Bringing the Shield Back
The whole dressing
room was in tears. The feeling was unbearable. We fought so hard
for a good part of 300 overs, but after 15 years we had lost the
shield. Royal deserved to win but, the way we played, we
definitely didn't deserve to lose. It was a phenomenal match.
Nearly 1200 runs were scored and it went down to the wire.
Nevertheless, that didn't compensate for our feelings of
despair; if at all it just made it so much harder to bear. For
the coloursmen who experienced the glorious sensation of victory
in 2005 it was so much harder to see the shield getting handed
over. I personally never forgave myself until the end of last
year's match. Honestly I had let my team down as a 3rd
year coloursman and as the vice captain of the team. After
scoring a century in 2005 and taking 3 wickets, a lot was
expected of me and I failed to deliver. I failed in both innings
and didn't take a single wicket. 5 of our batsmen scored 50's
and that was a record, if I'm not mistaken. I just couldn't bear
the pain, for as a frontline batsman I felt if I had just scored
some runs or at least occupied the wicket for a few overs we
could have saved the game. Despite regrouping well and
convincingly winning the Mustangs Trophy the following week, the
feeling of defeat was still lingering amongst us.That was when I
vowed to myself that I would somehow build up a match winning
side next year and embark on a mission to get the shield back. I
always believed that impossible was nothing and that I (we) can
do everything through Christ Jesus.
Momentarily my goals
got side tracked. A/Ls loomed around the corner, and soon after,
I was bestowed with the honour of being appointed Head Prefect
of College. However before I knew it, the time had come to start
a new season. I felt a tingling in the air, it was my season,
and it was time to bring the shield back. The season kicked off
with a few severe blows. Only Navin and Dhanushka were over age
from last year's team and we were supposed to have 9 coloursmen.
However Shivanth informed me that he was leaving the country for
studies as he had received a scholarship to UK. I was
disappointed and tried to convince him to stay but I realized
that my efforts were futile, and one must be left to make
choices as best thought suitable for oneself. Soon after,
Rayendra too informed me of his
intentions of going to
Australia to study. This was highly unexpected and really got me
down as he was one of my best friends and we were the two guys
who played together since Under -13. Anyhow he too left and as
we started practice, Kasun surprised us all with the information
that his family was migrating and he too had to leave. For a
moment I was livid and felt like my team mates were being
selfish by deserting me and their Alma Mater. Nobody seemed to
have the desire to win the shield back. Anyhow, we decided to
bear our losses as best as possible and practice went on as
usual. We had not managed to find sufficient replacements and we
entered the Dharmarajah match with a young and inexperienced
side and I don't think we were mentally and physically ready for
the game. This resulted in a very poor performance for we were
bowled out for 71 runs in the 1" innings and we barely managed
to save the game. I had failed in both innings again and I was
feeling quite down, even though I didn't show it to my team
mates and managed a small motivational pep talk. I had three
main goals in mind for our team; Win the big match, win the
Mustangs & win the lemonade tournament. Personally, I wanted to
reach 1000 runs and get 50 wickets. However, at this point of
time, all these goals seemed to be looming in the distance and
quite out of reach. A gut feeling told me not to lose heart and
to keep working on my game and to have faith in the young side I
had.
I strongly believe
fielding is a key element and we worked doubly hard on this
area. Maza had to leave us temporarily as he got selected for
the Under -19 national team. This meant that Shash and I had to
shoulder the batting responsibility, and that Jehaan and Ruchira
had to shoulder the bowling responsibility. The freshers started
showing promise and gradually, match by match we were gaining
experience and were "gelling" as a unit. Shash started bowling
some part time off spin, and gradually he managed to evolve into
a match winner. Despite Jehaan and Ruchira being relatively out
of form with the ball, Milan managed to compensate ''and showed
a lot of promise. The 3rd term came to an end with
the team doing well in patches. We had a few excellent
performances but what was missing was that we were not
performing as a team. I too managed to hit some form scoring one
century and a few half centuries. However I pulled a groin
muscle and was forced to give up bowling which was
very disappointing as
I loved to open the bowling. I was also feeling a little
dejected that we hadn't managed to win a single game outright in
the 3rd term and I knew that winning matches in the 1st
term was going to be relatively harder.
1st term
started with a big blow. We played Nalanda on an under prepared
wicket at their home ground and we lost the match in a very low
scoring game. Nalanda chasing 100 to win were also stuttering at
50-5 at one stage as that pitch was playing all sorts of tricks.
