Sri Lankan Cricket Team’s Test Matches vs Netherlands and vs Denmark in 1975-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Sri Lanka did not secure ICC cricket status till mid-1981. An important step in the progress towards this entitlement was the tour of England in mid-1975 with KMT Perera as Manager and Anura Tennekoon as skipper. The details of this tourcan be found in Michael Roberts & Alfred James: Crosscurrents. Sri Lanka and Australia at Cricket, Sydney, Walla Walla Press & Mobitel, 1998, pp. 88-94. Seated l-to-r David Heyn, Anura Tennekoon, KMT Perera. Mihael Tissera, Ranjit Fernando Standing l-to-r Duleep Mendis, Lalith Kaluperuma,  Sunil Wettimuny,  Tony Opatha, HSM Pieris,  DS de Silva, Dennis Chanmugam, Anura Ranasinghe, Bandula Warnapura What is little known, however, is the fact that the same squad played two Test Matches  …. Yes, Test Matches …. against the Netherlands and against Denmark as a tack-on after the exacting ODI games in England. This aspect of the tour ...

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Thomian Cricketers in Cricketing Hurrah at the SSC in Colombo, 17 December 2023-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Mevan Pieris … whose article has received highlighting emphasis from The Editor, Thuppahi The historic lunch of Thomian legends held at the SSC in Colombo on  the 17th December 2023 was hosted by the Rudra brothers of whom Ravi Rudra residing in New Zealand is a livewire who has reminisced a lot on athletics and cricket recently. His research is praiseworthy. Of those who attended the lunch the Tissera brothers were the oldest. Vernon Tissera opened batting for STC in 1949, and at 90 years was a delight to have with us. I was invited to speak, and mentioned that I entered STC in 1954, after two enchanting years at Ladies College, not to mention a few naughty stories I related. ...

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Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs furious after the batting debacle against India scoring only 55 runs, then losing to Afghanistan by 7 wickets – By  Sunil Thenabadu After this disastrous batting display against India collapsing for a paltry 55 runs ,thereafter to Afghanistan by seven wickets , to console the irritated fuming cricket fanatics very appropriately the Minister of sports and youth affairs Roshan Abeysinghe had requested the President and the supporting staff of the Sri Lanka Cricket to resign immediately before he takes drastic action. The Minster of sports and youth affairs Roshan Ranasinghe via his media division has expressed his discontentment on the dismal performance of our cricket team once again in the hands of India losing the WC encounter by a massive margin of 302 runs the worst defeat inflicted on Sri Lanka since participating in  all world cups from year 1975.The defeat recently has made all ...

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When the Ceylon Schoolboys Beat the Indian Schoolboys on Their Home Turfs in 1969-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Ranjan Anandappa, in Sunday Observer, 23 September 2007, with this title “1969 Schools Cricket Team – Best produced by Sri Lanka”  CRICKET: Emphasis has been laid so much on qualified coaches and physios these days, but few knew that one of the most successful under 19 cricket teams ever to leave the shores of Sri Lanka which was undoubtedly the 1969 Sri Lanka Schools cricket team, then Ceylon, which toured India. The team was captained by former Ananda College cricketer Mithra Wettimuny [and] did not possess either a coach or a physio. It was manager A. D. Karunananda (Ananda) and assistant manager Angelo Rayer (St. Joseph’s) both strict disciplinarians who guided the boys through the one-and-a half month tour which ended in a highly successful note for [what was then known as ] “Ceylon”. The team played five ...

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With A Few Choice Words: Appreciating FC de Saram’s Cricket Career-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Eardley Lieversz, a reprint from the Royal Cricket Souvenir, 2005, where the title runs “With a few choice words, Royal cricket under F. C. de Saram’s Tutelage” Many distinguished old boys have coached Royal at cricket.  Names such as “Chippy” Gunasekera, Dr. C.H. Gunasekera, Barney Gunasekera, Mahes Rodrigo, Gamini Salgadu, H.T. Gunasekera and Channa Gunasekera immediately spring to mind.  To that illustrious list may be added relatively recent old boys such as Nihal Kodituwakku, Vijay Malalasekera, Dilip Somaratne (who coached Royal to successive victories in the early nineties) and Nirmal Hettiaratchy.  All of them were good at their job.  However, none of them had the mystique of Colonel Derrick de Saram (aka FC, Derrick, and Colonel) whose last coaching stint with Royal was from 1968 to 1974. young FC de Saram on song I first set eyes on the Colonel ...

