CRICKET AT S. THOMAS
by C. T. A Schafter
When one speaks of S
Thomas' the first thing that comes to mind is the game of
cricket. It is entwined with the progress of the school, its
history and its traditions, and S Thomas would be what it now is
without its cricket. Thomians like myself have been nurtured and
brought up in the traditions of cricket from the day we entered
the school, because the entire activities of the school revolve
around cricket and its progress. Winning the Royal Thomian Match
is possibly more important than getting through the University
Entrance.
Needless to say, this
emphasis on cricket has sometimes affected the studies of the
cricketers, but on the other hand it has helped them
tremendously on the larger stage of life. The lessons we learnt
on the cricket field, the displays of a sportsmanship, the need
for humility, fair play, and above all team spirit. This is what
makes Thomians a cut above the rest. Schools like Royal may
excell in producing good students. S Thomas's has excelled in
producing outstandingly great men, and that is the essential
difference between S Thomas and other schools.
Particularly, those
who have had the privilege of going through the boarding house
of S Thomas received a full and rounded education, spiced with
the flavour of cricket which even if they did not play it
affected all and sundry.
I entered St. Thomas
in 1935 in the Kindergarten during the time of Miss Bay. During
our PT classes we often had a game of cricket. Thalassa where we
studied was on one side of the Big Club grounds, and our
teachers often turned a blind eye when cricket matches were
going on. In fact, we would be asked to either draw or write
something about the cricket match. That is how teachers merged
themselves into the spirit of the school.
Of course we also had
Fr. Yin who from the day he entered the portals of St. Thomas a
announced his bitter hatred of all that was cricket. He used to
go away to Gurutalawa during the Royal/Thomian Match, to show
his pseuded disapproval of the game. But we all knew it was only
to enable Fr. Foster to come down to Colombo and witness the
match. I think however that by the time it came for him to leave
S Thomas, the fever of cricket had affected him as well.
If we ask for the
names of well known Thomians, they would more often be
cricketers rather than politicians, administrators or successful
businessmen. This goes back to the early days of the school and
the beginnings of the Royal/Thomian match, which was the only
real "Big Mach" for several yes. Memories of the past 65 years
or more from the time I went for my first Royal/Thomian match
came to my mind. Donald Fairweather was the Captain, and M. 0.
Gooneratne scored a 100 runs, and took five wickets in the same
match. Before my time, famous names were the Saravanamuttu's,
the Wnaduragalas, the Elapathas, Dudley and Robert Senanayake,
the Hermon Brothers, and of course Lankatilleke who is still
with us, and aged over 95. All these men have shone on the field
of cricket and distinguished themselves in one way or another.
Donald Fairweather was the star in my young days. He was an
outstanding cricketer and sportsman, and gained fame when he hit
a six into a passing train.
Bertie Wijesinghe was
soon to follow. I believe he started playing for the school at
the age of 16, and in his year as a fresher scored a 50 and was
involved with Norman Siebel in his record breaking 151 runs when
we were 4 wickets down for less than 20. Bertie was a star of
the future. He captained in 1938. His batting was phenomenal,
but he failed in the Royal/ Thomian match in his first year as
captain when the Royalist put us to shame under Pat Me Carthy
and defeated us by an innings.
He however redeemed
himself the following year more than adequately, and defeated a
very strong Royal team to win the match comfortably. Bertie was
an excellent batsman, a good opening bowler, and an excellent
fielder, and during his period he stood head and shoulders above
other schoolboy cricketers. He of course went on to play for Sri
Lanka for several years and at 80 he is still fit, and coaching
cricket.
Royal of course had
Pat Me Carthy who played for Sri Lanka as a schoolboy, but sadly
he migrated to Australia where he continued to shine as an
outstanding batsman. Great cricketers of that time were Rajah
Proctor, Dugald Abeysekera, Wihelm Taylor, who was an
outstanding bowler feared by all his opponents. The Cotelingam
brothers, the Selvaratnam brothers and so on. All of them
contributed greatly to STC's success on the playing field, and
their exploits are spoken of with awe, and respect.
During the war years
we had of course Vernon Pieris who went on to captain Sri Lanka.
The Saravanamuttu brothers, Baskaran and Chandran were
outstanding batsmen, and the Elapatha brothers, Sam, Eddie and
Upali Katugaha each of whom had outstanding individual
performances particularly in bowling to their Royalist
opponents.
I was fortunate to be
selected in 1947, which was my first Royal/Thomian captained, by
Upali Katugaha. I came in perhaps more by default, because St.
Thomas's was doing so badly, that I was given a chance. Royal
thrashed us soundly, and the great Kasipillai showed what a
wonderful batsman he was, displaying great authority in both
innings.
My next year under S J
Tambaiah (now a Professor at Harvard) was not much better. We
played at the SSC and managed to draw the match, more perhaps
due to the intervention of ba ' d we' ' at ' her. The Weerakoon
brothers Ronnie and Bradman played in that match and so did
Shanthikumar and Arasukumar. In the following year Shanthikumar
captained and I was his Vice-Captain. That year was perhaps a
good year for me. I bowled quite well throughout the season and
nearly won the Royal/Thomian match for the school, The following
year lAjWjas the captain, but unfortunately missed the Royal/Thomian
match due to an injury, and had the mortification of having to
stand down. We drew that match but lost the following year.
S Thomas had
suecessful years when captained by Conrad Barrow, Ian Peiris and
we beat Royal almost regularly, but then we had years of drawn
matches. Other cricketers who come to mind are Michael Tissera,
Anura Tennekoon and Duleep Mendis. Each of them was without peer
in their own style of play. All three of them captained Sri
Lanka and they were outstanding batsmen and outstanding
cricketers in every sense of the word. St. Thomas indeed is
proud of them. All three of them have contributed in one way or
another to the administration of cricket in Sri Lanka, and in
fact Anura today is the CEO of the Board of Control, while
Michael was a Vice-President of the recent Interim Committee of
the Board.
Unfortunately in
recent years, Thomians have not come to International standards
and with strict competition from the Outstation schools
whichally have taken advantage of the opportunities afforded to
them, have done extremely well. However, during the period of
Neville de Alwis, a cricket fanatic in every sense, cricket once
again received a much-needed shot in the arm.
Neville knew all that
was to be known about cricket, and he made it his job to build
up a good team and sought the assistance of the Old Boys
whenever he thought it necessary. The Indoor wicket is a tribute
to his devotion and love for the game.
We of course now have
a new Warden, Dr. David Ponniah. David distinguished himself by
scoring a 100 in his first Royal/Thomian at the age of 17. Sadly
for us, he left the next year to join the University to continue
his studies, and although he played a little cricket in Sri
Lanka, he left for England where he continued to play.
Happily for us David is back and I am certain that with the
encouragement he is bound to give, and the respect which he
undoubtedly will earn, primarily as a great cricketer, he will
take college forward not only in its performance on the field,
but more importantly, academically as well
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