a position he held until 1933. The first MCC tour took place in January and February 1927, when MCC played four first-class matches in Ceylon as part of their tour of the Indian subcontinent. Apart from that tour, the first three first-class tours of Ceylon were all organised and sponsored by Rockwood. The first team Rockwood brought to Ceylon was W. E. Lucas's Bombay team in February 1926, which played what is now regarded as the first first-class match in Ceylon, against a Ceylon team named in Rockwood's honour. Playing on the Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground that Rockwood had developed, Dr J. Rockwood's Ceylon XI, a mixture of Ceylonese and European cricketers, beat W. E. Lucas's Bombay XI by seven wickets. Rockwood also brought over J. D. Antia's team from Bombay in December 1929, when Dr J. Rockwood's Ceylon XI again won the only first-class match. In December 1930 he brought over the Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagram's XI, a strong team which included many of the best Indian players as well as the English champion batsmen Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe. The Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagram's XI won the first match against Dr J. Rockwood's Ceylon XI and the other two were drawn. In all, Rockwood sponsored 47 cricket matches in Sri Lanka, including five of Sri Lanka's first nine first-class matches. He gained nothing financially from any of his sponsorships, donating the proceeds to charity or to the Ceylon Cricket Association. Other sports Rockwood was also at various times the president of the bodies governing football, hockey, swimming and athletics in Ceylon. He organised the first overseas trip by the Ceylon hockey team, their tour of Madras in 1921. Personal life Rockwood and his wife Sivakolundu had four children. Colonel David Rockwood was his nephew. He died on 2 December 1935, aged 54. References 1881 births 1935 deaths Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of Ceylon Medical College Sri Lankan Tamil physicians Sri Lankan cricketers Academic staff of Ceylon Medical College Sri Lankan military doctors Sri Lankan cricket administrators Sri Lankan philanthropists 20th-century philanthropists Ceylon Medical Corps officers Ceylonese lieutenant colonels