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What’s Happening to Cricket?- By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando   Everyone in Sri Lanka, from children to grown-ups, know about cricket. Though volleyball is known as Sri Lanka’s national game, cricket took its place due to its popularity. There was a time when even Kussi Ammas were engrossed in the game whenever cricket matches appeared on TV screens.  When players such as Duleep Mendis, Kumar Sangakkara, Roshan Mahanama, Bandula Warnapura, Sanath Jayasuriya, Brenden Kuruppu or Arjuna Ranatunge batted, crowds were enthusiastic. The game’s enthusiasm peaked when Arjuna Ranatunge won the world cup in 1996. Cricket is a pitch and tosses game, where one team wins today and the rivals win tomorrow.  The rule book says that players must act on numerous regulations and disciplinary codes vested upon the umpires, captains, and the Governing bodies. The game needs to be played according to the game’s rules and within the spirit of ...

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World Teachers’ Day – 5th October 2020 – more appreciations-by Manilka Wijesooriya Source:Stcobasydney We have dedicated the past month on teacher tributes as a lead up this commemorative day. We bring you 4 more ‘back-to-back’ appreciations on Mr. Brookie D’Silva, Mr. Rajan Asirwatham, Mr. S.J. Anandanayagam and Mr. George Ponniah The Prep School song includes the lyrics “we will cherish the days of our youthful years, to the life that lies before us”.  In another great song, from Rev. Boyer Yin, we have the lyrics, “We’ll always remember, wherever we may be, the school of our boy-hood, the school by the sea. And we always will cherish the friendships fine and free, that we made at Saint Thomas’, the school by the sea.” These lyrics come to mind as I write, our youthful years and beyond, we revered our teachers who were our mentors and became our friends. I searched ...

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Beware of Dulla-by Rex Clementine Source:Island Amal Silva spoke little English those days. During the Lord’s Test in 1984, when Ian Botham said not so complementary things about Amal’s mother, the opening bat was asking the non-striker and captain Duleep Mendis what’s going on. Both Moratuwa boys, they were playing contrasting knocks. Amal took 255 balls for his hundred while Duleep raced to 94 in 97 balls. The latter was dealing in boundaries particularly targeting Mr. Botham. That the golden boy of English cricket ended up bowling off-spin in that game is a little known fact. That’s Duleep. Never cross his path. Well, the Sri Lankan cricket team will be crossing his path in a fortnight’s time. They take on Oman in two T-20 Internationals, a side coached by Duleep. One thing is absolutely certain, Duleep will be prepared for this challenge. He would have studied every Sri Lankan player; ...

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Cricket’s greatest is 85 today-by Rex Clementine Source:Island Sir Don Bradman called him the ‘greatest cricketing being to have ever walked the earth,’ and in Sri Lanka, he is considered as someone who shaped the careers of many players. Sir Garry Sobers turns 85 today. He was hired by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka in 1980s and his influence benefited a young cricket team to rub shoulders with formidable opponents of the game. Sir Garry accompanied the team to a couple of tours to England, including the 1983 World Cup. It is a well known secret that Sir Garry had handpicked Arjuna Ranatunga during the early days. But Arjuna lost his place in the side. When Sir Garry returned, one of the first things that he insisted on was having Arjuna back in the side. ...

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When Sri Lanka defeated India before gaining ICC status-by Chris Dhambarage Source:Dailynews Sri Lanka’s quest to attain the elusive ICC Test status received a huge boost when they pulled off one of the biggest upsets in limited overs cricket on this day, exactly 42 years ago. Sri Lanka, as an Associate Member had the satisfaction of defeating the star-studded Indian Team by a convincing margin of 47 runs in the second edition of the Prudential World Cup match at Old Trafford on June 18, 1979. This was also the only game, which was won by an Associate Member of the ICC in this World Cup, which was eventually won by the West Indies for the second successive occasion. ...

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