By IANS,
Kolkata : To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first ever official cricket Test match at the Eden Gardens here, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) have come together this week to issue 1,000 commemorative covers.
The covers, each with a unique stamp and a postmark to commemorate the Test match played between India and England at the Eden Jan 5-8, 1934, feature the scorecard and the match day images from what was the second official Test match in India.
The photographs of the two captains – India’s Col C.K. Nayudu and England’s Douglas Jardine – are also prominently displayed on the limited edition stamp which was cancelled with an MCC postmark on Jan 5 at London – the day the match started – CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya told a media meet.
On Thursday – Jan 8 – when the last day of the match was played – the CAB released a colour print of the stamp.
Dalmiya said he had written to MCC president Derek Underwood in October, suggesting a series of proposed collaborations, following which the MCC sent its approval.
Dalmiya said he has been invited to inaugurate Stampex, one of the world’s largest philatelic exhibitions in London next month. The former International Cricket Council chief said he would meet MCC officers in London and hold discussions on advancing cooperation between the two cricket bodies.
Asked whether the CAB can enter into a collaboration with the MCC without the board’s approval, Dalmiya said: “We are doing this for the cause of the game. But yes, we will send the cover to the BCCI”.
Electing to bat, England had piled up 403 in their opening essay, and then made the hosts to follow on by bowling them out for 247. India scored 237 in their second knock, before England managed seven for two in the drawn Test.