Battles of the Blues in the Sizzling Sixties
March 8th, 2008
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj
Sitting down at the computer to write an article for the special “Battle of the Blues”supplement put out by the “Nation” revived pleasant memories of Royal – Thomian cricket matches and their related activities.
The cheering, jeering, shouting, running on to the grounds for the flimsiest of reasons, picking new fights, settling old scores,flicking flags and souvenirs, hooting the Royal tent prefects walking in front of the Thomian tent, tackling the College cops after the match,singing, dancing etc remain vividly etched in memory.
I was not one of those who went around in trucks and enlivened the dull tranquility of Colombo. Apart from a few short rides in a truck for the heck of it, I spent most of my time at the Oval. My idea of a Royal – Thomian match was watching it and not painting the town red.
Watching the Royal – Thomian as a schoolboy and then as an adult in later life are two different experiences altogether.
As students we watched cricket being played while participating ourselves through cheering, hooting, flag – waving and rattle – shaking etc.The cricketers on our side were like demi -gods to us.
One of the thrills then was to collect autographs of our team on the big match souvenirs. I remember keeping those souvenirs proudly at home till the July 1983 anti – Tamil violence.
Another happy memory is the first assembly after the Royal – Thomian where special big match related awards were given.
When beginning to watch the Royal – Thomian as adults these big matches took on a different hue. Conversation of the story – swapping variety and consumption of spirited stuff took precedence over the “mundane” task of actually watching the match.
I was a student at Prep School in Colpetty and College at Mt. Lavinia from 1959 to 1968. Though I left College in mid – 1968 I did watch the 1969 Royal – Thomian as a Schoolboy too.
Our family moved to Jaffna at the end of 1969 and remained there till 1974. So I was cut off from the Royal – Thomian during this time.By the time I returned to Colombo and began watching the Battle of the Blues again, my idyllic schooldays were gone forever.
I was now watching the big matches as an “old Thomian” and not as a “Thomian”.Also my gaze had become high – spirited.
So as I sit at my computer and go down memory lane I discover that the big matches I watched as a schoolboy remain somewhat fresh in my memory when compared to those I watched in my adult life.
In this article I want to recollect briefly those wonderful Big matches played in the sizzling sixties of the 20th century. I am relying on my memory . (so pardon me for lapses and errors)
Of those matches played from 1960 to 1969 eight were drawn. Only 1964 (Thomian victory) and 1969 (Royal won) had decisions.
All of those matches were played at the “Oval” grounds of the Tamil Union. They were two – day affairs then.The College team was coached by Orville Abeynaike whose son Ranil captained College in 1973 and who later became curator of the SSC grounds.
Okay now for the matches!
1960 – I dont remember anything about this except that Lareef Idroos was the Thomian skipper. I think he became a medical doctor and is abroad somewhere.
1961 – I cant remember who captained Royal but the STC captain was R.M.Fernando. Thomians batted first and were all out for 121. Keith Labrooy top scored with 21. Then Royal went in and were shot out for 62.Labrooy took 5 or 6 wickets. I cant recall what happened in the second innings except that I think Mano Ponniah scored 52. It was a draw.
1962 – The season began badly for STC. Though the experienced RM Fernando was captain for the second year, the team lost against. St. Benedicts and Ananda.There was a coup of sorts and the captaincy was taken away from RM.Labrooy was skipper from the Nalanda match onwards.Thereafter STC performed creditably..
Darrel Lieversz Captained Royal. Both teams were led by fast bowlers in 1962..STC took first lease of the wicket and notched up 197.Medonza scored 38 and RM stonewalled for nearly 150 minutes to get 21. College had a respectable score due mainly to AJDN “Hopper” Selvadurai who was 68 not out. APB “Ataya” Tennekoon a fresher then scored 28.
Royal were 138 for 9 when they declared. SS Kumar was sixty something not out. Labrooy took 5 or 6 wickets. In our second innings we fared disastrously and declared at tea for 8 for 83. Royal was given 120 minutes to get 143 and were 129 for 7 at stumps. Gowrishankaran top scored with 61 not out. I think the Royal wicket – keeper S. Jayaratne equalled a record in this drawn match .
