went on to captain Sri Lanka in Tests; Muttiah Muralitharan, the leading wicket-taker in Test history, also wore the maroon cap. Kusal Mendis, a former ODI captain, has represented the club since 2017.

Colombo, the Sinhalese Sports Club and the Nondescripts Cricket Club form Sri Lankan cricket's so-called Holy Trinity, and fixtures against the Sinhalese Sports Club are still billed as the Colombo Derby. The Premier Trophy has come to Maitland Crescent seven times, from 1979–80 to 2021.

Shammi Silva, elected president in 2019, presided over a run of white-ball success: the club won the 2019–20 Twenty20 tournament, beating Chilaw Marians in the final, and that form carried through to 2025, when Colombo lifted the Major Clubs Limited Over Tournament against the Sri Lanka Police Sports Club.