during the past few years. Due to the hard work of many veterans’ clubs, an n International Cricket Tournament for over seventies was always on the cards
inaugural event is scheduled to be staged from July 27th to Augusts 11th in England,
on grounds close to the home of cricket.
Discovering one’s better self
Age is not an issue. It is a matter of continuing to relish the things one loves by organising oneself in the appropriate manner and being aware of one’s limitations. It is no different to over seventies rock and roll, where a couple eschew acrobatic moves and yet outshine younger contestants.
People who compete long after their peers have dropped out, provide an insight into life. They perforce focus on their strengths and develop sinew. Their fitness is a product of staying the course. In cricket, as much as dancing or cycling: survival, enthusiasm, commitment, and perseverance is the key to discovering one’s best self.
The accumulated wisdom of people who constantly reinvent themselves, allow them to articulate their game better than they ever did when younger. Their beguiling presentation of self is a symptom of self-discovery.
Respect for the lesser lights
At the beginning of a school cricket season captains reminded members of the first XI pool that only eleven of those present would play in the Royal-Thomian. At the same time, it was emphasised that those who didn’t make the final cut were just as valued as those who didn’t. By turning up for practice the former put pressure on the favoured and brought out the best in them. By bowling and fielding with enthusiasm at practice they played an indispensable role in enabling players to maintain their edge over the season.
In this context, the importance of the second XI where those who finally made it could nurture skills needs to be highlighted. There were many who shone in the second XI but couldn’t obtain a permanent place in the first XI because of the abundance of talent. But they enriched cricket at school as much as any coloursman.
Those who’s cricket at school was restricted to house cricket, or mere lunch time cricket, were indispensable to the celebration of cricket at school. They kept cricket alive at school through participation and the support they gave to the school first XI. They made heroes of the chosen few and in doing so, became heroes themselves.
Sensations sweet
The quality of house cricket at Royal in the sixties should never be underestimated. In the sixties, at all levels, house cricket generated intense competition and memorable encounters. One such encounter took place in 1966 when a Hartley team studded with coloursmen lost to Boake, that lacked a single coloursman, by an innings.
For those who attended Royal in the sixties, their first exposure to the smells (chunam, linseed oil, freshly mown grass) and the romance of cricket was through under 14 house cricket. To walk out to bat and chalk out one’s guard on the mat was an initiation rite like no other. Such sensations last a lifetime and blend with the joys of barefooted softball cricket at backyards, the varying terrains of second XI cricket played in outstations, and the atmospherics of the Royal-Thomian, in which cricket enthusiasts parlayed a multitude of emotions. Such was cricket at school where a supporter obtained as much pleasure from the game as a player did.
An undying love of cricket
To continue to play cricket even after seventy years one must have a passion for the game as hurdles are many. To continue to take the game seriously when pushing seventy reflects an unquenched passion for the game. While some of them excelled in cricket at school, the majority of people who play in old boys games, which feeds the competitiveness at the over seventies level, are those who were never made the first XI at school. But their love of the game and contribution to it, is often much greater than the efforts of the more illustrious cricketers at school. They have demonstrated a life-long commitment to the game which is far more substantial than the passing glamour of playing in a Royal-Thomian.
Unsung heroes
The band of cricket lovers at Royal who valued the game as much, if not more than the stars, spread the joy of cricket through playing the game under the tamarind tree or beside the walls at Reid Avenue. As many past famous Royal cricketers have said, without this big wave of supporters, Royal would have been deprived of the excitement associated with the arrival of the big match in March of every year. Those old Royalists now spread throughout the cricket playing world, keep the tradition alive through their involvement in old boys matches and by waving the flag at far flung locations.
All Royalists who turned out to play cricket at school, whatever the level, and still do in the name of the school, are responsible for the camaraderie that benefitted the fortunate few who attained fame. And that camaraderie continues to flourish thanks to the evergreen personas of these incomparable unsung heroes. Without them cricket at Royal would have lacked the excitement it had for the chosen few.
The unsung heroes participated in cricket at all levels. From soft ball cricket and chancing their luck at house cricket, to waving the flag, reading the cricket souvenirs, and hunting for autographs. They were there to support the coloursmen and make the noises that brought the best out of the latter.
They do more for the Royal College cricket tradition and the wonderful memories that it generates, than that any of those who were in the spotlight. Their love for school and cricket is selfless and their actions are impelled by a desire to give to the game and the school that nurtured it, far more than what they ever got out of it in terms of fame and reputation.
A passion relived
Royalists know very well the passion for cricket that existed at Royal. In the early to mid-sixties cricketers such as Darrell Lieversz, Vijay Malalasekera, Somachandra Skandakumar and Chris Chitty, who were larger than life, made Royalists walk tall. In addition, Nissanka Wadugodapitiya and Lakshman Thalayasingam held the fort in 1965 and showed what heroes were made of. They inspired luminaries such as Asitha Jayaweera, Jagath Fernando, Nirmal Hettiaratchy, Sunimal Yapa, Ajit Pasqual, Sam Lawton, Jayantha Amarasinghe and others who used their ability and talent to reach the pinnacle of school cricket.