1963 – This year saw Randy Morrel , son of Mrs. Morrel of Winchester house captaining College. SS Kumar was his Royalist counterpart. Morrel was wicketkeeper cum opening batsman. Thomians as usual batted first and laboriously compiled 254 for 9. Both PNW “Premalal” Gunasekera and APB Tennekoon scored half – centuries.
Royalists declared their first innings closed at 204 for 4. The highlight of that innings was Vijay Malalsekera’s stylish and classy 112 not out. I think he had more than 20 boundaries in that scintilating knock. CM Fernando was 41 not out . STC in its second innings was 115 for 3 declared with the other opener LS Perera scoring 53 not out.
Royal failed to reach the winning target and it was a draw. Roger D’Silva (Brookie’s nephew) got five wickets. An interesting feature of that match was the performance of Thomian 12th man Dias Abeysinghe. Whenever he fielded as substitute he caught some one out. I think about 3 or 4 guys got out this way.
1964 – This was the only year in that decade which we registered a win. Premalal Gunasekera captained college and JD Wilson Royal. STC batted first and were 262 for 6 declared. This was the year that Sarath Seneivaratne came of age scoring 96. There was a record partnership for the fourth wicket with “Ataya” Tennekoon who scored 78.. Sriyantha “Gira” Rajapakse a fresher made his mark by scoring 40 not out.
Royal in their first innings were 146 and were forced to follow on.In their second innings Royal scored 179. Royal made a valiant effort to delay the inevitable through a defiant 9th wicket stand between Marcan Markar 41 not out and Rohan Samarajiwa with 6. STC was set only 45 minutes to reach their match winning target for the second innings.
This they did in 40 minutes with LS Perera 25; Kumar Boralessa 18 and PNW Gunasekera (20 N.O.) hitting out lustily. Paceman Barney Reid and spinner “gira” Rajapakse were mainly responsible for Royal’s poor batting display.
1965 – The year 1965 was the year of the Thomians. STC began and ended the season with draws against St. Benedicts and St. Peters. But in between STC led by Sarath Seneivaratne rolled on like a juggernaut crushing Ananda, Nalanda, St. Josephs, Wesley, Mahinda and Trinity. Royal was led by Macan Markar. STC were the favourites to win this one.
STC opened its innings. There was a “surprise” as Barney Reid and G.Balasingham opened the innings. They were the opening bowlers too and this spectacle of the same duo opening bowling and batting was compared to Australia’s Ray Lindwall – Keith Miller then. Bala was an old Prep school Thomian who then went to Hartley in Point Pedro and returned back to the Thomian turf in Mt. Lavinia.
The Reid – Balasingham opening pair was a success and hit more than 50 for the first wicket. History then was repeated to a lesser extent as Tennekoon (40) and Seneivaratne(97) engaged in a profitable partnership. Sarath was one of those unlucky batsmen who could not hit a century on successive occasions. “so near and yet so far”.STC scored 235.
Royal with 114 had to follow on for the second successive year. STC had a formidable trio of paceys then with Reid, Balasingham and HMG “Mevan” Peiris (Holmang). In the second innings Royal played well and went on to get 171 for 8 at close. It was a draw.
1966 – This year saw “Ataya” APB Tennekoon and “Thalaya” Lakshman Thalayasingham captaining STC and Royal respectively. By this time Anura Tennekoon was playing for the Country too and was regarded as the best school cricketer of that year with a century and three half – centuries.
.STC was unbeaten that season with wins over St. Benedicts, Nalanda, St. Josephs, Mahinda and Wesley. College batted first. There was an early shock as Tennekoon was out for just 02. But vice – captain “Gira” Rajapakse rose to the occasion and became the side’s sheet anchor hitting the century mark which eluded Seneivaratne on two occasions earlier. STC scored 184, Rajapakse top scoring with 101.
Royal were 160 for 6 in their first inings. It had begun raining . STC lost their openers AM Perera and Mohan Jayasekera. Tennekoon (12 n. o.) and Rajapakse (13. n. o. )were at the crease when the rain became a downpour.Gira had just begun flexing his muscles hitting three fours in a row. Alas! the match was a wash – out.
1967 – This was the year J.D. Bandaranaike captained college and SJ de Silva, Royal. Jayampathy Bandaranaike,Prabodha Kariyawasam and Dennis Chanmugam were the only coloursmen in the side. The school season demonstrated that STC had the best opening pair in batting (David Ponniah and Ajith Jayasekera) and Royal the best in bowling (Chris Chitty and Brian Lieversz).Thus the big match that year was the battle – ground for the opening pairs.
The Thomians went into bat first (for the last time in that decade) Jayasekera and Ponniah started off with a bang and in 35 minutes reached 56. Then came the shocking collapse. AR Gunasekera came in as first change bowler and let loose his off – cutters. Within a short time STC crumbled to 57 for 6. Ajith was out for 31 and Ponniah 21. De Saram, Bandaranaike, Chanmugam were out for a duck and Kariawasam 01.
It was left to Ataya’s sibling Bandula Tennekoon (22 ) and Manilka Wijeysooria ( 27) to lead the recovery. Manilka hit a six and two fours. Then came Azham Hameed who scored 24. Ajith, Dennis, Azham and Manilka were an awesome foursome being fierce hard – hitters of the ball. STC total was 137 . AR Gunasekera had five for 30.
Royal began batting and the Thomian fast bowler trio of Dennis Chanmugam, Azham Hameed and Johann (Tiny) Reid got into action. Johann was the last of the Reid brothers (Claude, Ronnie, Buddie, Barney and Tiny) who excelled at STC in Cricket.
The speed trio was followed by the spin quartet of Bandaranaike, Kariyawasam, LD Peiris and DL de Saram. Royal went into a 310 minute run crawl and finally declared at 193 for 9 on the next day.Jayantha Kudahetty got a fifty and Dijen de Saram got three wickets.
STC came into bat for the second time and unleashed a leather hunt. 40 years have passed but I will never forget that batting display. First came a first wicket partnership of 115 between Ponniah and Jayasekera. Ajith was run out at 75 which came in 80 minutes with 12 fours and a six.
Then came De Saram and Chanmugam with 09 and 10 respectively. After the fall of the third wicket came Azham Hameed This pair put on an unbroken partnership of 107 runs. Azham was 59 not out in 65 minutes with 08 fours and a six. Ponniah was 100 not out in 175 minutes with 11 fours. STC put on 262 for 3 in 175 minutes.
Royal came in and hit 33 for no loss in 30 minutes. Rain came down hard and washed out about an hour of play. Needless to say the match was drawn.
Ponniah broke the freshers record for the highest score in that match. The Jayasekera – Ponniah duo proved clearly in 1967 that the Royal duo of Chitty and Lieversz was no match for them hitting a half – century and century partnership in the first and second innings. Today David Ponniah is the STC Warden and Ajith Jayasekera on the STC board of Governors.
1968 – This was the year when Dennis Chanmugam captained STC and AR Gunasekera Royal. This time after many , many years Royal took first lease of the wicket. They were 230 for 8 at tea and then went on to score just 2 runs more in 30 minutes before being all out at 232.Royal skipper AR Gunasekera top – scored with 60 and Vice – capt Kudahetty hit 45.
Despite the batting prowess of the Thomians their performance was lacklustre. Ajith scored 36 and there was the danger of STC being compelled to follow on.But Kariyawasam 31 Not out , DL de Saram 23 and Azham Hameed 15 not out denied Royal that success.
But Dennis in what was seen as a sporting declaration then declared the innings closed at 133 for 6.
Royal came in to bat and Dennis clean bowled BNR Mendis for 0. It looked as if Chanmugam’s gamble might have paid off but Asitha Jayaweera (49)at No 3 and the other opener Sahadevan Thalayasingham (32) had other ideas. Royal declared at 120 for 4 setting STC a target of 220 in 166 minutes.
With Ajith, Dennis, Azham and Dijen in the team it appeared that STC would reach it in no time.Again STC put on a poor show while batting. Ajith ( 26) , Dennis (19), Azham (40) and Kariyawasam (25) helped the team get 146 for 7 at close. It was a disappointing contrast to the 1967 batting.There was every chance that College may have lost if there was more time. Once again a draw.
1969 – This year saw Prabodha Kariyawasam captaing College and Eardley Lieversz Royal. Again Royal started batting. Royal declared at 206 for 7 at tea. Yapa was 43 not out but skipper Lieversz made a wise decision in declaring rather than delaying for him to score a fifty. STC scored 162 with Nimalka Wijeysooria (Manilkas brother) top scoring with 36 and Ajith Jayasekera hitting 21.
Royal declared their second innings early and gave STC a fifty – fifty chance of winning. But the second innings started on an ominous note as Ajith Jayasekera was out facing the first ball of the first over from Jayantha Thalayasingham. And then the rot set in. Nimalka top scored again with 30. Lyle Peiris and Shantha Kottegoda (former Army chief and Ambassador to Brazil) fought a last ditch battle to stave off defeat. But STC was all out for 103. Thus we lost that match.
These then are my recollections of those Royal – Thomians played in the sizzling sixties. It was a time of good cricket when Royalists strutted about as if they owned the whole world and Thomians strode in as if they did not care two hoots as to whom this world belonged to.
May this unbroken tradition of Royal – Thomian matches continue to flourish and may there be generations of Thomians playing cricket at the big club turf. And May Thomians Young, old, staunch and true continue to rally round the College Flag , the Blue the black and Blue! Esto Perpetua!!
[D.B.S. Jeyaraj was at St. Thomas Prep / St. Thomas College from 1959 to 1968 and known as D.J.B. Sabapathy then. He is very keen to resume contact with old school friends he has lost touch with and welcomes mails in this regard. He can be reached at djeyaraj2005@yahoo.com]
Entry Filed under: transCurrents
48 Comments Add your own
1. Rajash | March 8th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Dear DBS why Royal Thomian. How about Central st Johns or Hartley St Johns even bettr Jaffana Schools v Colombo Schools.
I remember whenG Balasigham was captain of Jaffana schools and had Colombo schools reeling in1964 at the Central Grounds
and Kanaganyam and Dandy thrashing colombo schools at the SSC cricket grounds
2. Kurudan | March 8th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Ado machang.. tell me more about the big match going on in vanni..what the hell is going on there……
by the way I saw VP in tamilnet today.
3. Ashley Tisseverasinghe | March 8th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Dear Mr. Jeyaraj,
I enjoyed reading your article about the Royal Thomian encounters of the 60s. I am an old Royalist from 1961 Grade One to 1973, But I too remember the 1969 match and I remember Praboda Kariyawasam crying after the match, sicce STC had coceededed defeat after 14 long years. Subsequentley Praboda s brother was my batch mate of mine at college Prassanna went on to captain Royal. I also enjoy reading your coloumns in the Sunday Leader. Keep it up and all the best to you. Bye and god bless
Regards
Ashley Tisseverasinghe..