However they managed to scrape through to achieve the win. We
were all momentarily dejected but I knew it wasn't the end of
the world and I managed to boost the players saying we had a
very good chance of even winning that game.
At this time I was
experiencing a few troubles with my personal life as well;
handling the prefects in school regarding some disciplinary
issues. It was heart breaking, for my best friend and senior
Prefect Johnny to leave college and there were many other minor
issues floating around at that time. Sadly this affected my game
and my mood. I had a very bad patch for about 5 matches. However
with the grace of God, and help from my family and friends I
managed to overcome this period (A special word of thanks to
Pastor Jerome for being a tower of strength) and quickly got
back on track with one motive in mind: bring back the shield. A
significant turning point for me was Mr. Ajith Jayasekara giving
me a stern pep talk. He told me that I was playing a bit
irresponsibly and rashly and that I'm a big match centurion and
to go out there and bat with confidence and purpose, and this
opened my eyes to a great extent. In the same match I scored a
100 against Wesley in just over a session and (I think) I didn't
look back from there. I must take this opportunity to thank
Eranda and my senior prefects for shouldering a lot of
responsibility and enabling me to concentrate fully on cricket.
I personally felt
there were too many matches in the 1st term, for it
took its toll on us all. I could see that the guys were
exhausted and not sufficiently motivated. After talking to Mr.
Abeynaike, we adopted a resting schedule for players and I too
took a game off. Maza returned to the side, which had a positive
impact on our performance. His all round contribution
helped greatly to
balance the side, and our performances improved. Each one of us
had a good idea as to what our responsibility was and we managed
to consistently achieve good results. One noteworthy performance
was against St. Joseph's, who were undoubtedly the strongest
side that season. They had run over sides with over five players
representing the junior national pool. However we had a good
outing with them and this boosted our morale greatly. One key
pattern that I noticed was that whenever Maza, Shash or I did
well it meant that the team in general had a good outing. I
gradually realized that the 3 of us held a huge responsibility
and that we probably held the key to this year's Royal-Thomian.
As the 3 most senior members it was our duty to perform at the
front and set an example. This created immense pressure for us.
However, we managed to deal with it relatively well as we were
heading the performance table. Apart from us Milan had
shouldered a lot of the bowling responsibility. We were
gradually depending on him, which was in a way scary because I
always believed that you can't pressurize and depend heavily on
freshers when you enter the big match. Dinesh too was showing
much promise as a 15 year old and there was some stiff
competition in the middle order, which is always healthy.
The time came when a
few serious decisions had to be made. The big match was around
the corner and we still had three problems. We hadn't found a
proper opener to assist Shash, we needed to finalize the middle
order and we needed to decide on the wicket keeping position.
R.A as we call him (Ashan Fernando) solved one problem by coming
out of illness with a bang and scoring a quality 100 against
Zahira to seal the opening slot. The next two problems were
quite serious. R.R.D was a coloursman and a very good friend of
the entire team; however he was not consistent behind the
wickets. Every time I presented an argument for his side I was
reminded of the harsh reality that two missed chances behind the
wicket had led to our bowling attack getting massacred by
Sukitha and Malinga at last year's big match. Finally the Warden
had to intervene, and we made the collective decision to leave
him out and have faith in Vishwa who also added a bit more
stability to the batting line up. Next we had three freshers
competing for the number 5 & 6 positions, out of which Nirrushan
managed to seal one slot with consistent performances against
strong sides like St.
Peter's and Joseph's. We had a long debate over the next
position which Wishanth and Thilin were competing for. Wishanth
had done well in the 3rd term and even scored a
hundred but he had a very poor run in the lead up to the big
match where as Thilin hadn't any outstanding performances but
had quite a few good performances and undoubtedly he was the
best fielder we had. I sincerely wish I could have had Wishanth
and RRD on my team as they were very close friends of mine but
we had to choose the best fitting 11 based on current
performances and we finalized the side and didn't look back on
that decision. Looking back at the outcome of the big match I do
not regret walking on to the field with the 10 guys I had beside
me.
