by

C. H. Gunasekara

The Eighteenth of March 1949 dawned like any other March morning, hot sultry and humid with a hint of rain about. But yet it was different, particularly for 22 schoolboys and more so for two of them, for on them rested the honour and glory of their respective schools. It was the morning of the Seventieth Battle of the Blues.

Having assembled at College for the usual team photograph in the morning we boarded the special bus that was to take us to the Oval for the great event, the greatest sporting and social event of the year, a red letter day in the calendar of every blue blooded Royalist and Thomian. Our team was strong with a good batting line up headed by four centurions and a variety in bowling, but so were the Thomians, which thus promised to evolve into a stern contest.

I won the toss and sharp on noon took Kasi Jilla out to open the proceedings which sparked off like an explosive cracker. Schaffter opened bowling from the scoreboard end and I drove the first ball into the covers for a brace and followed next ball with a similar stroke to the boundary. A stroke to third man for three and a couple to Jilla gave us 11 runs in the first over and we maintained this pace to rattle up 34 runs in 25 minutes at which stage my partner, not the swiftest of runners, was run out for 13 in attempting an impossible second run. This was a personal disappointment to me, because it was the only match of the four in which 1 played, where I was not involved in an opening partnership of more than 50, and there seemed no reason why we should not have got there because in this short space of time we had taken complete control of the game and were in no kind of bother at all.

This upset me somewhat, but we had the consolation of seeing Hapugalle settling down to a good innings, when I was suddenly snapped up behind by Jayalingam off Chellaraj. However, there was nothing to get alarmed at and the middle order prospered through solidity from Hapugalle (42), brilliance from Gamini Goonasena (58) and consolidation from Vairavanathan, till we had the morti­fication of seeing the latter run out for a smoothly efficient 39. From being 3 down for 150 odd, it became 6 for 220 in a little over 3 hours, but yet with more batting to follow we found ourselves collapsed unexpectedly for 242 just after tea. Still, we had travelled at a fair gallop at over a run a minute and believed we had the bowling to contain them.

The Thomians began their innings at 4.40 p.m. with left hander K. C. E. Perera and Vernon Tissera, a stylish little player with a penchant for the hook, though not always judicious. I had observed this in his innings of 90 odd against St. Joseph's earlier in the season and evolved a plan to destroy him on his strength. We got rid of Perera fairly early and then decided to put our little plan into operation. This was to first give him the "feel" of the stroke and then trap him into indiscre­tion. The best architect for the treachery was leg spinner Goonasena and he was instructed to give him a short ball with which to whet the batsman's appetite and follow up with one which was still short, but not quite, with an extra load of spin which means speeding through quicker and catching the batsman unawares to be trapped l.b.w. in mid stroke, or mistimed the shot. Our best fielder Valentine Gunasekara was moved into short square leg, somewhere near the umpire for the mis cue, and the stage was set.

The second ball of Goonasena's next over was a rank long hop which was summarily dispatched to square leg amidst jubilant Thomian cheering and the first part of our strategy had worked. The fourth ball was deceptively like the earlier but a shade fuller in length and with that extra bit of spin to hurry it through. Sure enough, Tissera fairly jumped into the shot and again sure enough, beaten by the extra pace, top edged it into a gently carving parabola. With the stroke, Gunasekara took an instinctive step back but then found the ball dropping short and he had made a terrible misjudgment. But he corrected himself in time and finally caught the fast dropping ball on all fours with hands cupped over the grass as if in an attitude of prayer. Jubilant, we were congratulating ourselves, when we noticed that the batsman was making no effort to move. On appealing to either umpire in turn, we were horrified to have our appeal negatived and we had had our first set-back. I was fielding at mid-wicket and saw that it was as clean as clean a catch could be. Though the batsman scored only a further 15 or so it did not appear to matter much, but it cost us time, morale and a further break-through. We swallowed our disappointment and carried on.

In spite of this, we had them struggling at 45 for 3 with skipper Shanti Kumar and left handed all rounder Cheliaraj effecting to resuscitate the ailing innings. The score moved up very very slowly to 56 when Chellaraj was palpably run out and correctly given out, but the umpire in passing just mentioned that the batsman had inadvertently bumped into a fielder, fielding close to the wicket and if I so desired I could call him back. Prior to this incident I remember drawing the attention of the batsmen to the position of this particular fielder and they made no objection. I was well within my rights to let matters stand as they were, but I gave it thought for a fleeting moment and instinct promp­ted me to call him back. After all it was only a cricket match, even though a prestigious Royal-Thomian, but still only a game of cricket. This incident earned me a glowing editorial in one of the national "dailies" but nearly cost us the match.