4. Sokka | March 9th, 2008 at 12:24 am
the 1964 Royal team losing the big match had a record number of Tamils playing.
capt – JD Wilson
vice capt – Sugi Rajaratnam
S. Anketell
K. Sockanathan
T.Sivanesarajah
L. Thalayasingam
5. Perayavar | March 9th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Royal in 1960 was captained by Michael Dias. The match was drawn
6. Perayavar | March 9th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Mr. Jeyaraj
Michael Dias was Royal capt in 1960 when Idroos was STC skipper
7. Brian | March 9th, 2008 at 12:31 am
Vijay Malalasekera hit 21 boundaries in his 1963 innings. 84 of 112 runs from them
8. Aubrey | March 9th, 2008 at 12:36 am
College lost in 1969 due to lack of good pacemen. Experimented with T.Rudra, Russel Rajaratnam, W.Ravindran . Sunil Wijeratne etc. Finally the openers were Sunil and Lyle. Yes spinner LD Peiris like Gary Sobers opened bowling. It was a disaster
9. Gloria Abraham | March 9th, 2008 at 12:38 am
Nice to read you on the Royal – Thomian Mr. Jeyaraj. How we girls enjoyed them too.
10. Indrajit S | March 9th, 2008 at 12:41 am
What a pity the Oval was downgraded because it was Tamil Union grounds and the SSC was promoted instead. What a pity the Saravanamuttu and Donovan Andree trophy cricket was discontinued
11. Murugesar N | March 9th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Dear Mr. Jeyaraj
You have delighted me with this article. I thought you were only a writer on politics and war. Why dont you write about Tamils who shone on the sports field instead of writing about gun toting militants only?
12. Gnanaiah | March 9th, 2008 at 12:49 am
Dear Saba
Why not write about your classmates who played for College like S. Manotharan,Gamini Kumarage, PR Ellalasingam, Trevor Rajaratnam, Priyal de Silva,Ravi Rudra etc
13. E.R. P. | March 9th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Vijay Malasekera of Royal and Mano Ponniah of STC went on to play for Cambridge.They opened batting for Cambridge
14. Crimson and the Gold | March 9th, 2008 at 12:55 am
Hello DBS
Why dont you write about Battle of the Golds in Jaffna between St. Patricks and Jaffna College also?
15. old Thora | March 9th, 2008 at 12:58 am
Mr.DBS Jeyaraj! So you are the old “Thora”DJB Sabapathy! I will send you an e – mail privately now
16. Suraj J | March 9th, 2008 at 1:00 am
Very happy to know you are an old Thomian . Thomians cant be Eelamists!!
17. Jarith de Mel | March 9th, 2008 at 1:02 am
well said Suraj
No Thomian can be Eelamist
18. Chula | March 9th, 2008 at 1:05 am
I was at College in the sixties and watched all matches. You have made me nostalgic
19. Noel | March 9th, 2008 at 1:07 am
Are you the Rajan Sabapathy who lived at Aloe Avenue in Kollupitiya in the sixties?
20. Shantha L | March 9th, 2008 at 1:10 am
You forgot to mention that Lakshman, Sahadevan and Jayebdran Thalayasingham were all brothers who played for Royal in the sixties
21. Peramuna | March 9th, 2008 at 1:12 am
JD Wilson who captained Royal in 1964 was an old student of St. Thomas prep in the fifties. He and Balasingam who played in 1964 – 65 for STC played for the prep school team
22. Chandima | March 9th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Very glad you wrote this. One cant forget those days!
23. Theodore B | March 9th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Cant forget those big matches. Also those brilliant commentators like Berty Wijesinghe, Lucien de Zoysa, Rajah de Silva etc
24. Thamil | March 9th, 2008 at 6:43 am
I saw the Tamil union score card today playing Bloomfield, to my surprise I couldn’t find a single Tamil name on it.
What you call this??
This is the score card
GT de Silva c Dilshan b Lakshitha
GI Daniel c Silva b Dissanayake
SI Fernando lbw b Dissanayake
SKL de Silva c Dilshan b Jayasuriya
RGMJM Rupasinghe c de Silva b Gamage
M Pushpakumara c Silva b Jayasuriya
PDMA Cooray lbw b Jayasuriya
HM Maduwantha lbw b Dilshan
SC Liyanagunawardene lbw b Dilshan
OLA Wijesiriwardene c Dilshan b Lakshitha
25. Jackson | March 9th, 2008 at 11:15 am
St. Thomas, Trinity and St.Johns (Jaffna) .. the trinity of Anglican Schools .. As my dad says .. always lead their lives with morals and scruples … never compromise their principles for gains ..