Despite finalizing the
team we still lacked one essential factor which I wanted to
desperately achieve. We needed to depend on each other for
strength and believe in ourselves. Furthermore we hadn't tasted
victory yet and despite the Royal-Thomian being three days I was
anxious that the boys should taste victory before hand. The
timing of the Trinity match couldn't have been better for we
managed to pull off a convincing win in style. The team was
finally moving smoothly in all departments and we were
performing well. We crushed Zahira the following weekend by tea
time on the second day and these back to back victories did more
than words can describe for our guys. I can still remember the
looks on Haroons, and the Royal coach's face when I turned up
for the Royal-Thomian press conference at 4pm after the 2nd
days play of the Zahira match. I was not supposed to attend the
conference due to the match and when Haroon asked me whether the
match got washed out as there was a tinge of drizzle in the air,
I jokingly said, "Nah, we finished them off by i':hree so I
could come for the conference".
Amidst our general
training schedule, we introduced a few new elements which I'm
sure enhanced the team's performance. We had a few yoga sessions
and a few sessions on team building for which I'm very grateful
to individuals like Mr. & Mrs. Suren Chickera.
We entered into the
traditional residential camp; the big match was just a few days
away. Despite being a 4th year coloursman who had
experienced victory, defeat and a draw in the 3 years I played,
I felt Uke a fresher and the pressure was getting to me. I was
confident but also very anxious. I spent a lot of time on my own
practicing and also praying. It was very heartening to see the
guys practicing extra individually and polishing a few rough
patches we had. There was a feeling of hunger and determination
in the air and I sensed that our target was achievable. Ruchira
did a very influential thing by creating a poster saying THE
SHIELD WILL BE BACK and hung it at the entrance to the dressing
room. This idea gradually crept into everyone's minds and they
began to believe it was possible. For the 1st time I
sensed that Mr. Abeynaike too was desperate to avenge last
year's defeat. He might not remember this incident, but after
Mr. Kumar Boralass's dinner he hugged me and Maza and asked us
if we're going to bring the shield back and if we were going to
score some runs for him. He had a tear or two in his eyes and
that was indeed a heartwarming moment for me and I'm sure it was
for Maza. We promised with sincerity and the final result was
very symbolic of this promise.
The build up to the
match was intense with every newspaper carrying huge articles
and write ups regarding both teams and their strengths and
weaknesses. My captain's party, the cycle parade, the blessing
of the team at the chapel, awarding of colours at assembly,
wardens breakfast on the eve of the match, all gradually
heightened the feeling of anxiousness. I was so nervous the day
before the match that I took Nirrushan with me and despite a
power cut took a small hit in the indoor nets in the late
evening in virtual darkness.
The wait was finally
over and we reached the SSC on that wonderful morning. There was
a small delay with the vehicle carrying our kit bags and I had
to request Haroon to take the team photograph earlier than
scheduled. The Opening ceremony went well, and after our
equipment arrived we got into our brand new kits, graciously
sponsored by some old boys. We did some fielding to get the guys
into the motions and relieve some stress and before I knew it I
was called to have the toss. For some
weird reason I felt
like I might lose the toss, maybe because the last three years
we had won it. Dismally the coin turned in Haroon's favour and
he had no second thought in putting us in on a hard wicket which
was relatively green. We quickly had to adjust our team plan for
we too had planned on exploiting the early swing at the SSC and
putting them in. It was also risky that Shash, Maza and I were
right at the top of the order for a few early wickets meant that
it would be us who would be back in the hut. Nevertheless I
believed that if the best of us couldn't handle the heat it was
pointless to promote others to safe guard us. Thus I blocked out
all negative feelings and had a two minute hit outside.
My father was also
present on the turf and I could see thai he was more anxious
than I was. He threw some balls at me with all his best
intentions at heart. I distinctly remembered my father saying
that he had a word of knowledge from God that I would score more
than 125 which I had done in 2005 and that we would win this
year. He is a very religious man and I never doubted his words
of knowledge. I was quite skeptic until one of his dreams came
true in 2005. I can remember when I was just a kid in grade 8 or
9 he told me that he had a vision of me playing a Royal-Thomian
and scoring a hundred and getting out in a weird way and there
being confusion in the middle. As a small kid who was still
dreaming of playing a big match I had forgotten all about this
until he reminded me in 2005 about this dream, after I scored
125 and got out 'hit wicket'. I didn't know I was out and the
square leg umpire had to walk up to me and tell me I was out and
indeed there was confusion in the middle. Thus I secretly hoped
that his words would come true this year too.
