Trinity College has been playing cricket at the Kandy Asgiriya Stadium for the past 100 years with its turf pitches holding fond memories not only for them but to a unique curator family spanning three generations.A turf wicket needs the loving care of groundsmen who have learnt the ABC of wicket preparations for a long time and passed it down from father to son.
There are no short cuts to getting turf wickets ready for matches as ill prepared strips can turn out to be dangerous and even ruin the smooth conduct of the match.
Trinity however has had the good fortune of having three generations of born experts as groundsmen. T.G. Marthelis Appuhamy was at Trinity as groundsman from 1914 to 1964. His son T.G.Wickremapala was there from 1964 to 1998. His son T.G. Nimal, of the third generation is presently in charge of the Asgiriya International Stadium from 1976.
The Father of the Turf, Marthelis did not get an opportunity to see the Asgiriya cricket ground become an international Stadium in the early 1980s. But his son and grandson were fortunate to serve as ground boys when Sri Lanka was granted Test status at the time when an old boy of Trinity, the late Gamini Dissanayake, was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka.