Kerala Cricket Association honours 16 ex-Ranji players

Kerala Cricket Association on Wednesday honoured former Ranji trophy cricket players during their annual award programme at a function here.

Kozhikode: Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) on Wednesday honoured former Ranji trophy cricket players during their annual award programme at a function here.

Sixteen veteran players above 65 years were honoured at the function, attended by KCA President T R Balakrishnan, KCA Secretary T C Mathew and other KCA officials. Suri Gopalakrishnan, A P M Gopalakrishnan, V Kuttikrishnan, V Manikanda Kurup, A Ramaswamy, U Subrahmanian, M A Nandakumar, PV Surendran, Dr N Vasudevan Thirumulpad, M Philip Varghese, K Rajagopal, P C Moses, Mohankumar, K R V K Thampuran, T V Neelakanta Pillai and A Padmanabhan, who played for Kerala in 1960-61 to 1971-72 were the players honoured. In the Diamond Jubilee year 2011, KCA introduced a `one-time endowment scheme` for former state players in recognition of their selfless service to Kerala cricket. The scheme was intended for former Ranji trophy players, who are alive and not covered by the monthly gratis given by the BCCI. An amount of Rs 10 lakh was given to the family of late Sneharaj, who was the Vice-President of KCA and also a noted curator and an efficient administrator, at the function. In his memory an annual award for the `best curator of KCA` was also instituted this year. PTI