We met just seconds
before the bell rang in a circle in the middle of the dressing
room with one final team huddle before the match. Ranil sir
prayed out loud and asked for God's favour and hand in hand I
knew we were all doing the same. With one positive shout of
jubilance and determination we wished each other luck and RA and
Shash walked out to the middle. If I remember correctly the OTSC
stand with their DJ played the theme song 'party starter' when
the openers walked out to the ground shaded by the College flag
held up by my fellow prefects and symbolically it truly turned
out to be one heck of a party.
I was padded up and
sitting beside Mr. Abenaike and Mr. Charith Abeygunawardena who
had trained us faithfully the past two years. Mr. Ajith
Jayasekara patted me on the back and said " Son don't forget you
are a big match centurion, walk out there like you own the
place, they should be scared to see you walking out..." That
really gave me some confidence and settled some nerves. The
first over ended without much confusion and RA batted out the
second over with a few runs on the board. Shash started the 3rd
over by clipping Charith Fernando to the square leg boundary
with a traditional Pussegolla flick. However the shouting was
subdued as he was rapped on the pads twice in consecutive
deliveries and umpire Kottachchi raised the finger on the 2nd
appeal. The Royal jubilation was very evident as they were
undoubtedly targeting Shash, Maza and I and they were off to a
good start with Shash walking back to the pavilion. I can just
remember Mr. Abenaike wishing me all the best and I walked out
of the dressing room along that long flight of stairs, down on
to the cement and then on to the turf with all the bravery I
could muster. That feeling is truly indescribable. I knew I
needed to make an impact on this game and I needed to set an
example for my boys. I was shouldering the weight of a lot of
anxious Thomians and by God I intended not to let them down. I
tapped hands with RA and took guard. Thankfully the 1st
ball hit the middle of my trustworthy CA bat and I was off the
mark without much hassle. The over's ticked by and gradually I
settled in and we were building a steady partnership. We managed
to leave balls outside the stumps and work with singles,
dispatching the odd ball to the fence. I knew after the new ball
was over and the pitch settled there were runs for the asking
and I was biting my lip and waiting till I could settle into a
good rhythm and play my shots freely. RA batted with much
maturity and we managed to put on a healthy partnership of 66
runs until he played across the line and was trapped in front.
The scorecard read 83-2 when, in my opinion, the hero of the
match walked out to the grounds. Maza calmly approached me and
gave a small nod while we punched each other's gloves. I just
knew that it was his day. He was oozing with confidence and from
the 1st ball onwards he was flowing with elegance.
we Kept miiKing me
oowiing ana i reacnea my ou ana i was aeiermmea to make capital
use of the situation. I knew that I had the opportunity of
reaching two of my personal milestones, I had scored 912 runs
before the Royal-Thomian and I knew that the 1000 run mark for
the season was within my reach. Moreover I knew that I had the
unique chance to join a 2 man club of double centurions at the
Royal-Thomian, thus I pressed on with more determination than
ever. The total reached 100 which came pretty soon as the Royal
bowling was not very impressive and they definitely didn't
exploit the conditions. I was very surprised when Haroon as the
main bowler waited until the last over before lunch to bring
himself in to the attack as the 7th bowler when he
should have been spear-heading the attack. I believed in stating
my intentions very clearly and as captain to captain I was keen
on having the psychological edge. Thus as he released his first
delivery I charged down the track met the ball on the full and
whacked it over mid wicket for a boundary. I'm sure this rattled
him for he bowled a very poor over and I scored 14 runs from it.
We closed for lunch at 140-2 and that marked the end of a very
good session. With sound words of advice from our coach Maza and
I strode back after lunch. All the jitters had disappeared, and
there was only one thing on my mind; not to lose the initiative
and to make capital use of the situation so that we laid the
foundation for our bowlers to attack them with a comfortable
cushion of runs behind our belt.