Shortly after this incident our fast bowler Atapattu suddenly pulled up with ham string trouble In the middle of an over, but though the laws permit the over to be deemed complete at that point, I requested him to stand at the bowling crease and roll his arm to get through the over. Under­standably he presented two juicy full tosses which were gratefully despatched for 4 apiece and the batsman...... Chellaraj. Surely a case of one good gesture deserving another!

Atapattu went off the field and our twelfth man Nagendran took his place. 1 was fielding at cover to the left hander batting at the Tennis Court end nearer the pavilion and to save time 1 moved over to mid off and put Nagendran at cover point to save him a long trek across the field. Almost Immediately Chellaraj slashed at one outside the off stump and gave a dolly to the newly arrived sub, but poor fellow beside himself with nerves and not yet attuned to the light, stuttered about, sat cross legged on the grass and spilled the chance. "If" and I stress the word "if" I was where 1 was, I may have clung on to the chance and this could have thrown a different complexion on the game, for we would then have been amongst the inexperienced freshers with a good chance of restricting their score. But there is no scope for "ifs" in cricket and dropped catches have to be paid for. Instead of being 70 for 4 (or 56 for 4 at the time of the run out) they finally ended the day on 97 for 3, scored in 100 minutes.

Next day they got up to 225 with Shanti Kumar grafting a captain's Innings of 55. There was not much left in the game at this stage and our idea was to score a few quick runs and effect a token declaration though neither side had any real chance of forcing adecision. But we were rudely stopped in our tracks by a truly inspired spell of fast bowling by Schaffter. The wicket had quickened up by now, and bowling with rare hostility and fire and with just that extra little bit of bounce and movement off the wicket, he had us in all sorts of trouble. Just after we put a thoroughly convulsive nose ahead of three figures 1 was contemplating a declaration, but the decision was taken off my hands when our last man obligingly got out. Schaffcer came through with a truly magnificent performance with figures of 160 2M 27R 6W to put his team in with a chance.

I was not unduly disturbed and knew we could bottle them up in case of need, but for once they took the challenge and fairly waded in, knowing full well that they could not be all dismissed In 65 minutes. K. C. E. Perera led off with a spanking 47 and Bradman Weerakoon followed with a hard his 36, and lo and behold, come the last over and S. Thomas' find themselves with six wickets in hand and seven short of an unexpected triumph! I am in a quandary. Am 1 to save the singles or the fours? We decide to concentrate on one side of the wicket come what may, and the field is set accordingly. Three results are possible now— one of them highly improbable. Could it be a draw, victory for S. Thomas' or could it be a win for us, after all only two successive hat tricks to get!

Goonasena the only bowler capable and willing to dispose of those six balls, is to continue. He walks back to his rather longish mark for a spinner, turns round, lopes in, and bowls. Schaffter taps and takes a short single. Six runs or six wickets to get, five balls to go, tension mounting. Royal victory impossible now. S. Thomas'— well we'll wait and see. Goonasena, a good length leg spinner to Shanti Kumar, carefully played down ... no run. Next ball, ditto. Fourth ball driven straight to a fielder and another hasty single.  Goonasena, thoughtful and nervous, but not showing it and in apparent control of himself, bowls... another single to Schaffter. Last ball and only a boundary to get, easy they say, or is it? Shanti Kumar faces up ... relax everybody......... faster ball just short of length, watchout, a delicate late cut to short third man for yet another single— and he has not lived that down yet, thirty years hence. Tension released — a fascinating draw, both fortunate and frustrating depending on your loyalties. The crowd surges upon as we leave the field hand in hand, neither vanquished nor victorious. The game of cricket had won.

We allowed them every chance by not wasting time in changing between overs which is reflected in the score card— 24 overs in 65 minutes. We could with justification have bowled only 20 overs or even less, i.e. judged by today's standards— and at their rate of scoring (4.83 runs per over) they would have ended with only 97 or may be 87, and that would not have looked very imposing. But we were not taught to play the game that way. Some Thomians claim that they scored their runs in 60 minutes, and if that were so, more the credit to us for bowling 24 overs in the hour. It is hard to please these Thomians anyhow. As for me, well...... I had the consolation and fortune to look

forward to two more such contests, even though not as skipper, because there is a rule and a much respected tradition at Royal that no boy can captain a team for more than one year. Nonetheless, I just waited for the next encounter.........

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