My cricketing career at S. Thomas' College started in 1927 when I had the privilege of being a member of the team which, under the captaincy of the late Roy Hermon, defeated the all conquering Australian team from Adelaide, and ended with my departure to further my studies at Cambridge in 1932. All throughout this period Mr. Percy Cooke was the cricket coach. Although he himself had won his cricketing colours at S. Thomas' College, he could not claim to be among the great cricketers produced by this College, nor could he claim to be among the outstanding coaches of cricket. Yet, there was no limit to the sacrifices that he was prepared to make in the name of cricket, nor was there anyone who could claim to have loved his Alma Mater more.

In recollecting my association with him three incidents stand out very clearly. In relating these incidents I will leave out names of other parties concerned in order to avoid any embarassment to anyone. I can, however, vouch for the correctness of the facts.

The first occurred very early in my cricketing career. I happened to be a Sergeant of the Junior Cadets and Mr. Cooke was a Lieutenant in the Ceylon Cadet Battalion. On the eve of the drill competition, which was annually held at the Rifle Green, I was summoned by him to receive last minute instructions. At the same time one of the senior members of the cricket team had also been summoned on some minor disciplinary matter. What would have normally been disposed of in a few minutes, took a chaotic turn. Mr. Cooke, perhaps to impress the junior cadet sergeant that stood by, adopted a rather uncalled for attitude which was foreign to him, but with the unfortu­nate result of him being subjected to great humiliation and disrespect at the hands of this cricketer, which no teacher or coach could possibly endure. There was no doubt in my mind that the senior cricketer's days at S. Thomas' College were over. No master could tolerate such an attitude. That evening I mentioned this incident to our captain and we both came to the same conclusion that our team mate will be expelled next morning. The following day Lt, Cooke and my squad took train to Colombo and detrained, as was customary on these occasions, at the Slave Island Station. While marching my squad from Slave Island to Rifle Green, Lt. Cooke fell in step with me and requested me to forget the incident of the previous day. He went on to explain that the College could not afford to lose the services of such a good cricketer and that the cricket team and the College was all that mattered to him. Needless to say I was happy not to lose our team mate, but was astonished beyond words at the sacrifice he was prepared to make and the humiliation he was prepared to suffer in the name of cricket and the College.

The second incident took place a few years later. I was captain of the College team and we had in our team a really first class batsman who had a couple of centuries to his credit.  Just a few days before the Royal-Thomian match our cricketing star had disappeared without any trace what­soever. He had not been seen in his dormitory the whole day and now that evening had fallen Mr. Cooke was absolutely frantic. He could not imagine our taking on the powerful Royal team, which included the great Gunasekaras and the de Sarams in their ranks, without our star.   He endured this state of affairs till darkness fell and sent for me. He was the very proud owner of a small Fiat 2-seater car which he treasured, but as far as he was concerned, the circumstances did not allow for sentiment. He ordered me to take his car and search every nook and corner for our star cricketer and somehow or other to see that I had him back in the dormitory before morning. He assured me that he would cover my tracks during my absence. It is a long story of how I eventually tracked down our cricketing star, but I did so towards the early hours of the morning and had him back in the dormitory before dawn. I was amazed to find how scrupulously he had covered our tracks. Every detail had been attended to and our absence was not even noticed. There was no limit to which he would not go for the sake of cricket. That included even the breaking of College rules if he felt that it was in the interest of cricket.

When it comes to cricket, he would even indulge in a little "blackmail" if he felt that it was in the interests of the College and cricket. This brings me to my third incident. I believe it was in 1930 or 1931 that our team travelled to Kandy to play Trinity College. Mr. Cooke accompanied the team which travelled by train. Somewhere along the journey the team retired to the refresh­ment car. A few members of the team, just for the sake of being different, pooled the little money they had and bought a few bottles of beer and some lemonade. They partook of this shandy with an air of doing something superior. Unfortunately, Mr. Cooke came into the refreshment car soon after that and the whole team was unceremoniously bundled out and sent back to our com­partment. He joined us a short while later, some say that the delay was due to him having consumed the remnants of the beer but I personally would not vouch for this. It was a different Percy Cooke that stood before us. He was red in the face - whether it was due to the beer or anger I could say - and he raged at us for a full 15 minutes and finished up by saying that he was going to report this matter to the Warden as soon as the team got back. There was little doubt amongst us that we all stood to be expelled whether we partook of the beer or not. Of course he added, as if on second thoughts, that he would forget the incident if we defeated Trinity. Now this was rather;

difficult task as I believe we had not beaten Trinity for the past 10 years. Yet we felt that if we did sufficiently well and did not lose the match, Mr. Cooke would relent and forget the incident. We arrived at Trinity College that evening a rather dejected lot and half-heartedly acknowledged the greetings of our Kandy friends. Next morning we arrived at the Asgiriya grounds, a team united with determination. I inspected the wicket before the toss. It appeared to me to be an excellent batting wicket. We fortunately won the toss and I took first lease of the wicket. My reading ha( proved correct and we built up a considerable score with a fall of just a few wickets. I decided not to take advantage of a tired Trinity team and put them into bat for the last hour of the day for the reason that the wicket was playing easier and easier and there was also tell tale signs of rain clouds in the distant sky. We went to sleep that night much easier in our minds as there was now no possibility of defeat. That night there was a severe downpour-someone's prayers had been answered. I declarer the next morning and Trinity was caught on a drying wicket. They succumbed to a paltry score in their first innings. Although they made a determined and courageous fight back in the second innings when sent in again, the odds were very much against them and we won the match comfortable with many wickets to spare. Mr. Cooke was a transformed personality. Yes, the Thomian team was a very good side. It was composed of a set of perfect boys that he had the good fortune to coach. He bestowed every possible praise on us - the incident of the train had never taken place.

Mr. Cooke was truly a very remarkable man. He played the game the only way he knew-not with the bat, not with the ball, but with his heart.

"When the one great scorer comes to write against your name, He writes not how you won or lost, but how you played the game."

Mr. Cooke is no more with us but I shall always remember him as a kind teacher, a tirelea coach and above all, a very good friend.

ROBERT  P.  SENANAYAKE

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