THE YEAR ROYALISTS LEARNT THE THOMIAN SONG
How true this was. At 10.55 a.m. on Saturday,
12th March 1988 the 109th "Battle of the
Blues" came to a close with the start of a rapturous Thomian
celebration of a victory gained over the old rival ending that
long agonising twenty four year old hoodoo.
It was a dream come true for the whole team.
Leading a Thomian team to victory and winning the way we did will
always be high in my memory.
The match lasted only 55 minutes on the third
day. I remember by the time most of the spectators came in to the
Oval the match was over. Some Thomians and Royalists alike were very
disappointed the way Royalists folded up without putting up a fight
on the third day which robbed them of their day's pleasure. Who
could argue, this is one event that we wait for to have fun and
mingle with our old friends.
Coming back to the match it's safe to say that
we were at the peak of our game by the time we came in to the Big
one. But like good wine that matures, the lead up was something to
write about which in my mind made the victory possible.
We went into the 87/88 season with six
coloursmen, with the pressure of living up to the best All Island
team tag achieved the previous year. The season started with a bang,
beating Thurstan College in only one day. Freshman Yasasri Mendis
ran through the Thurstan batting order with the new ball. The mid
season progressed without any wins. But we were getting the better
of most teams. True to form, we started our winning march with an
innings win over St.Joseph's. Left arm paceman Lashan
Egalahewa getting a hat trick was the highlight of this game. We
went in for the Tnnity College game brimming with confidence. This
turned in to one of the most interesting games during the season. We
beat Trinity College by an innings and one run. The amazing story
about this match was that, by tea time on the second day we had
taken nine wickets and were heading for an obvious victory. The
Trinity last wicket held on for almost the whole session only to get
out on the last ball of the day. Two out of two and it was two games
to go. I remember a note sent to me by the great Thomian cricketer
of yesteryear and our coach during 86/87 Bertie Wijesinha before the
St.Peter's game. It simply said, "Win the St.Peter's game and you
will win against Royal". By the time we came in to the Big Match we
had beaten St.Peter's by eight wickets and made it three in a row.
We were aware that we had beaten Royal last so
many years ago. However, we were quietly confident. We relied on a
team effort rather than any one player doing it alone. No player got
a 100 wickets or a 1000 runs but everybody chipped in. Vajira
Wijegunawardena was the pick of the batsmen and Lashan Egalahewa who
picked up wickets at will were the front runners during 87/88.
The first day of the Royal-Thomian always is a
tensed affair. It was a customary thing that the Warden at the time,
Neville De Alwis and Coach Trevor Edwards talk to the team about
fair play before every match. This was no exception.
Royal Captain Anura Fernando won the toss and
surprisingly elected to field. We declared our innings at 254 for 7
wickets leaving Royal one hour of batting. Three wonderful half
centuries by Naresh Adikaram (51), Aruna Gunawardene (54) and Nisal
Fernando (64) laid the foundation for things to come. With every
four scored personal and team milestone achieved, Thomians young and
old were singing the Thomian song. Royal went in to bat needing only
105 runs to avoid the follow on. But the batting started to fall
apart leaving Royal 25 for 5 wickets by the end of the first day. As
a player in the field, the atmosphere was electrifying. The noise
was all around and you could hear only the Thomian song. Royal
pinning their hopes on their best batsman Nigel Fernando failed to
make an impact and were dismissed for 95 soon after lunch. Suranga
Lokubalasuriya made a valiant effort with 47 but to no avail.
Following on Royal did not look like doing any better finishing on
81 for 7 wickets on day two. Twenty four years was a long wait. The
College Song was sung so often that even the Royalists were seen
joining in. By day three spectators turned up not to see Royal save
the game but to see at what time the game would be over, Lashan
Egalahewa finished off the tail as expected.
Needless to say we were overjoyed and looking
to grab souvenirs. And the first thing you do is to make a charge
for the wickets and bails. On a humorous note, my brother Suresh had
the experience of diving for the only souvenir lying around which
was a bail that no player had seen only to lose it from his grasp to
an umpire.
This was incidentally the highest winning
margin for S.Thomas' winning by an innings and 72 runs beating the
previous margin of an innings and 34 runs in 1953. It was the first
time since 1952 that Royal had been bowled out for less than 100
runs in both innings. At the end of the game several Royalists
joining the Thomians carried the members of the Thomian Team high on
their shoulders round the stands. Thus ended another memorable Big
Match. A great joy to see a Thomian win.
No Thomian side in recent memory has won five
matches in a season which includes St.Joseph's, Trinity, St.Peter's
and Royal. Making it no surprise S.Thomas' was awarded the best All
Island Team Trophy for the 87/88 season.
I am proud to have captained the victorious
team in 1988. My grandfather captained S.Thomas' College in 1919 and
1920 and ended up losing both matches by an innings to Royal. I
guess it's a fitting tribute to my grandfather to lead a Thomian
side to victory. I would like to include a short passage from an
Article of his in "A History of a Hundred Years of the Royal-S.Thomas'
Cricket Match" published to commemorate the Centenary Match in 1979.
It reads "This effort of mine is probably my last direct connection
with S.Thomas' College. But to carry on the family tradition I have
three small grandsons at College and all three show promise of
becoming cricketers. I hope they will do better than their
grandfather".
Now having enough experience as a spectator at
the Royal-Thomian Matches I understand why some people were not
happy with the early finish.
Keep singing the College Song!
ANURA BULANKULAME
