HEROS AND REMINISCENCES
1. 1970 ROYAL/THOMIAN AND THE BUILD UP
The run up to the Royal Thomian is always used
to analyze the performances of both teams. Col. F.C. De Saram, the
then Royal Coach, is reputed to have kept an exercise book with a
page for each Thomian player and even marked the scoring shots/weak
areas (long before TV channels put out the diagram depicting the
scoring strokes!).
P.L.D. Kariyawasam still affectionately known
as "Kari" was leading the side for the second year running, having
lost the big match the previous year. Kari was known to carry in his
pocket one or two limes that he squeezed to get a Royalist out. (The
j oke was that his pockets were full of lime juice the year we lost
in 1969!) The Nalanda match at Mount was a thriller as we beat them
with just three minutes to spare.
Next week sans Duleep Mendis on tour in India,
on a unfamiliar matting Ananda dominated the first day scoring a
massive 269. We recovered from the fall of early wickets to 300 for
7 in 303 minutes assisted by a sedate 95 by R. Sathasivam and the
College Anthem echoed all over the ground much to the chagrin of the
Maradana crowd. Last man T. Rudra and I saw the gradual build up of
scuffles and fighting breaking out all over the grounds. Finally, I
was out for 79 stumped charging a paceman ! We had amassed a massive
341; one of the highest scores in school cricket that season against
a formidable side. Rudra and I came in for one of the most
excruciating experiences, getting stoned!! (I wish I could have
achieved the same speed when chasing a ball to the boundary as I did
whilst 'hooking' into the pavilion!!). I had no option but to clear
the railing in one jump a feat that made the College high jump coach
think twice about my normally poor performance when placed before
the cross bar. One reaches dizzy heights under sheer necessity!! The
burly Mr. Gaffoor (then ASP) and his policemen escorted the college
team out of the premises! What a traumatic experience!
Wesley College, the previous year's Champions
were referred b) the Press as the team to whom cricket's 'velvet
coat' belonged. On a fiery new matting, the 'Blue eyed boys' of
cricket were back in the pavilion in 90 minutes for a paltry 67
runs! The matting was a graveyard for batsmen as written by T.M.K.
Samat the flamboyant journalist and we too were soon
subjected to its fire. We lost three quick wickets and I was
promoted in the batting order (Oh! What a rare honour of facing the
fiery pacemen on a bouncy track!) to join Duleep on 15, for a change
struggling to get runs. Our invaluable partnership yielded 91 to
pull the side out of trouble, my contribution being 66 with 4 sixes
and Duleep lasting a few more minutes to make 62. We ended up at
259. Again our pace trio ofSunil Wijeratne, T. Rudra and H.D.K.
Silva ran through that strong Wesley line up to bundle them out for
159. We won by an innings and 3 3 runs.
With abundant confidence we met Trinity at
home. Duleep's 111 enabled us to declare at 281 for 7 and bowl out
Trinity for only 120 with H D K Silva taking a rare 'Hat-trick' (H D
K had a freak run-up that would have a traffic cop screaming if one
takes a 'U' turn like that when driving!!). We declared at 120 for 3
and bundled out Trinity for a paltry 93 in their second innings to
win easily. After drawing against St. Peters, the Team was announced
for the Big Match and read: P L D Kariyawasam(Capt.), N S Wijesuriya,
R Sathasivam, L R D Mendis, K Samarasinghe, A D H Samaranayake, S P
F Wijeratne, G D V Perera, T Rudra, T A Femando and H D K Silva and
A.Saravanamuttu the fielder with the safest pair of hands was 12th
man. Royal under A R Jayaweera were out for 169 runs in 69.3 overs
and surprisingly our batting side fell for 119 - the lowest score
that season. With N Hettiarachy stroking a half century in addition
to one in the first essay, Royal declared at 128 for 4 giving us an
easy victory target of only 179. Soon we were 50 for 6 and the
strong Thomian side with many victories to their credit that season
was heading for defeat like the previous year much to Kari's woes
and fear of losing again. Unfortunately for me, it was my turn as a
fresher to walk in through jubilant Royal supporters to stem the
collapse. Quite unlike my usual style, we plodded defensively for
what seemed to be ages and when my partner Tyronne Femando departed
in the dying overs of the game, we had recovered to 73 for 6 to
frustrate Royal but were still in danger of losing. The light was
indeed fading and swarms of flies were hovering around my face in
the dim light for them it was twilight and their job was to come out
whilst mine was to stay in!! With the departure ofTyronne Femando
and Rudra joining me I waited for Asitha Jayaweera to start bowling
and then appealed for light!! After agonizing moments that seemed to
be ages, arguments, sarcastic remarks at me which cannot be
published (!) and threats from the hopeful crowd that stormed the
wicket (there were no restrictions on spectator movements those
days), the famous Felsinger brothers Allan and Herbie who were
umpiring, decided to play on as a spinner was operating. The very
first ball connected on the meat of the heavy 3 Ib Stuart Surridge
and fueled by the power of embarrassment, sailed into the Thomian
boys tent what better place was there to hit a six from the very
next ball after appealing for light!! I, todate, do not envy the
fielder who had to retrieve the ball from the STC boys tent and he
took time to come out. The annoyed red face, agonized
expression and the trousers dirty and crushed in some sensitive
places gave the reasons for the delay !! We did deprive the
Royalists of a win with Sunil Wijeratne 'killing the ball' by almost
kissing the ground playing forward defensive continuously for the
second year running but this time successfully! Back in the pavilion
I had to face the brunt of criticism from some old boys for
appealing for light and cracking the next ball for six!! Fortunately
my coach backed me and understood the circumstances and the editor
of the College magazine Daya Senanayake, paid tribute in the next
issue by referring to it as ' The ball hit high for six into the
boys tent was the silver lining amongst the darkest clouds that
soared the dwindling spirits of theThomians...'.
