Roland Perera – an outstanding cricketer and hockey player-by Upananda Jayasundera

Roland Perera (Pic by Upananda Jayasundera)

Roland Perera an Old Boy of St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy is an outstanding cricketer and a hockey player.

He represented his school from 1971 to 1976 as an all-rounder and ended up as the Vice-Captain of the First XI Cricket Team led by Ishak Sahabdeen.

His teammates in school were Tikiri Kobbekaduwa (present Governor of Sabaragamuwa Province), Jayantha Keragala, Denlow van Dort and Damien Rodrigo to name a few.

The highest score in his cricket career in school was 110 against St. Aloysius’ College, Galle in the year 1976. His best bowling figures were when he captured five wickets for 44 runs against Maliyadewa College, Kurunegala in the same year.

Roland played for the champion Central Province Schools Team under Rohan Perera of Trinity College and they beat Colombo Schools in the final led by Sidath Wettimuny.

After leaving school, he played for Kandy CC, Moors CC and Mercantile XI and he had the privilege of leading the Kandy Youth Cricket Club at the P. Sara Trophy Tournament.

His teammates were Ajith Naranpanawa, Tissa Wijeratne, Bandula Gunaratne, Anton and Malcolm Perera, Tudor Gunaratne, Mervyn Perera to name a few.

He coached his alma mater in cricket from 1992 to 2004 and again from 2011 to 2016 and during this period St. Sylvester’s became Coca-Cola Trophy champions under Duncan Arnolda in 1994 and they also became the Best Cricket Team in the Central Province seven times and runners-up on three occasions.

As a cricket coach, he toured Australia with the Under-15 Central Province Cricket Team in 2001 and toured Malaysia with the same team in 2004.

Earlier, he was the Chairman of the Selection Committee and President of the Umpires Association for 10 years.

At present, Roland is the President of the Kandy District Cricket Association and he was the Captain of the Hockey Team and played as right-extreme and later he played for the Kandy District Hockey Team.

He is the younger brother of Malcolm Perera, former Director of Coaching Sri Lanka Cricket and a National Hockey player, Anton Perera, former cricketer and hockey player of St. Sylvester’s College.