Maza started the
session by driving Charith to the boundary and that set the tone
for that session. He was just fabulous and he flayed the
Royalists to all parts of the SSC. His fifty came up in no time
and before I knew it I was at my 90's and a memorable
achievement was just ahead of me. I was practically praying
silently before every delivery for all the nerves had set in
again. A painful few overs ticked by with just the addition of a
few runs and I was still stuck on 96. Haroon came into the
attack and for a moment I remembered how two years back when I
was in a similar position at 94 how he bowled me a full toss and
a rank short delivery that I hit for successive fours to bring
up my hundred. How I wished he would do me the same favour this
year too. I kept telling myself 'singles' and that I have plenty
of time in the world but those moments of anxiety are
indescribable. I played defensively to a couple of deliveries,
and before I
knew it, against my
rational mind I was charging down the track to meet the next
delivery that left Haroon's hand. It wasn't as flighted as it
seemed to me initially and I had to go down on one knee to meet
the dipping ball on the full, but despite making good contact I
didn't get as much elevation on the ball as I wanted and to my
dismay, the ball was traveling much flatter than I intended it
to. It was heading straight at short mid wicket and my heart was
in my mouth. Luckily the fielder was relatively short and not
paying much attention and by the time he put his hands up and
jumped to catch the ball it brushed his fingers and passed him
with force heading towards the mid wicket boundary. I jumped for
joy as the ball crashed into the fence right in front of the
Royal boy's tent, a symbolic slap in their face as I raised my
bat to the dressing room and my family in joy to celebrate my
hundred. My fellow Prefects ran to meet me with flags in their
hands and Eranda and Sushan embraced me and with Maza we formed
a small huddle and performed a group hug. I just needed to thank
God so when I went back to the wicket I knelt down on one knee
and made the sign of the cross and looked towards the heavens
and just said, "thank you Father" before taking guard again.
We continued to punish
the Royal bowling and I remember clearly telling Maza during a
water break, "Machang can you remember Sukitha and Malinga
bashed us last year and made a record partnership? Lets somehow
repay the favour this year and break that record man." Maza too,
was hungry for revenge and we set about taking control of the
match. His innings was flawless and he reached his 1st
ever big match century by pushing a single on to the off side.
He too expressed his joy like a kid jumping for a chocolate and
again we celebrated in the middle with a few Prefects and
spectators running on to the ground to congratulate him.
Haroon in desperation
tried 9 bowlers but failed to break the partnership and we
surpassed the highest ever partnership at a Royal-Thomian before
stopping for tea at 302-2. I managed to reach my'150 with a
single just before the break and I was ecstatic as this was the
1st time I had ever reached 150 passing my highest
score of 140 against Ananda in 2006. Both of us marched off with
much pride with three figures to our names
and we were met by the
entire dressing room just outside the boundary amidst the
Prefects and our parents. My dad was crying and he hugged me so
hard that my arms hurt. Ranil sir hugged me but reminded me that
the job wasn't over and that this was just the beginning. I
nodded knowingly and we went out after tea with the plan to
accelerate and declare soon.
Sadly our record
breaking partnership of 238 runs came to an end when I was
caught trying to smash Feroz Ahmed over extra cover for 161.
Maza then with a license to hit just threw everything he had at
the Royalists and I think he made his next 50 runs in about 20
balls smashing fours and aixes to ail parts. He too was caught
trying to attempt another big shot at long on 162. Despite
losing a few wickets trying to score some quick runs we declared
with a formidable total on the board. 374-7. I wanted to reach
the 400 mark and break the record for the highest score but then
again that would have meant sacrificing a sufficient crack at
the Royalists before the day ended. Ruchira and Dinesh shared
the new ball but sadly were all over the wicket and I had to
resort to spin sooner than I anticipated as the light was also
fading. Shashrika drew 1st blood when he deceived
Kavisha De Silva in the air and Vishwa pulled of an impressive
stumping. Royal juggled their batting line up and sent in Feroz
at 3 to protect their main batsmen namely Kusal and Bhanuka.
However Warnakulasuriya who was the other opener was soon caught
at bat pad with the score remaining on 40. We were anxiously
awaiting Kusal or Bhanuka at the crease to have a go at either
one before the day ended however they sent in a 2nd
night watchman, Thanthrigoda who just lasted a few balls and he
was caught at slip off Milans bowling again. Suddenly the
scoreboard read 40-3 and Bhanuka came to the crease but just
after a few deliveries the umpires offered the light to the
batsmen and they walked off accepting it with gladness marking
the end of a very successful day for us.
The second day started
with much enthusiasm. We all knew that if we did well for the
majority of the day and played to our potential the dream of
winning another Royal Thomian and bringing the shield back could
be a reality. Bhanuka stroked a few boundaries and punished some
wayward bowling before
hitting a half volley straight down mid off's throat. I
attribute the next three dismissals to some brilliant fielding.