One can never forget the class of the late Ray de Silva and Gajan Patmanathan. So was the contribution made by Dilip Somaratne, who was a regular member of Royal’s under 16 cricket XI and migrated after his final season at that level, returning to coach Royal to victory on three occasions, two of them in succession.
The abovementioned Royal cricketing legends, who are still with us, have reached their seventies and no longer indulge in serious cricket. To continue to play after reaching seventy requires not just ability, but a commitment to the game that is not driven by merely a nostalgia for the glory days. The excitement of participating in the Royal-Thomian is so heady that the rest of one’s cricketing career is a relative anti-climax for many. To rediscover and reinvent oneself after leaving school in an ambience of anonymity reflects a true devotion to the game.
They say that one doesn’t give up cycling when one gets old. On contrary, one gets old by not cycling. Likewise, those who play a serious game of cricket after passing three score and ten, remain eternally young.
Three noble Royalists
Many Royalist continued this passion for cricket into middle age and even to late in life, playing away from their land of birth. We Royalist should be proud that three of them have now got the opportunity to participate in the inaugural over 70 Cricket World Cup. They are Sunil (SP) De Silva and Indran Thavendra (Thave) from past old boys GROSS group, and Ransi (Kotiya) Fernando from the Olive group.
The photos below, which feature Sunil and Ransi, were taken at south Maroota, Sydney, on 28th January 2023, when the Royal College over sixties cricketers from NSW hosted their Victorian counterparts.
AT THE KARIYAWASAM-LAWTON TROPHY GAME, JANUARY 2023
Prasanna Kariyawasam (standing sixth from left) and Sunil (front row, third from left)
Wherever their passion took them
Though Sunil and Ransi, never went beyond house cricket at Royal, to their credit both recommenced their journey in cricket after leaving school. Sunil represented the University of Kelaniya in his youth. Sunil, along with Ransi continued playing cricket regularly for RCOBAA in Melbourne, since turning forty, whilst Ransi in particular represented several clubs in Melbourne. Even in the twilight of their lives, their love for the game never ever faded. Instead, they took it to another level by playing veterans cricket in Victoria, representing the Glen Waverley Hawks Veterans over 60 and 70 teams.
RANSI ACCEPTS BEST BOWLER CUP, OVER FIFTY ROYAL-THOMIAN 2013
ROYAL OLD BOYS, NSW & VICTORIA COMBINED
Front row: Sunil (second from left), Ransi (second from right)
SENIORS GAME, CHIEF GUEST, THISARA SAMARASINGHE, FORMER NAVY COMMANDER, SRI LANKA, HIGH COMMISSIONER TO AUSTRALIA, 2014
Standing front row: Ransi (third from left), Thisara fourth from left, Sunil (fifth from right)
Enriching the game at different levels
Indran arrived in England in his youth, took a big stride from house cricket and played for the Harrow
Cricket Club for over 25 years. Indran then went on to play in the Over 70’s National County Championship (plate) competition and now represents Hertfordshire County over 70, who won the finals thanks to Indran’s involvement in a huge partnership of 208 runs. Rightly so Indran has been appointed as the vice-captain of the Sri Lankan over 70 squad. The photo below features Indran with his opening partner Duncan Elder who will be representing England in the tournament.
INDRAN AND DUNCAN ELDER
Mr. Cricket
Prasanna Kariyawasam has been appointed coordinator of the Sri Lankan over 70 team. He represented Royal for four years and captained in 1975. He was done more than anyone else to enable the Royal cricket tradition to prosper in Sydney. He not only organises games, he also participates in them with a youthful vigour which belies his age. His love of the game and the tradition and nostalgia that flows over from the big match institution, is unparalleled. The name given to him, namely, “Mr. Cricket”, is so apposite.
PRASANNA KARIWASAM (RIGHT) WITH S.S.G. LAWTON, ROYAL CAPTAIN OF 1974
There is the tendency for cricket coloursmen at school to lose interest in the game when they are no longer the centre of attention, and very rarely give back to the game that they have benefitted so much from. But if one loves the game and the school environment that nurtured it, one spends time celebrating an institution and the ideas intertwined with it, to bring joy to like-minded people. Kariyawasam’s dedication, and enthusiasm for cricket and the traditions that marked his growth as a sportsman, is an example of this.
A cricket addiction
Let us cheer the three fellow Royalist for turning a childhood dream into reality through the path that led to selection in a national cricket team. Let us wish Indran, Ransi and Sunil well, as they hold the Royal fame inviolate, and also hope that Indran will continue with his form of last year.
For those who love cricket without distinction, veterans’ cricket for those over seventy is alive and well. Congratulations to those who continue to uphold the sporting spirit of Royal. They have absorbed better than most, the smells, sounds, rituals, traditions, aesthetics, and romance of cricket, all of which was available in abundance at Royal, and is a grand addiction and a heady brew, but sadly one that no longer grips the imagination of many famous Royal cricketers.
Authored by the last winning captain of a two-day Royal-Thomian
