Herbert Fernando Archives

Michael Tissera: A Lifetime of Grounded Achievement-by Krishantha Prasad Cooray Source:Thuppahis Krishantha Prasad Cooray, in The Island, 7 April 2024, where the title runs thus: “Michael Tissera at 85: Gentlemen’s gentleman” ….. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi Michael Tissera with his children and grandchildren When people who have the same first name meet up, there’s name-related humour. The more, the merrier, obviously, especially if they are good friends and enjoy friendly banter. Today I am thinking of three people who share the name Michael: Michael Tissera, Michael Sproule and Michael De Zoysa, all three who played cricket for St Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia. The first of course is the bigger name associated with the gentleman’s game. Today I remember these three gentlemen sending everyone into fits of laughter as they talked among themselves, each referring to the others by name. It went something along the following lines: ‘Yes Michael, as I was ...

A Landmark in Ceylon’s Cricket Test History: Beating India in January 1965-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, in ESPNcricinfo in 2013 — 14 August 2013 to be precise — with this heading “When the Lankans won a ‘Test’ in India” Sri Lanka’s rise in Test cricket is one of the finest underdog stories in the game’s history. England have played Test cricket for 126 years, while Sri Lanka have only competed for 31. Yet Sri Lanka has two batsmen with 10,000 Test runs while England have none. Sri Lanka have also produced the game’s highest wicket-taker: Muttiah Muralitharan’s career haul of 800 is more than double the tally of England’s leading bowler (Ian Botham with 383). Sri Lanka have won Tests in England, West Indies, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa. However, a Test win in India has remained elusive. Their score-line in India is appalling. They have played 17 Tests in India, ...