1962 AND ALL THAT BY VIJAYA MALALASEKERA
The year 1962 was significant in that it was a
year where the son following in the footsteps of the father
captained Royal. Royal was led by that great athlete and pace bowler
Darrel Lieversz, who went on to represent Sri Lanka in both
athletics and cricket. I was a member of the team which comprised S.
Thiagarajah, P. Withana, S. S. Kumar, R. C. de Silva, S. D.
Jayaratne, J. D. "Shaw" Wilson, S. Rajaratnam, V. Gowrishankaran and
T. R. Jansen. It was not a team of giants but in my view it
had perhaps the finest spirit a team could have.
On 9th and 10th March 1962, all roads led to
the Oval. The captains tossed and Darrel called wrongly. The
Thomians started by losing Morrell at 12 then L. S. Perera at 36.
Fortunately Ananda Medonza and R. M. Fernando took the score up to
75 before R. M. left- 3 for 75, 4 for 81, 5 for 86, 6 for 86. Then
came the best stand of the innings between P. N. Selvadurai and
Anura Tennekoon the 15 year old baby of the side. They
took the score from 6 for 86 to 174 when Tennekoon departed with his
individual tally at 28. The Thomians finally folded up at 197.
Royal started disastrously going in to bat at
4.34. Shaw Wilson and Gowrishankaran were both out with the score at
6. Then came the best batting for the day between Kumar and
Jayaratne who smothered the bowling blue, black and yellow. At the
end of the day Royal were 77 for 2 with Kumar on 37 and Jayaratne on
35.
Next morning Jayaratne departed without adding
to his overnight score, 77 for 3. Withana left after having scored
2—4 for 83. Then Kumar and I took the score to 103 when I departed—5
for 103. Skipper Darrel left at the same score 6 for 103. Whilst
Kumar stood there like the Rock of Gibraltar, wickets fell and
finally Darrel called the boys in at 8 for 138, 59 runs behind.
The Thomians after lunch were in a bad way
against the Lieversz-de Silva combination and were 83 for 8 at tea.
A sporting declaration by Keith Labrooy left Royal 143 to win In 120
minutes.
In those two hours the game of cricket won and
lost. Wilson was first to go at 18, then Gowrishankaran, our opener
played an innings, perhaps one of the greatest short innings seen in
a Royal-Thomian since Nirmalingam's 69 in 1954. He played with gay
abandon, it was sheer poetry in motion. His cover driving was
beautiful, nay it was exquisite. He raced to 50 in 68
minutes and he and Kumar put Royal ahead of the clock. When Kumar
departed after a delightful 31 the scoreboard read 2 for 76. Then
Jayaratne was cruelly run out for 5; 94 for 3. Withana after having
fortified himself with, you know what, played four glorious shots to
score 16-4 for 116. I was the next to go at the same score, 5 for
116. Fate was really cruel to Royal and more so to our left handed
bomb Gowrishankaran who was struck down with cramps. As recorded he
scored 50 in 68 minutes and took 52 minutes to add 11 more runs.
However, back to the game-R. C. de Silva left when the score was
121, Darrel left at 125. In the last over we needed 12 runs to win
and we managed only 2.
The press reporting on the match the next day
stated that never in years had there been such an exciting finish to
this match and never have fortunes fluctuated so much with the
result in the balance throughout the two days.
It was another draw. Kumar's 68 not out in the
first innings and 31 in the second were great knocks played in the
best of traditions. Jayaratne created a new wicket-keeping record -
he had a match bag of 8 dismissals. Darrel and R. C. de Silva showed
that they were way ahead in bowling. Gowrishankaran our opener
justified his selection in more than ample measure. I have yet to
see a short innings of that calibre. Last but not least the man who
guided this team was Mahes Rodrigo alias "Saha" to the team. He
instilled something to the team which no team had before or after.
That was '62. Many moons have passed, but those
who played will never forget and will give anything to re-live those
two hours on the second day.
"Outsider Malale looking in:
