The Origin of the Match
By C.E. Corea
The Royal-Thomian
match was instituted as an annual fixture by Mr. Ashely who was
justly called "The father of Ceylon Cricket" Mr. Walker took up
duties as Assistant Principal of the "Colombo Academy" as Royal
College was then called in the beginning of the year 1877. He
was quite a young man, fresh from the University for which he
had played. He had but recently married and brought his young
wife to take care with him of the Boarding Establishment. I was
admitted to the lowest form in January the same year, not on
merit, for I think I failed dismally in the examination for
admission, but because I went to be a boarder, and Mr. and Mrs.
Walker's menage consisted at that date of the solitary Lorensz
Scholar. Ernest Nell,whose memory- for he died a few years later
to great sorrow of all who knew him, and to know him was to love
him -1 cherish with deep gratitude for kindness without which it
would have been impossible for a mere "Podien" from a village as
I was, to carry on at the start, at that huge Institution in my
inexperience and ignorance. Nell was quite six or seven years
older than I, but he took me in hand and made himself guide,
philosopher, and friend."
Before long, however,
I got a companion, nearer my age, in Coomara Wellopulle who was
to become a tower of strength to the cricket eleven: He was a
mighty hitter, and no advice to the contrary from Mr. Walker
could restrain him from hitting the ball out of the ground. The
borders of my time, who played in the Royal - Thomian series,
were as far as I remember besides Wellopulle and myself, B.W.
Bawa, A. Kalenberg, A. Beven, the two Storks, E.S. and B. and my
brother Ernest. The two McDonnels who did great things for the
S. Thomas' College were at first in our boarding, for a short
period. Not alone Mr. Walker in the playing field, but Mr. and
Mrs. Walker together in the owe everything to them. It was their
kindness and goodness that made me. There is a saying in the
East, that on entering the Suez Canal, Britishers drop their
good qualities at Port Said, as luggage not wanted beyond. I
believe Mr. and Mrs. Walker came to Ceylon by way of the Cape of
Good Hope. At any rate they certainly brought with them much of
that nobleness of character which made Shakespeare rhapsodize
over" the blessed spot.... This England.... This land, of dear
souls."
Mr. and Mrs. Walker
were of good family, and the principle noblesse oblige was
manifest in them. Mr. Walker considered cricket an aristocratic
game which only "gentleman" could appreciate. And when he saw
that Ceylon boys took to cricket keenly, he concluded that they
were "Natures aristocrats and Gentlemen". He was absolutely
colour blind; it was enough for him that he found that in the
"natives" of Ceylon that in spite of their dark skin-perhaps
because of it-the instincts of men who "play the game". He
would often tell us boys that we had every reason to be proud of
our country and nation. He made. us feel that in our aptitude
for cricket we were the salt of the earth, and took every means
to foster that idea. His aim was to induce in use self respect
as a prophylactic against the "inferiority complex." His winning
hit was when he got Lord Harris, one time captain of the famous.
I Zingari who was Governor of Bengal when he visited Ceylon
(1882) to Captain the College team against the European Colombo
Club. At this distance of time, I cannot exactly recollect what
the arrangements were, in those days, when the Europeans
condescended to receive "native cricketers at their exclusive
Club House. But I distinctly remember that however it happened,
we boys, the team and others stood in a group, outside without
availing ourselves of the accommodation provided in the
"pavilion". And from the beginning, all throughout. Lord Harris,
as also of course Mr. Walker stayed with us and refused to go
among the Clubmen, in spite of repeated pressing invitations to
refreshments at the reserved Club Bar. This created a distinct
impression on the public which had come in large numbers to
witness the match, as well as, I doubt not, on those whose
bastard sportsmanship was thus pilloried.
There stood the noble
Lord-the Governor of Bengal and world famed cricketer in the
midst of "natives", fraternizing and chatting with us, as of his
"class" and not caring to mix with autres. I believe this was so
maneuvered of set purpose by Mr. Walker. For, the same ting
happened when W.W. Read and G.F. Vernon - "Gentlemen of
England" -also played in the Royal College team against the same
club. It has been written of Lord Harris that his services to
cricket "are not to be estimated by his performances in the
fields alone, great as they were, but his influence was always
exerted to impart a spirit of Sportsmanship and honourable
distinction to the game." What Lord Harris did for English
Cricket, Mr. Walker did for Ceylon Cricket. In an introduction
to a book on Ceylon Cricket by P.F. Warner, it is noted that
"There is no place in the British Empire where cricket played
more enthusiastically and in a finer spirit than ;;i Ceylon."