My mom is a Royal College fan as her brothers and uncles and grand uncles are all Royallists ..
When I entered Royal College, there was a small argument/debate on the pros and cons of both schools .. My dad reckoned Royallists for all their achievements do not have the class/character of STC .. My mom was of the view was ROYAL was number 1 in everything .. STC was a distant second.
Let us bring to the debate to this forum and settle it in the old (rather new) fashioned way ..
NAME 5 of the worst characters to be schooled in St. Thomas .. and Royal College … This will settle the debate ..
Although a Royallist, I tend to have a soft spot for Stc as well as I had close family (grandad there).
Let the argument that started in my house 25 odd years back continue globally.
26. Ratna | March 9th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Ref: #11 – N.Murugesar
If I am correct, in the late 70’s DBS’s report was published in a Colombo English daily.
The report was about the Football finals between two Jaffna teams.
And if I remember correctly, it mentioned South knows Jaffna Tamils as lining up for MGR movies but they are good at Football too.
DBS, was that article written by you?
27. joseph | March 10th, 2008 at 12:43 am
DBS, is Canadian cricketer Sanjayan Thuraisinham is an old thominan??
Roy-tho are the two great schools where the best players were selected, no mattert tamil/sinhala/muslim.
I had been to matches from 79’s and remember DK subramainam, S ganeshan, A ganashan, playing.
I also remember the great fast bowler Suren Appadurai who couldnt play the 100 battle of the blue because of bad behavior.
There are some Old thimians and royalist supporting the tigers in a big way than some think.
28. Dushy Ranetunge | March 10th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Hi Jeyaraj,
Keeping to the reputation of the sexual preferences of that school by the railroad, you have excluded the most interesting adventures of the big day….the annual raids of discovery into the girls boarding houses of Ladies College and Holy Family Convent. But you are excused on the grounds that you guys were out there in those rural parts effected by the Tsunami.
Congratulations and best wishes from a young boy of Cinnamon Gardens MV.
p.s. We still own the world.
Dushy Ranetunge
29. Sinhalese | March 10th, 2008 at 5:33 am
Hi DBS,
It is nice to know you are Thora Parippuwa. I remember screaming from Royal Tent whenever STC prefects passing. Nice article and thanks for sharing your experience.
From Royal parippuwa
30. Amirthakaliyan | March 10th, 2008 at 7:19 am
Hey Hey
it does not matter what DBS write and on what topis. Lot of people are enjoying it and that is great and that is what we want now!
One request to the Moderator! If you spend lot of time in editing the comments, this site also will end up like a dessert as it happend to some others.
31. Marianne | March 10th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Well, well. Write more of this David
32. Thana | March 11th, 2008 at 5:19 am
Fantastic. Thanks for the memories of the ‘Battle of the Blues’
33. Dr.R.G.Sankaralingam | March 11th, 2008 at 5:22 am
Royal Teams from 1962 to 1964, had several Tamils.
In 1962, there were five Tamils, Thiyagaraja (vice capt.), Shanti Kumar, JD.Wilson, Sugi Rajaratnam and Gowrishankaran. Others were four sinhalese and two Burghers.In 1963 there were six Tamils, SS.Kumar (capt.), JD.Wilson (vice capt.), Sugi Rajaratnam, Sakthikumar, Sockanathan and Anketell. Others were one Sinhalese, three Burghers and one Moor. In 1964 there were six Tamils, JD.Wilson (capt), Sugi Rajaratnam (vice capt.), Sockanathan, Anketell, Sivanesarasa and Lakshmanan Thalayasingam. Others were three Sinhalese, one Burgher and one Moor. In 1965 and 1966 there were only two Tamils Thalayasingam ans Skandakumar
34. Jack Ranasinghe | March 11th, 2008 at 9:58 am
DBS
I should have known….
I’m now a bigger fan, than I was before. Good article that underscores the fact that in the right environment, the two communities can really co-exist as equals, with dignity.
