HEROES 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 joke 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 scurries 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 effacing 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, TA Femando and H D K Silva andA.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 of Tyronne 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 the Thomians...'.
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, Tony 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 G Abenaike, R Saravanamuttu andMMRauf.
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 humble 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 of hosannas 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