Colts Cricket Club

Angelo Mathews captained Colts before he ever led Sri Lanka, and the club he came through still measures itself against that kind of pedigree: Nuwan Kulasekara took them to the Premier Limited Overs title in 1898–99.

The club traces itself to 1873, making it the first Ceylonese cricket club in the country, but the identity now recognised as Colombo Colts only settled in July 1886, when Burgher cricketers led by Dr T. F. Garvin brought together the club and a breakaway faction of younger Victoria CC players under one committee, with Colvin Kelaart as captain. Between 1886 and 1900 the club lost just seven of 157 matches, and in 1891 it dismissed Colombo Cricket Club for 31 in the second innings.

That fixture against Colombo Cricket Club remains the club's derby, ahead of the games against Sinhalese Sports Club, Nondescripts and Tamil Union. The Colts left their original Pettah ground for Havelock Park in 1921, onto land that was uneven and sandy when they arrived; a pavilion followed in 1924, and it stood for nearly a century until a new red-brick pavilion opened in September 2022 under president Nishantha Ranatunga, timed to lead into the club's 150th anniversary in 2023.

Six Premier Trophy titles, the last in 2011–12, sit alongside that single limited-overs crown from 1998–99. In 2022 the club reached the final of the Major Clubs T20 Tournament as runners-up, the closest recent measure of where the side stands against the rest of Colombo's first-class clubs.