We all know Cyril Ernest as a very modest person who never tried to flaunt his achievements. But having identified him as the most suitable person among those four cricketers to recount the events of the year 1963, I was able to persuade a most reluctant Cyril to write to the blog about 1963. This then is the result of my persistent efforts.
Lucky
University cricket team 1962/63 and beyond
By Cyril Ernest
It is over 50 years since the Varsity team of 62/63 achieved a feat unparalleled in the annals of the history of our hallowed institution - never before or ever since - the feat of becoming champions in the National cricket tournament of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). We were all a bunch of talented youngsters just out of high school who came together under the erstwhile leadership of Carlyle Perera, a no nonsense leader, to achieve what has now been recognized as a legendary feat. Being in the University, our first and foremost duty was to achieve success in our studies. The fact that we were able to combine the two - sports and studies - was a wonderful feat.
Our team was composed of - Carlyle Perera - skipper; Buddy Reid - Vice Captain;URP Goonetilleke , Nihal Gurusinghe, Mohanlal Fernando, Lareef Idroos, Cyril Ernest, Harsha Samarajiva, Mano Ponniah, NJS De Mel, V. Sivanandan , Kingsley Fernando, Kiththa Wimalaratne, Nanda Senanayake, Merril Gooneratne. The core of the team comprised of 10 players while others chipped in when the core team players were not available due to exams or injuries.
In our youthful exuberance, we were always confident of winning - no matter what great players the opponents teams comprised of. Our key to success was the brilliant fielding outfit that Carlyle was able to mold us into and also the never say die attitude he instilled in us all. At different times in the tournament, we had one or two players come to the fore to rescue in times of adversity and to achieve the success. It is difficult to attribute the very success of our team to individual players - but the fact is that each and every one of them contributed their mite at the right time. Our team was always a happy one and everyone pulled their weight together and dissent was never a factor.
We had the solid support of the University staff - especially Dr. EHC Alles , Mr. PAS Perera, Prof. EOE Perera, Dr. SR Kottegoda and would you believe it even Prof.Rajasuriya was an avid spectator at our matches - sorry if I missed out some names.
To make a long story short - we became champions by the barest of margins of less than one point and the next year too we would have been champs had it not been to one missed catch. We were rewarded for our efforts of becoming champions with a tour to Singapore and Malaysia - all expenses paid. We indeed had a great time on the tour and did Ceylon proud by our exemplary behavior on and off the field and excelling in the matches.
Our team comprised of so many multitalented individuals who excelled in other sports as well and also were musicians.6 of our players eventually gained representative honors playing for Ceylon.
Sadly we do lament the loss of Kiththa Wimalaratne and URP Goonetilleke. All the individual players are now scattered far and wide - in England, Australia, USA, Wales and in Sri Lanka. All our players have achieved success in their chosen fields and are all well recognized as Internists, Nephrologists,
I did not go into details of individual performances as it would have been quite a chore delving into such feats. I also forgot to mention that New Zealand is one of the countries our team mates have been domiciled in.
Thank you Cyril and thank you Lucky for prodding Cyril, obviously in the right places! What a great achievement it was and I hadn't realised that the University team had such a near miss the subsequent year. "Catches win matches" as the old saying goes. In the previous years, the NCC and SSC dominated with the BRC intervening briefly in 1955/56.
ReplyDeleteThe Final against Colts CC was a humdinger. At one stage, one hour before stumps, the University were 34 for 4 requiring 70 runs and Colts requiring one more wicket. Buddy Reid and Nihal Gurusinghe got the required runs with 15 mins to spare and made sure of not getting out and Varsity won bu 0.02 points!
Cyril was of course one of the mainstays of the Team. A more modest and down-to-earth man would be hard to find.
Cyril
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for those wonderful memories. I recall watching some of the games and seeing Lucky arrive in his Honda 50 Motor bike. It was indeed a fine team of great men who were modest in their achievements. I remember the sun beating down on us all and amazingly what sticks in our minds is the sunshine and never the monsoon rains. We are so very proud of those achievements.
It was such a pleasure to see Cyril and Lareef together at the posh lobby of the Cinnamon Grand. I was with Senthil Sinniah who captained Wesley Cricket in 1959/60. It was a wonderful meeting as they seem to know each other from those heady days of school cricket.
Cyril is one of the nicest guys one can ever meet. Take care my friend and do keep in touch. God Bless
I had a lovely email from Cyril. He was impressed by my memory of this match and I must hasten to clarify that the information came from a web search and sadly, not from memory!
ReplyDeleteHonesty and Integrity!! We expect nothing less from you Mahen. Have a lovely Christmas and hope 2019 be a happy and healthy one. Make sure you are not away when we have the London Reunion which is now well established as an annual event by our Queen of Reunions - Pram. Meanwhile we need more of your music in 2019 with your lovely friend -Tyros. Take care
DeleteNo man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.
ReplyDeleteNo its not me who said it - It was Abraham Lincoln - if I remember right!!!!
Indeed, the same person also well known for saying "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time"
ReplyDeleteMy experience of cricket is very limited - However I wish to thank Cyril for this write up, and Lucky for making it happen.
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful to read of our very talented, yet very modest batchmates who have played this ‘gentleman’s game’ the way it was meant to be played and conducted themselves honorably on and off the field- Well done.
