MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THESE BY F.R.(DICKIE)
De ZOYSA
I have seen every Royal-Thomian cricket match,
except two, since 1914, but for me. Royal-Thorn ians began long
before that. Long before 1 was old enough to go to school, the
Royal-Thomian and it's result was hotly debated at home, weeks
before the match was played. My uncles were Thomians, my mother was
a Thomian. She was actually a student at S. T. C., where girls were
admitted to the Kindergarten.
As I was saying, the Royal-Thomian began weeks
before the match with hotly discussed anticipations of the result,
at home. Then, on the morning of the match, came the excitement of
rushing around for flags and rosettes, and believe it or not,
collecting bamboos and sticks for flicking others' flags and for the
inevitable street brawls after the match. There were brawls on the
grounds too. generally outside the rival tents. While 1 well
remember and will speak of things other than what went on out there
on the field, there are certain indelible memories of actions in the
middle.
I remember S. Saravanamuttu, Captain of S. T.
C. batting and pasting hell out of the Royal bowling. Suddenly, he
walks off the field without a word to anyone. The Royalists and the
umpires just stand and gaze as Sara walks into the pavilion. They
wait patiently. Sara returns in a little while and resumes batting.
The game goes on as if nothing had interrupted it. Later, the story
comes out. While at the crease, Sara had seen his brother Manicam
involved in a fight in the tent. He had walked off the field, stood
beside his brother and thrashed it out (meaning the others) then
walked back to resume the battle on the field.
Another Sara incident. This time, Manicam,
umpiring, just walks off the field. The game Is held up until he
returns, which he does without much delay, and the game goes on.
While umpiring he had seen his sister, later Mrs. Thuraiappa, being
ragged by some boys. He had left the game. given those boys a few
blows coupled with terrifying promises of what he would do to them
if they didn't leave his sister alone, and returned to resume his
job as umpire. Think of such interruptions to the game today!
There was that match when It looked as if Botha
de Kretser of Royal would beat the then existing record individual
score of 103 held by B. T. (Later Reverend) Jansz. S. Sara was
captaining S. T. C., and was trying everything to dislodge Botha.
Then he began to bowl under-arm. Even before the spectators'
consternation had begun to register, someone threw a rubber ball on
to the field and yelled, "Come on Sara! Try this." How or from where
that rubber ball appeared on the scene so quickly is one of those
things which can only happen at a Royal-Thomian. For those who are
interested in statistics, Sara won the day. Botha was out in the
eighties and the Thomian record of 103 stood for many more years,
until the great Neil Joseph broke it in 1925 with 113, and then,
remarkably, unbeatably, broke his own record the very next year with
a glorious 133.
One more Sara incident, the year I played for
S. T. C. Before I relate that, I must correct a wrong impression
many people have. I am generally believed to be the only one to have
played for both Royal and S.Thomas'. This is not correct. Before me,
there were two others who played first for Royal and then for S.
Thomas'-Claude Orr and Tom Tweed.
To return to my year. Pat Barber and I were
batting well and putting on a good partnership for the last wicket.
M. Sara the Umpire, told me softly but very distinctly, "Zoysa, you
are batting well, but you would serve your side much better if you
scored three times as fast or got out right-now." I tried a big hit
and was out the next ball. And this is the point. It was a needle
finish. Either side could have won it, but we made it by twenty
three runs with no more than a few minutes before stumps. If I
hadn't taken the umpire's advice, the match might have been drawn.
Another thriller in 1923 when Arthur
LankatiIIeke captained S. T. C. We hadn't a chance In hell of
winning, but were hanging on grimly to save it. In the third ball of
the last over of the match, I think it was Cecil Dias, who bowled a
blatant full toss, and Rudolph Jayatilleke spooned up a dolly catch
which was gratefully and gleefully accepted to give Royal victory by
59 runs.
As I said, I have seen Royai-Thomian matches
since 1914. When young, you are more than partisan. You are ready to
shed and spill blood for the honour of your school. When you your'
self play, you strain every muscle and nerve to breaking point to
win, or if that is not possible, to save the match. Before I forget,
in those days, it was customary for the Thomian team to be enter'
tained to lunch on the day of the match by the Warden at his home.
And after lunch, Gala would give each player asiab of chocolates and
an orange. After the match, the winners would stage i superb
fireworks display on Galle Face Green at which the losers would be
their honoured guests,
To return to the middle, it is all too true
that spectators are bored with a draw and curse the players for not
giving them a decisive finish, but think of the 22 youngsters who
have been fighting it out there. To those 22, the result of the
match is a matter of life and death. If they can't win then they
just must not lose. Losing would be worse than death. So let us
stand up and applaud the grit and guts of those who won't throw in
the sponge, but fight to live to fight another day.
And here is one of the strangest things about a
Royal-Thomian. Ask anyone who has played in it and later played club
or even International cricket. Nothing can compare with the Royal'
Thomian. You have played against other schools, you have experienced
the thrill of combat, of the cheering and jeering, but when you walk
out to the middle, in the Royal-Thomian, you are in a dazs, You are
like a disembodied spirit in a trance, out there, until the first
few drops of sweat steady your nerves and bring you back to reality.
It is an un-nerving, unforgettable experience which makesal other
walks out to the middle, pale In comparison.
Tv/o Thomians in particular, must endorse this
because, apart from the nerve-racking experience, they hold two
uninvidious records. One batted four times and got out for a duck
eac* time. The other got out in an unique way. He was bowled off his
bum! Later, these Thomian! were rewarded for their guts in refusing
to commit suicide after those shattering experiences, Each in his
time, was rewarded by being made Inspector General of Police.
The Royal-Thomian has been, is and always will
be an unique experience for players i spectators. Talking of
spectators, there is no doubt that the two greatest events in this
coun for them are the Kandy Perahera and the Royal-Thomian. The
majority will say that the moi important of the two is the Kandy
Perahera, which proves the dictum that the minority always has|
truer conception of things!
As a spectator, the time comes when you have
seen so many Royal-Thomian matches th you are no longer really
partisan. You reach the stage when you don't care who wins or lose
Sometimes you don't even know who won. That is immaterial. You have
come for tl greatest social event, to meet old friends, to discuss
the game, the players, to be sociable. Ya drink during the game,
pub-crawl afterwards and drink on until "Morpheus seals our eyes
with slot1 delicious and profound. The very counterfeit
of death. And there we are till tender dawn brusix the Eastern sky
with her Rose-tinted finger-tips........."
This reminds me of the days when the only
outsiders who were allowed to have a tent with] the grounds were the
Medicoes. They used to liven up the proceedings with their parades
ail posters. I will never forget. Reed had just come as Principal of
Royal. Stone was Warden of S.T. The Medicoes paraded with this
poster:
"Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor withered
Reeds a cage."
Arguments about the match reminds me of a
classic remark. I have seen three of my m thers, Sidney,
Lucien and Douggie play in the Royal-Thomian. However, it was one of
my broth who had never taken part in any competitive sport who
talked most about the match and its cert outcome, long before the
game was over-Stanley. Once, when Royal hadn't a ghost of a chai of
winning, he kept telling me precisely why, how and when Royal would
win it. Listening to was a huge Englishman, who suddenly chipped in,
"My dear fellow," he told Stanley, "Royal has much chance of winning
this match as you have of meeting me in heaven!" I was thrilled and
sl "Thank you, Sir. May I please know who you are?" "I'm George
Bay," he replied and added played for S. Thomas' before this
youngster knew Blue Black from Blue and Gold."
F. R. (Dickie) De Zoysa