Kusal, the other danger man who looked threatening creamed a
ball towards the extra cover region off Maza and substitute
fielder Nilshan Fernando held on to a truly stunning catch. Next
Feroz gloved a ball of Milan that jumped of the wicket and
Shashrika, fielding at gully, made a full stretch dive to pull
off a one handed blinder. Soon after Thilin fielding at silly
point managed to hold on to a drive by Charith which was truly
breath-taking. Thus royal were tottering at 100-7. The latter
order didn't provide much resistance except for Haroon who was
the last man out soon after lunch. Milan as a fresher had taken
5 wickets which was a truly wonderful performance.
Again we prayed and
huddled before sending Royal in for the follow on. We knew that
we had the last lap to run. Despite being exhausted we entered
the field with revived spirits at the thought of victory and
avenging last year's defeat. Youngster Dinesh provided the 1st
break through having De Silva caught behind. Again Royal
shuffled the batting order and Haroon came in at 3. He didn't
last long against the swinging ball. Maza sent him a wonderful
in swinger that did him all ends up. Maza was the hero again
dismissing both danger men Kusal and Bhanuka. He had Kusal
caught behind with a wonderful out swinger and managed to bounce
out Bhanuka who went for a hook and just top edged the ball.
Again Royal was looking down the barrel with some resistance
coming only from Warnakulasuriya who made an agonizing innings
and crawled to 50 before Jehaan made his contribution towards
the match, apart from his brilliant slip catching, to have
Warnakulasuriya caught behind off a well directed googly. Ahmed
had been brilliantly run out earlier by Thilin who threw the
stumps down from point. When bad light stopped play, Royal were
struggling at 120-6.
The situation was
identical to 2005 with Royal trailing by an innings and 6
wickets down, the only difference being that we managed to win
all 6 sessions so far whereas royal in 2005 managed to win the
last session on day two with a 90 run partnership. There was no
Royal resistance what so ever, and it seemed like they were
actually batting without much purpose amidst some wonderful
bowling and fielding by our lads.
After much
consideration I decided to add this small end note to this
article in response to my inner feelings. One day long after
this memorable victory I was scrutinizing both souvenirs in
detail and one minute part in the Royal souvenir made me livid.
The editors had written this small paragraph in reference to
their victory in 2006 -
"A year is not a long
time to forget things and forget you will not, not for another
hundred years the bashing the Thomians got in true blue black
style. Thus proving to you the myth of Thomian grit".
I do not mean
to be cynical however I do like to emphasize that the shield was
with us for 15 years and tliat we lost it after scoring nearly
600 runs and fighting in both innings down to the last 7 balls
of the match in 2006. If that isn't an honourable fight and if
you would like to call that a blue and black beating I really
don't know what you call what we did to Royal in 2005 and last
year. For two victories that finished early on the 3rd
day . that annihilated Royal by an innings is more like a blue
and black beating to me. Secondly, I think those two
embarrassing defeats around this so called wonderful victory is
more than enough to cloud people's memories long before a
century passes by. Thirdly I need not try to defend Thomian
grit; there have been countless examples over the centuries
where Thomians have displayed Thomian grit. It is virtually
impossible to disprove and relatively sad to see that we do not
hear anything regarding "Royal grit!" Furthermore Thomian grit
is not only fighting to save a match like Mr. Mahinda Halangoda
& Mr. C.P Richards did in the famous centenary match, I believe
that It is also bouncing back with a vengeance and determination
like we did this year to avenge a defeat. It is indeed a pity
that the Royal editors didn't see the article published in their
own magazine written by the senior games master - Mr. M.T.A.
Rauf. As he goes on to say in his second paragraph -
".. .the Royal College
1st eleven team is determined to retain the
prestigious D.S. Senanayake Trophy but experience has taught me
not to underestimate what is called Thomian Grit; they will
come back with a vengeance...."
I would very humbly
like to say that in my captains message last year I assured that
the loss in 2006 will be avenged. Furthermore the souvenir which
our tent committee brilliantly designed, had the influential
theme of a phoenix rising from the ashes to attain its lost
position. We were indeed privileged by the grace of God to
accomplish our mission and truly bounce back with style and
vengeance. May the shield remain in College for many a year to
come, and if lost may it be quickly regained with determination.
Long live THOMIAN GRIT.
ESTO PERPETUA
Ashan Peiris
Editors' comment -
Ashan Peiris was the winning captain in 2007 and also was the
Head Prefect of the school. He is currently pursuing his higher
studies at the University of Colombo.