The credit for that
belongs to Mr. Ashley Walker. He held that all sportsmanship
sprang from "the public school spirit". His belief that, that
spirit and that sportsmanship could be established through
intercollegiate matches has been fully justified. In his design
to bring about this happy consummation, Mrs. Walker received the
whole hearted cooperation of the Warden of S. Thomas' College,
Rev T.F. Falkner, himself a Cambridge Blue, through, whose
efforts that College had gained a Cricket reputation even before
Mr. Walker's arrival in the Island. A mead of praise is also due
to Mr. Cull, than whom I do think the Royal College never had a
more popular Principal. At the time (1878) he was an Assistant
Principal of the Academy and strange as it may appear, he
entered into the scheme of inter-collegiate matches with great
enthusiasm and all through his unusually long "reign" of about
15 years he fostered in every way and encouraged the growth
among his boys of that sportsmanship which has since become the
hall-mark of Ceylon cricket.
In the first match of
the series, which was played in the year 1878, masters took
part. Mr. Walker of course played for the Academy, and on the
other side Rev. Falkner and Rev. Mayrick, the Sub-Warden, both
long bearded men. There was also on that side Mr. A.D.A.
Seneviratne, whose cricket training, I am sure was a scoring
factor, in the magnificent "innings' he later put up in the
Legislative Council. This match went. as far as I can remember
very much in favour of the Academy, but must have been drawn,
for I find that in the anniversary Dinner of the S. Thomas'
College Debating Club, in October 1879, the propose of the toast
of the Cricket Club said that the defeat of that College by the
Academy in that year was "an occurrence altogether unheard of
before." That the "honourable distinction of the game" se.t up
at the Start has been maintained throughout the series can be
questioned.
It has however been
charged against the Royal College that in the
never-allowed-to-be -forgotten "9 runs match" there was evidence
of the "Yellow streak" Having been among "les miserables" I
venture to submit that this is unfair and unwarranted. The
smallness of the score is, by itself, nothing. It might gs.^iously
be put down to "the chances of the game". On account of the
wretched state of the grounds, available in those times, small
scores were the rule rather than the exception. A few years
before in 1881, the Royal College with a lead of only 3 in the
first innings scored no more than 15 in the second innings and
yet pulled off the game in the end. However, since to self
excuse is to self accuse, I will not attempt to excuse the
"unlucky nine", and though a "plea in mitigation, might be
offered, I do not care to seek benefit under such a plea. I
prefer to meet the attack with the attack with the full face of
the straight bat and repel the charge that we got in our funk
and refuse to continue the match as absolutely and wholly
untrue. On the first day we batted in a deluge of rain and
submitted to the leather hunting which followed over mud and
sludge weighed down in sodden clothes, up to the very minute
fixed for drawing stumps,. without protest or grumble. The rain
continued through the succeeding night, it must be kept in view
that Galle Face pitch was at that time on low ground, which
became a marsh after a shower. It has since been raised a foot
or more. The Royal eleven turned up on the ground punctually to
time the next morning, with grim determination, But the ground
had become a swamp and absolutely "unplayable" and there was no
alternative but to abandon the match.
If there was scintilla
of truth in the ungenerous and cruel suggestion that the Royal
College team committed "unpardonable sin", the Royal Thomian
match would have ended that year. Most certainly every boy who
was guilty of such gross violation of the honourable traditions
of the game would have been and deserved to be hounded out of
any cricket team. The stern discipline of Mr. Cull would not
have tolerated their presence even in the College much less in
the College Eleven. And no self respecting Club or Team but
would have cared to meet the Royalists again. In the next years'
match, however, four of the "nine runs" team who remained in
College played. That the Royalist boys of the unfortunate year
were by means funks or crocks was provided by the circumstances
that, a very short time after that match, the same Thomian
Eleven having been badly beaten, if I remember right, by the
"Medicos" of Colombo, and the Kurunegala Club, the same
Royalists Eleven promptly challenged the winners and scored
victories in both matches.
The Royal College, no
less than S. Thomas', has maintained untarnished Collegiate
honour and as well as cricket honorableness Floreat the one,
Esto perpetua the other.
Excerpt from the book
"100 years of the Royal Thomian"