BTW, Lareef Idroos is in Southern California and is a pillar of the OBA there. He still plays cricket for College.
David Ponniah has also been seen belting the ball around the park at various old boys’ encounters.
As for those readers who curl up their noses at DBS for writing about the Roy-Tho and not Central-St.Johns or some other Tamil centric fixture, nothing short of a Thomian education would help them understand.
STC is one of the few schools in the island, where Tamil and Sinhalese students sit next to each other for all but the subjects that require them to go their own ways. They study together, play together, pray together and get punished together. Those bonds, are magical and whilst there have been some Thomians who’ve disgraced the school through their actions (sometimes nature defeats nurture), the overwhelming majority share values that define this great institution.
Esto Perpetua
(be thou forever)
*Note to DBS and others: Correctly spelled it should be S Thomas’ College (not St. Thomas’)
**Trivia Note: S Thomas’ has had more Tamils as Principals (Wardens) than Sinhalese, even though there have always been more Sinhalese students than Tamils.
35. Rajash | March 12th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Jack Ranasinghe
The point is not if Tamil students sat next to Sinhala students.
The fact is there is no more zonal school cricket matches. In the 60s Jaffana schools v Colombo Schools and Kandy Schools etc were intriguing encounters and during that time Jaffana schools were generally stronger.An analysis of Jaffna Schools v Colombo Schools games would be interesting.
For obvious reasons there are no such encounters now, which is a shame because these encounters can bring the polarised communities closer.
36. Blue-Gold | March 13th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Rajash,
Can you name the players who made jaffna school stronger ??
Colombo Schools were always stronger than Jaffna Schools .. Can you please tell how many Tamil Union Cricket Captains (1950s-1960s) were from Jaffna? The answer is ZERO ..
Even among Tamils, the best cricketers were from Royal, S. THomas, Wesley, St. benedict, Joes etc..
Jaffna was never anywhere near Colombo in cricket .. let us not get carried away ..
St. Johns and Central produced a couple of all-ceylon cricketers but Colombo Schools have for the last 100 years produced international superstars .. NO RACE excluded ..
M. Sathasivam … Clive Inman .. Michale Tissera .. Aravinda Desilva .. Gamini Goonasena ..
37. Jack Ranasinghe | March 14th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Agreed Blue-Gold.
Whilst there have been a few good cricketers from Northern schools, just like there were a few from the Kandy schools, the Colombo schools have always produced the best cricketers and that was primarily because of access to better facilities and more importantly, higher quality opposition in the inter-school games.
If you looking for reasons why there were so few Northen cricketers who went on to play club cricket, the answers are in parenting and cultural priorities and not so much in the ethnic issue. Sure the ethnic problem and access to employment will influence those priorities but the achievements of many Tamil speaking cricketers from Colombo schools, suggests that sports is less of a priority in the North.
38. Rajash | March 15th, 2008 at 3:07 am
Blue Gold
Kanaganayagam, V T Mahalingam, G Balasingham, Deivendra, Kanagathurai, Nadarajasundram to name a few that comes to mind
G Balasingham was vice captain of Sri Lanka Schools Team to Australia.
I can assure you that race was/is an issue when selecting players to represent ceylon schools.
During my student days Jaffana schools were not a push over. I will try and get some statistics.
Nowadays with the ongoing war cricket is the last thing that students have in their minds, and the entire Sri Lankan team is from the south.
39. M.thiru | March 15th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
It is perfectly alright for any person to be passionate and nostalgic about his or her alma mater and related activities and particularly when they belong to Royal and St.Thomas of those days. In later times there were other schools in Colombo whose big matches became more popular and stole the lime light from the traditional big matches of the Christian schools.
Anyway I have the following comments on DBS’s article and comments readers made :
Some Readers have commented a Thomian can not be an Eelamist. I had classmates who were sent by boat back to Elam homeland in 1958. In Colombo they were studying in prestigious Christian Schools. There is nothing wrong if one is an Eelamist. I was acquainted with a Thominan cricketer for few months. He was from Wellawatte. He & his family had to flee the country because their lives were in danger.