2. COACHES AND WELL WISHERS
Active behind the teams were the masters in
charge and the coaches who were hardly given a payment for the
yeoman services rendered. Theirs was a self satisfying, self
motivated job and sacrificed much for what they gave us. I take
great pleasure in paying tribute to some who were in that category
during my time. It was Manikkam Appathuraj who took our under 12
practice. He made up with dedication and enthusiasm, for the
knowledge he lacked of the game - after all at that young age it was
more important to get the student interested in the game.
Abeywardene brothers, Monty and Lassie the latter continued as
master in charge after he stopped coaching(What marvelous phrases
one leamt if a wrong shot was played !). Quintin Israel, more famous
for his rugby but knew every student by face and by name. Orville
Abeynaike quiet and conservative. He coached in addition to teaching
mathematics and managing the college book cupboard and last but not
the least George Ponniah who was not only a coach but a friend
despite the large age gap. One can never forget those wonderful
years when he and his beautiful wife Carryl fed so many hungry
stomachs whenever we had a team meeting. Oh boy ! 50 genuine string
hoppers was the average capacity per cricketer (and not like the see
through paper thin string hoppers one buys these days !!). My
teammates, I am sure, will join me in honouring these great men who
gave so much of their lives but yet asked for so little.
A sight that is not visible today was the
tremendous crowd support. It was a common sight two rows of young
students on the boundary line, many members of the staff inside the
pavilion, 50 cars around the grounds in the scoreboard and Thalassa
area, people using this to have a picnic(and some brought along
their attractive daughters!). More importantly no tuition classes
unlike nowadays!! We also had regular followers of the game and they
knew by heart the scores of the last few years games much more than
the players. To name a few lan Wickremanayake, Torry
Jayawardene, Donald Speldewinde, Mervyn Tennekoon, Mervyn
Casiechetty, Clinton DeMel & Co. Some of us were lucky recipients of
bats and other material as rewards for performance.
To bat against Sri Lankan (earlier known as All
Ceylon) bowlers was a prestige. It was not only a privilege to face
kings of swing bowling like Mevan Peiris and P I Peiris in their
heyday and to hit them out of the ground was only a distant dream
although we
did manage to 'cover drive to square leg* and
'straight drive to third ^ man' on those swinging deliveries !! To
face the wily spin bowling of Larif Idroos and Mike Chanmugam was an
experience. To bowl atAnura Tennekoon or Michael Tissera two Ceylon
captains, with the fat hope of getting them out at practice was yet
another experience. All these gentlemen were busy people but yet
found the time to keep up the high traditions much to our
appreciation. May they be blessed with longevity. Old soldiers never
die, they just fade away.
3. APPROACHING THE 1971 ROYAL - THOMIAN
Ravi Sathasivam as an opening batsman was one
of the most stylish college ever produced. Under his captaincy that
season success came in leaps and bounds. We beat St. Benedicts by
innings and 30 runs and after the previous years unpleasant
happenings at Maradana when we got the better of the Anandians, by
beating the crack Ananda outfit by innings and 47 runs at Mount (we
ensured that there were no fisticuffs and that there was no
necessity for the police to arrive !!). Then in the final match
before the Roy-Tho, we annihilated the Peterites by innings and 76
runs with over 3 hours to spare ! The new comers to the side that
year Trevor Rajaratnam, Ranil Abeynaike and Rajan Saravanamuttu
joined Sunil Wijeratne and me to take more than 25 wickets per head.