Yes - Nihal Gurusinghe has been in NZ - met him briefly just once over 3 decades ago- was still playing cricket then.
Well done Medics in winning the famous Sara Trophy.Can a cricket historian enumerate the names of cricket legends mother Lanka had produced,in the bygone era.Some of the names that came into mind were-M.Satasivam,F A de Saram,CH&CI Gunasekaras,Ben Navaratne,who faced the mighty Windies,with Sir Garfield(Garry)Sobers.The others who shined in the field were,Abu Fuad of Moors,M.Devaraj of Tamil Union,DH&DP de Sivas of Nomads.DH was the charity commissioner of the Colombo Municipality.Their younger brother DS became famous in playing for Ceylon team and English and Australian Counties.Next.I must not forget Gamini Gunasena and Stanley Jayasinghe,who excelled not only in Ceylon,but in England as well.Sri lanka was at its zenith in cricket during the time of winning the 50 over,World cup,captained by the charismatic Captain Arjuna Ranatunga.Famous and versatile batsman Aravinda de Silva played later for Kent County.Chaminda Wass,Kumar Sangakkara,Mahela Jayawardene also played their respective parts in English Counties.When are we going to produce World class players of the calibre of the era bygone.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sumathipala for your interesting comment. The only others that’ come to mind are Clive Inman and Laddie Outschoon. Both of them played county cricket in England. As for world class, I think Angelo Mathew is one among the current crop of cricketers.
ReplyDeletePeople like Michael Tissera were in the wrong era. Michael Tissera in my view is one of the finest batsmen we had. I saw him in action against many visiting teams and he was such an elegant player.
Speedy,You are right about Michael Tissera.I,too have seen him batting at Campbell place,grounds against Wesley College,Alma Mater of our own ND&Indra.Another famous name slipped out my memory,which seems to be fading slowly,during my typing is Duleep Mendis.I wish to see many more comments from our colleagues,specially,Lucky with a photographic memory with regard to cricketers in the bygone era.
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ReplyDeleteTwo,names I failed to mention were, Ranjan Hulugalle-currently holding a top brass post in ICC and Kumar Dharmasena,who represented SriLankan team on several occasions,hold a post of umpire.He has commanded respect for his excellent umpiring skills at international matches.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Cyril for the excellent article and Lucky for motivating him to do so. I knew NJS de Mel, an old Royalist cricketer who lived in my neighborhood. He also passed away few years ago. I also witnessed most of the matches during that memorable year.The following year when Buddy Reid captained our side, we lost to Bloomfield by a fraction of a point.
ReplyDeleteIn January 1967,few months before our finals, few West Indians visited Ceylon and played in the "Daily Mirror 11, against us.
Gary Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Wesley Hall, Gordon Greenidge and Conrad Hunt were in this team.I went for this match with Bertram Nanyakkara (others were reluctant to do so as the Final exam was few months away. I told them that this exam is held three times a year and the West Indians would come here once in a decade. The rest is history as you all very well know, as I topped the batch). We went to the Oval at about 7.00 am and queued up to buy tier tickets for 50 cents each!In that match, Sonny Yatawara clean bowled Garfield Sobers and Michael Tissera batted extremely well.
During that time I remember Cyril playing for Ceylon against the MCC at the Oval and capturing four wickets including that of Tom Graveney, who was a very elegant batsman.
Sanath
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Sumathi, I think you have got the names wrong! Ranjan Hulugalla was our batch mate and Ranjan Madugalla was the cricketer!
ReplyDeleteSanath
Thanks,Lama.The two names got mixed up at the time of typing.Name Madugalle was well recorded in my brain.I too remember the match against Windies.From the English sounding names,I was under the impression that West indian players were white.After seen them only that I realised that they were of the African stock,except Rohan Kanhai.At ther end of the match,I saw the girls rushing to get the signatures of the players in their Autographs.
ReplyDeleteWish you a happy new year and look forward to see you doing your best for the Medical schools in our motherland.
Cyril, I am the tailender in to bat. Usually I am the 'opening bat' and also behind the stumps!!
ReplyDeleteCricket is in my family as my Dad played and captained Wesley College and subsequently Captained The Combined Schools. I also believe that my uncle played for Royal, certainly I know that he played Rugger on the wing and a very good athlete as well.
I do remember the time when we won the Sara Trophy which was a great honour to our Uni more so as many of the team was from our year. That was a wonderful achievement indeed. Thanks for your part in it.
I stopped playing after some games for Malay C C as other 'interests' took my attention for the worse.... shall not dewell on it any further.
Wish you every success in your interest in Cricket.
Wish you and your dear Wife and Family all good health and every success in the future.
M.H.Ahamat captained Wesley College 1st XI cricket in 1926
ReplyDeleteCricket is in my family as my Dad played and captained Wesley College and in this way Captained The Combined Schools. I likewise trust that my uncle played for Royal, absolutely I realize that he played Rugger on the wing and an awesome competitor too. I do recall when we won the Sara Trophy which was a significant privilege to our Uni all the more so the same number of the group was from our year. That was a magnificent accomplishment in reality. A debt of gratitude is in order as far as it matters for you in it. For plan to Buy Cricket Bats Online you can check here.
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