Thushara Weerasooriya – Triple Lion in cricket, rugby and athletics-by Hafiz Marikar

Thushara Weerasooriya

Thushara Weerasooriya, was a top sportsman to come out of Trinity College, and a triple lion winner. He led the Cricket side in 1986, the year in which they won most of their matches. The Big Match was won outright after the 1951win and also led to win the one day game. Thushara was a talented bowler and batsman who could tear apart any attack. He started his cricketing career from under 13 and captained the senior side which comprised. Thushara Weerasooriya ,Priyanka Nanayakkara, Rukshan Wijenayake, Nilanka Nanayakkara, Paul Robinson,Romesh Jayawardena, Chaminda Unantenne, Channa Fernando, Paul Navamani, Susil K Premasinghe, Dan Wijesinghe, Francis Jayawardena, S. Ratnakumar, Dasarath Kiridena, Denham Madena, Mevan Balalle, Shaw Wilson (Coach), Upali Nanayakkara(MIC) and Rohan Madena (team Manager). In that year Denham Madena, ThusharaWeerasooriya, Mevan Balalle and Chaminda Unantenne won the Lion.

Recalling memories of the Trinity-Antonian game in 1986 Trinitians won by seven wickets to break a 35-year hoodoo. This great win for the Trinitians would not have been possible if not for the sporty and challenging declaration made by the Antonian skipper Rienzie Perera. He threw the game wide open and the Trinitians who accepted the challenge found the going easy during the last stages as the Antonians were a tired lot and ran short of bowlers after the start of the 20 mandatory overs. Today this sort of declaration is not seen because they go for huge totals to gain first innings points and for individual performances. The winning run a boundary to the long-on fence was hit by burly left hander Romesh Jayewardene in the 14th mandatory over.

TP as he was popularly known also won two prestigious Schoolboy Cricket awards in 1986 for All-Island Best Captain and Most Popular All-Island Cricketer. His achievements in athletics were such that he was the Public Schools Champion sprinter in 100m and 200m and had been a senior member of the all-conquering Trinity athletics team of 1985 which won all the shields in the National and Public Schools Games with many records in both track and field.

His dazzling performances in the field of rugby led to his participation in the national tour for the Asiad in Bangkok under Rohan Gunaratnes captaincy with Hisham Abdeen as vice-captain other notables were Priyantha Ekanayake, L.V. Ekanayake, Marco de Silva, Apsi Nagata,Saman Kotalawela, Rohan Abeykoon, Dilip Adhihetty, Ajantha Samarakoon, Kolitha Gunathileka, Tikiri Marambe and Chaminda Rupasinghe. His years in the senior rugby at Trinity were1985-86. The team was coached by Alex Lazarus and some who comprised the teams were Tyrell Rajapakse, Ikram Odayar, Sean Wanigasekera, Bimal Fernando, Shah Doole, Imthi Marikar, Rajiv Bandaranayake, Senani Gunaratne, Dasarath Kiridena,Dilshan Senanayake and Lohan Ratwatte.