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At Last! Sri Lankan Women’s Cricketers beat Indian Women … at Dambulla – By Michael Roberts Source:thuppahis.com Sri Lanka 141 for 3 (Athapaththu 80*, de Silva 30) beat India 138 for 5 (Harmanpreet 39*, Rodrigues 33, Ranasinghe 1-13) by seven wickets Sri Lanka had lost their last 12 T20Is against India, and had never beaten them in a home game. But all that was put to rest as their captain Chamari Athapaththu led them to a seven-wicket win in the final match of the three-match T20I series in Dambulla. The hosts managed to salvage pride after conceding the series with back-to-back defeats. Athapaththu averages 22.57 in T20Is, but when she’s captained Sri Lanka to victory, she averages 42.61 and strikes at 142.41. Her best version was on show on Monday. The Athapaththu show, the beginning Sri Lanka’s pursuit of 139 began in an attacking fashion with young Vishmi Gunaratne whipping Renuka Singh for a four over midwicket ...

Jun 28, 2022 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged Chamari Athapaththu, Nilakshi De Silva, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Pooja Vastrakar, Sri Lanka

St. Josephs College in Colombo: Its Multi-faceted Achievements over 125 Years-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Lynn Ockersz, in The Island, 13 June 2022, where the title runs thus “St. Joseph’s College, Colombo – a dignified 125 years” One hundred and twenty-five years into its existence, St. Joseph’s College, Colombo remains dignified and spiritually-focused in the Sri Lankan school system. Its achievements have been numerous and multidimensional over the decades but if one were to sum up the essential identity of the College, then, spiritual development would be the phrase to choose. Fortunately, my association with the College has continued unbroken since the sixties and early seventies when I was a student at this veritable citadel of Catholic education under the distinguished rectorship of Rev. Dr. W.L.A. Don Peter, who was a legend even in his lifetime. Decades though it has been since I left College and immersed myself in the tumult of local public life, having ...

Jun 27, 2022 Posted by eLanka admin In Michael Roberts Tagged St. Josephs College in Colombo

Memories are Made of This: The Agar-Hewawissa-Plunkett-Forbes Lineages of Ceylon-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis This picture brought back memories. I knew Ashton Agar’s Great Grandfather from way back in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Mr. Plunkett worked at Walker Sons & Co Ltd as a car salesman and resided at Negombo. He had two daughters Sheila and Carmaline. (Bubbles). Sheila was married to Nala Hewawissa and Carmaline to Ron Forbes. In the 1950’s the Demetagoda Christian Guild Recreation Club as a fund raiser organised its Annual September Dance at the Colombo Town Hall and the main attraction was the selection of the “Queen of the September Dance.” In 1957 the panel of Judges were Dr. P.R. Thiagarajah, Mr & Mrs Rajagopal, Mrs. Sita Parakrama, Mr Livy Wijemanne. ...

Jun 27, 2022 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged Dr. P.R. Thiagarajah, Mario Manricks, Mrs. Sita Parakrama

Hail the Sri Lankan Cricket Fans: Joe Paiva’s Pictorial Applause from Adelaide:-by Michael Roberts Joe Paiva’s Colourful Applause from Adelaide Congratulations the People of Lanka for welcoming the Aussies with open arms and warm hospitality. This is the Sri Lankan way. Cricket Australia take special note and reciprocate, when overseas teams grace our great, multicultural continent…. Australia. In the past Australia has treated foreign team shabbily. That now must change. It is sport not war. Sri Lanka despite its dire situation has shown the world how it should be done. ICC take note. Black, brown, white or yellow we are all human beings under our exterior. HUMANITY. One binding factor, universal thread is sport … cricket. Bat , ball and stumps and the pitch in the centre………… ………. Joe Paiva, in Adelaide ...

Jun 27, 2022 Posted by eLanka admin In Michael Roberts Tagged Sri Lankan cricket fans

Another Pulsating ODI Win by Sri Lanka ….Just!-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Where Sri Lanka’s pulsating win on Sunday 20th June seemed on the cards as the game moved on towards a climax with Sri Lanka’s batsmen in command, the match on the same grounds at Khettarama in Colombo on Tuesday the 22nd was a nailbiter in the last over. The unlikely near-hero for Australia was their last-minute spinning stand-in Matthew Kuhnemann. Facing the last over with the enormous target of 19 runs to snatch a win, he manufactured an assault on Dasun Shanaka’s bowling which left him with a target of six runs to secure a tie in the sixth ball of the over. He went for it ; but skied …. and every Sri Lankan breathed a sigh of relief as Asalanka caught it. ...