It is not fair to put down the Tamil areas for being poor in cricket. As Dr. Brian Senivaratne the nephew of Edmund Samarkoddy ( the principled authentic LSSPer ) mentioned, NE provinces were less developed economically.
In certain ways when compared to other provinces like Western, Central and South , cricket did not have the support of the mercantile sector. The competitive cricket spread to places like Krunagalle, Galle and so on because of the introduction of Daily news Trophy & things like that.
I may be wrong but my impression is that even cricketers like late Balasingham ( I had acquaintance after 1983 ) were proud of their connection with St.Thomas than Heartley college. There are budding sanath jayasooriyas and muralitharans not only in Sinhala areas but also in elam areas but they need political, economic freedom and opportunities.
40. Rajash | March 16th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
When Sri Lanka got test status and made cricket more commercial in Sri Lanka the war also broke out and N&E development was curtailed in every front.
With IPL there is even more money to be made by a talented cricketer. I am sure a tamil parent will now nuture a cricketing talent becase of the current cricket econnomy. However in the N&E there is zero investment in economy never mind cricket.
I met G Balasingham briefly before he died. I can assure M Thiru his most proudest time was when he captained Hartley and Jaffana Schools Team and was selcted as Vice Captain of Ceylon Schools while at Hartley
However Question for Royalist and Thomians howmany of them played for Sri Lanka since getting test status?
I can think of only one
41. Dr.R.G.Sankaralingam | March 17th, 2008 at 7:53 am
I was told yesterday by a Sinhalese old Thomian friend that while the Royal-Thomian 2008 Thomian Souvenir is in English, the Royal Souvenir is in Sinhala. Could some one verify this please. If that information is correct, then I am ashamed as an old Royalist,the depth to which my old school has descended.
42. Blue-Gold | March 17th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Rajash,
surprisingly you have not heard of the Jaffna cricketers who did play or were good enough to play for Ceylon.
Sivanandam – wicketkeeper/batsman for Tamil Union.. was considered class but was in the shadow of HIK Fernando (the man considered Sri Lanka’s best ever wicketkeeper batsmant). St. Johns
Balakrishnan – Jaffna Central (played for ceylon).
Premachandra – Jaffna Central (fringes of Ceylon selection but played a lot for Tamil Union).
As for Royallist Thomians .. check out wikipedia or cricinfo .. Its definitely not in single digits.
43. Suresh M | March 17th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
#16 Suraj J
#17 Jarith de Mel
Father of Eelamists ‘SJV’ was a Thomian!
44. Rajash | March 17th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Blue_Gold
I did say what comes to my mind….
now you do contradict your self…
45. Rajash | March 18th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Blue Gold and other Royalist/Thomians..no need for wikipedia only Duleep Mendis a Thomian played for Sri Lanka since obtaining test status.
For that matter he is from down south and S Thomas grabbed him for his cricketing talent.
I cant think of any other Royalsit /Thomians who played for Sri Lanka since obtaining test status.
Challenge me
46. Herman | March 20th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Rajash
Are you sure Ranjan Madugalle who played in the inaugural test series (81/82) is not a Royalist?
But you are correct about Duleep Mendis. He started his 1St XI debut at St. Sebastian, Moratuwa
47. Rajash | March 21st, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Herman
Ranjan Madugalle is ex Trinity College and then Royal.
Not sure how loong he was at Royal for Royal to claim credit.
But he is doing a great job as ICC Chief of Referees. He also captained Sri Lanka for a brief period.
48. Herman | March 25th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Rajash
I got the following information from a reliable source
Here is a list of Royalists and Thomians who played for Sri Lanka tests:
Royalists:
Ranjan Madugalle,
Asantha de Mel
Saliya Ahangama,
Thomians,
Guy de Alwis
Kapila Wijegunawardena
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