In the batting averages Duleep Mendis, Ravi Sathasivam and I were
followed by fresher Arasu Saravanamuttu who perhaps saved more runs
on the field with his agility at cover point!. With three innings
wins and a well balanced outfit we were ready to battle the
formidable Royalists. The team read:- R Sathasivam (Capt.), AD H
Samaranayake, S P F Wijeratne, L R D Mendis, G D V Perera, K H
Samarasinghe, A Saravanamuttu, T Rajaratnam, R GAbenaike, R
Saravanamuttu and M M Rauf.
Royal batting first made 295 for 2 declared
with skipper Jagath Femando scoring 160 and Gajan Pathmanathan 97. S
T C declared at 246 for 5 with Duleep Mendis getting 103 , Ravi
Sathasivam and Kamal Samarasinghe knocking up half centuries each.
Royal declared at 113 for 3 giving us the tough task of getting 163
to win in 120 minutes. We took up the challenge and at the halfway
point we were sitting pretty at 81 for 1 in only one hour with only
82 to get and 9 wickets in hand. Then the Big Match Blues struck us
and soon we were battling to save the match which was in our pockets
a few minutes before! We ended up on 128 for 8 with Sunil Wijeratne
taxing his groin muscles to the extreme, in playing the safest
forward defensive seen by a tailender for three consecutive years in
the Big Match, to stave off defeat!! Tension written all over
the faces- of the Royal supporters in the first hour of our innings
when a Thomian victory appeared to be forthcoming and then the agony
on the faces of Thomian supporters when the collapse was being
stemmed to avoid a Royal victory. All in all, an interesting game
with evidence of the fluctuating fortunes of the game created by
positive declarations on both sides and a daring challenge never
refused!! My friend Asitha Jayaweera (a sad loss for Sri Lanka
cricket due to his migration) captained Royal again in 1972
following his captaincy in 1970 and Duleep led S T C and butchered
Royal with a magnificient 184 whilst I was well entrenched in
planting in the salubrious climes of Dickoya. Some of us who still
continue to play the game nearly 35 years later do enjoy reminiscing
of the past when the over 40 years cricketers meet in the annual
limited over game. Often the big match souvenir caricatures so well
drawn by Arun Dias Bandaranaike, Lasantha Salgadoe, Gerald Roberts
and Noel Janze gave our 'State secrets' out for life!
4. The lesser sung heroes lest we forget them :
There are those who make everlasting
impressions in life. Such people who have dedicated their lives to
the well being of the school and the students needs mention and I
devote this section to them in all humility.
I remember the head groundsman Karuna and his
humor assistant Karuppiah. Three years of spoken and written Tamil I
did in the middle school gave me ample knowledge to be able to
converse with them although some of the phrases taught by some of my
Tamil colleagues did bring horror to them!! Their practical
experience provided us with good wickets that we are today even
proud of. They did not work on high salaries but worked with
dedication and love irrespective of the stipend paid to them. I do
recall Karuna's son Anthony who was the old Physics lab assistant,
posing a stature that made the best body builder look a skeleton in
comparison. Podda, the senior science lab assistant although senior
to Anthony in age by no means second in physical abilty as he
boasted of 16 inch biceps on a 6 foot 2 inch frame! The then rugby
skipper my good friend the burly lock forward D.R (Dadoriya)
Weerasinghe was slim next to him! The chemistry lab assistant
'Kota', as he was affectionately known, made up in courage for what
he lacked in height. I once saw him battle three thugs alone till
Anthony came to his aid and smashed the attackers. Many a time they
secured us from harm attempted by outsiders whether incidents arose
from cricket or in the line of duty as college prefects. Irwin the
present groundsman, a young boy then, still recalls the scores and
the fascination he had for sixers! Podi Abey, Loku Abey and Narada
were regulars to accompany us to cadet camps and the cricket teams
when touring outstations. Mahinda the 'custodian' of Winchester was
also the weights trainer at that time and assisted with the weight
training during my rowing career. His massive pair ofpectoralis
major which was our envy, found it so easy to bench press 150 Ibs.
when my Rowing captain Kingsly Seevaratnam was pumping his heart out
at 50 Ibs !! Some of them are still on the minor staff role,
institutions by themselves - My proud heroes.
They asked for so little but gave us so much
more and without waiting for praise or for the singing ofhosannas
forever they will always be my heroes. Sadly the lesser sung heroes.
The men behind the scene and to them, in conclusion, I dedicate
this:
"Blessed are those who silently hunger and
thirst and work for righteousness sake, with no expectation of
reward, for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven"
My best wishes go out to both teams. Have a
great game.
ESTO PERPETUA.
G D V Perera
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