Jun 22, 2022 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged Chamika Karunaratne, Charitha Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka, Dhananjaya De Silva, Matthew Kuhnemann

Galba’s Tales of Parliamentary Affairs from the Inside: “Wow”!-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Hugh Karunanayake, … with the title and the highlighting being impositions by The Editor, Thuppahi Nihal Seneviratne, the former Secretary General of Sri Lanka’s Parliament which he served with distinction and diligence for 33 years, has published his autobiographical memoir entitled “Memories of 33 years in Parliament”. Written in a very readable, chatty style of prose, it is indeed a compendium of the highlights of the nation’s legislative workings over the past three decades. If anyone dares to call the nation’s Parliament a “circus”, then surely the Secretary General, together with the Speaker must be the “ringmasters’ of the circus! It is most definitely a vantage point from which a person appointed under the Constitution of the country, as Secretary General of Parliament, could view the inner dynamics of the workings of an institution entrusted by the people to guide the destinies ...

Jun 20, 2022 Posted by eLanka admin In Michael Roberts Tagged LALITH ATHULATHMUDALI, Nihal Seneviratne, Royal College

May Day Worldwide? The Energy Crisis in Australia Today-by Michael Roberts Australia heavily relies on gas and coal but is shifting towards renewables.CREDIT:GETTY Source:Thuppahis Editorial in THE AGE, 17 June 2022, …. https://www.theage.com.au/national/energy-crisis-should-hasten-push-into-renewables-20220617-p5auk5.html If anything good has come out of this week’s energy crisis it is the realisation that our electricity market is no longer fit for purpose – that after years of inaction we have finally been found out. The question is: what, exactly, can be done? It’s well known now that the crisis – which threatened blackouts across the eastern states and will no doubt be felt in our energy bills in coming months – was the result of a “perfect storm” of unlikely factors. Among them was the jump in coal and gas prices caused by the war in Ukraine; the east coast cold snap; floods at coal mines; maintenance outages at half a dozen major coal-fired power stations; some complex machinations ...

Jun 17, 2022 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged Michael Roberts

German POWs in Britain: 1945 Onwards-by Michael Roberts (2/5) Timewatch the Germans we Kept World War II With the wars end many prisoners were soon on their way back home but a program of re-education was devised to supposedly prepare the prisoners for a new life in a different Germany. The full horrors of the Holocaust were put on show and one prisoner who was at the time a hard-line Nazi remembers that many of his comrades did not believe that the Holocaust had taken place thinking it was British propaganda designed to shame the German people even more…. …. This process of re education determined whether a prisoner would be sent home early or not and interviews took place to determine the prisoners attitude. Many who at first showed contempt for the British realized that the war was now over and the only way to secure their release was ...

Jun 14, 2022 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged Chandra Wickramasinghe, World War II

“Anglo-Ceylonese”: A Missing Dimension in British Ceylon – By Michael Roberts The conquest of the island of Ceilao by the British between 1796 and 1818 was an outcome of their imperial conquests in India and underpinned by their sea power. The presence of their troops and other personnel in British India was so extensive that in time a new ethnic category-cum-group emerged in the localities (usually towns) with British personnel: namely, the Anglo-Indians.[i] By the late 19th century these people of mixed descent spawned by British personnel in India stood as a distinct community of Christians speaking Indian English as their mother-tongue and oriented to both India and the United Kingdom. Source:thuppahis.com They were sufficiently prominent to be given one reserved seat in the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi in 1919 and then went on to establish the All-India Anglo-Indian Association in 1926.[ii] Their orientation towards Westernised lifeways was so strong that Anglo-Indians in ...

Jun 14, 2022 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged Anglo-Ceylonese, Army missionary, British India, Iranga Silva, Nuwara Eliya

Revelations? “Nationalities” in the 1871 Census of British Ceylon – By Michael Roberts This table has been kindly abstracted by Iranga Silva of the ICES in Kandy from Michael Roberts, Ismeth Raheem & Percy Colin-Thome: People Inbetween. The Burghers and the Middle Class in the Transformations within Sri Lanka, Ratmalana, Sarvodaya Printers, 1989, pp 202-03. Source:thuppahis.com TABLE 21: LIST OF “NATIONALITIES” IN THE 1871 CENSUS with special reference to Colombo and the Coffee Estates 1 Population of Colombo 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Nationality or Race 2 3 4 % in Colombo Population of Ceylon: numbers Col.4 as % of Col.6 Population on coffee estates Col. 10 as % of Col.6 Males Females Total Males Females Total Afghan 02 02 04 * 06 66.6 + + + + African 01 – 01 * 11 9.1 + + + + American 06 01 07 * 28 25.0 + + + + ...

Jun 14, 2022 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged Colombo, NATIONALITIES