sentences:  His Excellency Sir Reginald Edward Stubbs, the Governor of Ceylon officially opened the Colombo Oval on 27 January 1940.In the intervening years, Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu was instrumental in preparing the grounds to the standard of first class cricket, cultivating a superb playing area out of land that resembled a marshy swamp, with the kind assistance of the Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Mr D.S.Senanayake (later the first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka).