Some reminiscence of a very old
old boy
When two young Royalists came to
me and asked for something written on the Royal Thomian match of my time, it
is something that heartens me. The two happen to be Chathuranga, son of Col.
K. T. N. De Silva who was the Administrative Officer in Parliament, when I
was the Secretary General of Parliament, and the other, Chayanka
Wickremasinghe my wife's nephew. They do not know that I saw my last match
as a school boy in 1941, when it was played at the N. C. C. grounds. That
was the year N. T. Wijesuriya played a chanceless innings of 81 runs and
Chicka Molamure went on to score 113 runs in the Thomian total of 360 for 8
wickets.
I was the Tent Secretary that
year, with Arthman Rupesinghe along with Yoga Yogasundaran, Sepala
Illangakoon, Vivian Wickremasinghe, Tiddy Abeysekara whose brother Dugal
Abeysekara joined the R. A. R and died over Germany. In fact none of the
eleven that played is amongst us today. And of the Royal team probably only
one is alive, that is T. E. Jansz in Canada.
Royal made 204 and when sent in to
follow-on were 119 for 8 needing 36 runs with Dr. Minoo Jilla holding the
fort with his traditional grit, with Jansz holding the fort and only Macan
Markar to follow. The rains came and the covers were rather hurriedly pulled
down and that was the end of the match. Molamure's father (Hon) A. H. E.
Molamure played in the S. T. C. team in 1901. His son Franz was in the
Thomian team in 1981, he is now settled down in New Zealand. Raja Proctor of
the Ceylon Navy, Vernon Prins, Dr. Baski Saravanamuthu, Orville Abeynaike,
Ronnie Abeyserkara and Sam Elapata were some of the others I remember in
that team. Orville Abeynaike was a self effacing gentleman of dedication and
loyalty. One of his four sons is Ranil Abeynaike well-known in cricket
circles today.
One historic match of our time was
when Bertie Wijesinghe got V. H. Gunasekera in the 181st ball of the 1939
match, also on the N. C. C. grounds. Bertie's brother W. A. Wijesinghe got
10 Royal wickets in the 1933 match, went on to score a century in the 1934
match and to win a scholarship in Classics in that year to the University
College ending up with a 2nd Upper in the London Classics Honours
examination. That was an era when Sam Elapata and K. L. M. Peiris figured in
the highest
last wicket partnership of 114
runs in 1944. His brother got a hat-trick in 1945. Their youngest brother
Upali got 11 wickets in 1945 & 1946. This brings the total of Royal wickets
to 27 with their grand father who played in the match of 1885, captained the
team in 1888 and took 4 Royal wickets. This was to be a record for one
family.
The tent for the first time sold
tickets, without refreshments. The boys and their guests had to buy them.
Almost the 1st time in the history of the match we made a profit after
paying all bills for lunches at the Pagoda, Pilawoos, Paris, Buharis and the
traditional driver Pabilis' petrol bills. That was the era when Mrs. Heyn
the Matron of Winchester House (the tiny tots) used to tell the Captain,
when he was going to the nearby pavilion, how to set the field. The Captain
always listened to her with reverence and continued his trek to the
pavilion, muttering "I will need 20 in the team to set the field as Mrs.
Heyn tells". Year in and Year out. She was an institution at S. T. C. She
was the mother of the Army Commander, General B. R. Heyn of revered memory.
After the match those days the 1st
term literally ended. The Royal Cricketers used to come to S. T. C, most of
them on their mud-guard-less cycles, sit with us in class, and joined us at
the traditional lunch in the College dining hall. After a short rest in our
cubicles they delighted themselves by jumping into the swimming pool, with
or without, whatever people wore on those occasions.
Many friendships blossomed out in
those halcyon days, even when there was a war on. One of the outstanding men
of the Royal team was Tissa Wickremasinghe who was the second highest scorer
in the 1st innings with 29 runs rattled off in a few overs, but could only
get 17 runs in the second innings, falling victim to the wily H. S.
Coomaraswamy's "doosra" of Muralitharan's fame today, never heard of then.
I mentioned this of Tissa because
he used my prefect's cubicle in Chapman House, whenever he came, and that
friendship continued after having seen his 16 year old sister, cheering at
that match for Royal and for the lusty brother and that friendship resulted
in me getting married to her in 1948.
Sam Wijesinha
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