BEHIND THE
SCENES IN 1967
by warden
DR.
D.A PONNIAH
When the Editors of
the souvenir asked me to contribute an article on the 1967 Royal
Thomian cricket match, I did
not want to write still another record of the match that was a
draw. What I thought I would do is try and recall the events
that took place outside the field of play.
We had a mixed season
that year. We were, I thought, a well-balanced side with three
coloursman, including skipper
Bandaranayake. We had some
good games and some pretty
poor performances as well. I can recall the Trinity game
whiljre Thomian grit was
missing and capitulated.
Overall we were had a
reasonable season, whereas
Royal were having an outstanding season,
pamarily due to the bowling
of Chris Chitty. The one
thing we did not lack was team spirit, with the most spirited
being Ajit Jayasekera and
Prgbodba Kapyawasam.
The two clowned their
way through the season while
performing wonders on the
playing field.
Deejan de Saram and I were
.the chief victims, and even
Head Prefect Bandaranayake was not spared. The camaraderie was superb.
When the Warden,
Rev. A. J. C. Selvaratnam announced the
Cricket Colours, on the Wednesday before the game against
St Peters, only ten of the
players were certain to play
in the Royal-Thomian. The eleventh player was not chosen because
the Master-in-Charge, Mr. O.
A. Abeynaike, and the
captain, J D BandaraRayake, were still
unsure.
It was sensational
at the time but not uncommon
these days to leave the final selection to the last minute. As
freshers we were thrilled to be awarded colours and proudly were
measured for our blazers with material specially imported from
the UK. A practice continuing to this day.
Manilka Wijesooriya was awarded
colours on the Wednesday before the
RoyalThomian, and we were ready for battle. We practised
as usual on the Thursday and then we told to assemble on Friday
morning. Our mental preparation was listening to Ajit and
Kari telling us outrageous
jokes with the Royalists being the chief victims, to
Deejan's and my
relie.
On Thursday evening, 1
was sitting at home nervously whitening my boots while my
clothes were washed and ironed by my mother. The doorbell rang
and a group of my Royalist friends, I had many as I lived next
to Royal, invited me to join the cycle procession, which I duly
did.
The procession wended
its way to SJ's house where
the Royal team was having dinner. After a rendering of the Royal
College song, I walked across and spoke to the cricketers who
were quite surprised to seme there.
As per tradition we
had breakfast with the Warden on the morning of the first
day of the Match. Although Warden
Selvaratnam was not a great enthusiast of cricket, he had
been well coached by the Skipper about what he should and should
not say.
Even at that time
Skipper
Bandaranayake showed great
skills in managing people for the greater good of College.
Arrival at the ground
was greeted with much signing of autographs and an opportunity
to meet lots of people, with large numbers of the fairer sex.
Skipper Bandaranayake and
Wijesooriya seemed to have more supporters than anyone
else!
The Oval wicket was always quite lively
in the first hour of play, and Ajit
and I were told to be particularly watchful. Imagine the start
of the game; green and lively wicket, Chris
Chitty (the highest
wicket-taker that season by a long
way), and 10,000 spectators.
I am afraid the word,'watchful'
did not feature in Ajit's
vocabulary! In the first over
a ball pitched outside off stump, swinging further away was
dispatched to the square leg boundary. I cannot remember what I
said but I can assure it was not complimentary! Ajit with his
usual swagger continued to maul Chris Chitty.
Then wickets began to
fall and there was general panic as batsman rushed to find
and don pads. There was much wringing of hands, mostly by the Mr
Abeynaike! We finally
got to 136, thanks to the middle order. Royal batted and almost
overhauled us by the end of the day.
At the end of the
first day's play we all went our separate ways and arranged to
meet at the grounds the next day. The team-talk, interspersed
with the deadly duo making us laugh, was about not letting the
Royalists get a big score that morning.
We need not have
worried because in the first hour they scored 1 run! The
Royalists were reminded that spectators had played good money to
watch the game.
When we went in the
second time the game was destined to be a draw or a win for
Royal. Ajit again
demonstrated his capacity to attack and completely demolished
the Royal attack. 1 stood at the other end and admired his
unconventional but effective style of batting.
I am glad we have no
video footage because it was not a pretty sight to see a bowler
who had destroyed everything before him being mauled.
Ajit's attack was
folhwed by
Azam Hameed, another
uncompromising batsman. Although I received the plaudits I
consider my innings to be only the third best on the day.
The end of the innings
and the end of the match is only a blur, and 1 can only piece
together accounts from
others. By all accounts it was an enjoyable end to still another
draw.
I do remember Skipper
Bandaranayake being
criticised for not declaring earlier but the game was already a
draw due to the sluggish batting earlier in the day, and a
declaration would have been meaningless.
Well it is history
now.
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