The
Thrilling Finish of 1923
It was way back in 1923, on the old S. S. C. grounds at Victoria Park. It was my first year under the genial Arthur Lankatilleke.
In the fourth innings of the match we had to get 162 runs for victory. The scoring on both sides was on the low side. This I think may be attributed to the sporty nature of the wicket. I can assure you that the wicket was not of the shirt front type we get today. The batsman's paradise where a bowler bowls his heart out with a poor reward.
The wicket proved to be tricky, very much more in the fourth innings. The winning of the toss played a very important part in the game.
In our second innings nine wickets had fallen, there was only one over left. I was batting (42) and the last man was Ashmore Pieris (father of H. S. M.) who was batting quite confidently.
The late Cecil Dias, Captain of Royal, called on his formidable array of bowlers to bowl his final and vita! over. They appeared to be reluctant. There were bowlers of the calibre of Henry Meedeniya, F. L. Goonewardena, C. E. Belleth. Alas! these great cricketers who have since gone to the land where no traveller returns.
Cecil Dias took upon himself to deliver the last over and in the third ball due to ultra caution, I spooned up a dolly catch to be caught and bowled by Dias. Royal thus won a well-deserved victory by 59 runs.
In passing I might mention that in this match there were some memorable feats performed. The late Henry Meedeniya returned the fantastic bowling figures of 8 for 17 runs in our second innings. The late Carl Cooke created a wicket keeping record, which has not been broken nor equalled. 6 caught, 2 stumped and 1 run-out (both innings).