CRICKET - LOVELY - CRICKET- Mahendra Gonsalkorale

CRICKET - LOVELY - CRICKET - Mahendra Gonsalkorale

VICTORY CALYPSO - Egbert Moore ("Lord Beginner")- This calypso was written after the Windies won the test in 1950 against England at Lords. This is the first verse.

Cricket lovely Cricket,
At Lord's where I saw it;
Cricket lovely Cricket,
At Lord's where I saw it;
Yardley tried his best
But Goddard won the test.
They gave the crowd plenty fun;
Second Test and West Indies won.

An email from Sanath Lamabadusuriya (see below) prompted me to write this post.

“I think we judge talent wrong. What do we see as talent? I think I have made the same mistake myself. We judge talent by people's ability to strike a cricket ball. The sweetness, the timing. That's the only thing we see as talent. Things like determination, courage, discipline, temperament, these are also talent”. Rahul Dravid

At a time when Sri Lanka is not doing too well in the T20 World Cup, I thought of recapturing some cricket news from our Batch times. Our batch was replete with top-class cricketers. To name just a few, Lareef Idroos, Cyril Ernest, Harsha Samarajiva and Kiththa Wimalaratne. 

1963 was an unforgettable year for us medical students because the University of Ceylon cricket team made history by winning the Saravanamuttu Trophy, which was awarded to the winners of the premier league in club cricket that year. We had quite a few members of our batch on that team. Among them were the aforementioned cricket wizards Lareef Idroos, Cyril Ernest, Harsha Samarajiva, and Kiththa Wimalaratne. 

In my Speedy interview with Cyril Ernest, he said “When I entered medical school my classmates included contemporary cricketers Cecil Saverimuththu, a fellow Bendictine teammate (pace bowler), Senarath Jayatilleke, a dashing batsman from St. Anne’s College Kurunegala, and Kumar Gunawardena, a wicketkeeper/batsman, from St. Thomas’ College. Talented as they were as cricketers, they did not pursue playing cricket and decided to concentrate on their studies. My other school contemporaries, Lareef Idroos (St. Thomas’ College), Harsha Samarajeewa (Royal College), and Kiththa Wimalaratna (Royal College) continued their pursuits in cricket. We were teammates in the University Cricket Eleven". Cyril Ernest has the rare distinction of playing for two countries Sri Lanka and America.

Sanath’s email 13 May 2024

"Last Saturday evening (11^th May) I was invited for the Cricket Night, which was held at the Colombo Medical Faculty auditorium located in the tower. On that day a match was played between the alumni of Colombo and Peradeniya Medical Faculties., which the latter side won. Yesterday there was a match in Colombo between the students of the two Faculties. I was invited for the event in the capacity of being the Immediate Past President of CoMSAA. 

At present about 70% of the medical students are girls in all the medical faculties in the country. I suggested to the organisers to have a cricket or netball match for the girls, in the future. 

During the hay days of University cricket, we won the Sara Trophy under the captaincy of Carlyle Perera in 1963. The following year when Buddy Reid captained the team, we were the runners-up to Bloomfield by a fraction of a point and lost the match because of a dropped catch. Buddy Reid, Cyril Ernest and Lareef Idroos, later played for the country. After graduation they played for the Health Dept Sports Club in the A division and won the title, which was dominated by the Municipal  Council's side, until then, which had national cricketers such as Daya Sahabandu, Anuruddha Polonowita and Lasatha Rodrigo, who were employed as playground instructors; D H de Silva ,who was the Municipal Commissioner also played for them. The University side consisted of many other medicos such as Buddy Reid, Nihal Gurusinghe, Mohanlal Fernando, U R P Gunatilleke,  Cyril Ernest.Lareef Idroos , Harsha Samarajeewa and Kiththa Wimalaratne . Sivananthan who was a Veterinary student was the wicket keeper.  Mano Ponniah Nanda Senanayake , NJS de Mel,Kingsley Fernando, Merril Gunaratne , from the other faculties, were also in the team.They were rewarded with an all-expenses paid tour of Singapore and Malaysia and Dr. S R Kottegoda, who was an ardent cricket fan, accompanied the team as the Manager. 

At present University cricket is at a very low level. At Thurstan Road, there is only a matting wicket. The Health Dept, Sports Club and grounds are no more as a massive building is under construction in the same premises to house the Ministry of Health.

For how many years did you play for the University? Was Sarath Wimalaratne  a member of your team? I will always remember you for scoring 96 runs in 1964 and 97 runs in 1965, in our big match. I have witnessed  the big match since 1954 and 1964 was the first time I saw our side losing the big match; the Thomian side was captained by Premalal Goonesekere ,whom I knew quite well. Sometimes he used to go for cricket practices from our Wellawatte residence, during school holidays. In 1969, for the very first time I witnessed us winning the Big Match under the captaincy of Eardley Lieversz". 

Here is a chance to share your cricket thoughts with fellow “cricket-mad” batch mates! Let your thoughts flow!