Thread by @Paperclip_In

What connects a town on India’s Malabar Coast, a British war hero who vanquished Napoleon and the most English of games, cricket – a thread (1/n)

An ancient spice trade hub, the town of Thalassery (erstwhile Telicheri) in Kerala, saw the arrival of the British East India Company in 1694 (2/n)

Over the next 100 years, the British consolidated their control over Thalassery until revolts by local princes and rulers in the late 18th century started undermining their supremacy (3/n)

Thus in 1800 arrived at Thalassery, fresh from vanquishing Tipu of Mysore, Col. Arthur Wellesley to take charge as the commander of Malabar, South Canara and Mysore (4/n)

In time, he would add further laurels to his name, defeating the formidable Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo (5/n)

When he was not detained by affairs of the state, Col. Wellesley was, according to local folklore, often found playing cricket at the town ground with his colleagues (6/n)

But with Thalassery not being a very large station, sometimes the Englishmen were short of hands.
And thus something very unique happened which possibly didn’t happen yet in Calcutta, Bombay or Poona (7/n)

Locals, who often stood watching Wellesley and his men enjoying a game, were frequently called up to join them. Most popular were the dhobi lads who washed clothes near the ground and the fishermen from the nearby beach (8/n)

Although Wellesley left India in June, 1804, the cricketing tradition endured at the town. Over time, some of these locals became so good at the game that when regiments were transferred out, they took their “local recruits” with them (9/n)

Verbal tales recount the exploits of some of these men like “Dhobi” Ebru who would rush back to his washing duties after putting down a few overs and “Sixer” Kunjipakki who as his nick-name suggests, was famous for his huge hits (10/n)

Then there was “Anson” Abubaker, a wicket-keeper renowned for standing right up to the stumps to even fast bowlers (11/n)

And long after Wellesley, another English hero would also have a tryst with Thalassery and its cricket grounds. Colin Cowdrey, the first man to play 100 test matches, was born in a tea estate in Ootacamund where his father was the manager (12/n)

The senior Cowdrey, an avid cricketer, was part of a planters’ cricket team who regularly came to play at Thalassery. Little Colin accompanied his father and was often found taking on bowlers with a bat usually bigger than him! (13/n)

In 1930, a cricket team owned by the Maharajakumar of Vizianagaram visited Thalassery to take on the local Thalassery Cricket Club, raising the prestige of Thalassery cricket by several notches (14/n)

In 2002, to celebrate 200 years of Thalassery Municipal Stadium, a cricket match was played between Indian and Sri Lankan teams (video link)
(15/n)

Sources:
indiatoday.in/magazine/offtr…
keralatourism.org/thalassery/tou…
bharatstories.com/interesting-fa…