Royal College, Colombo beat St John’s College, Jaffna by an innings and 131 runs recently in a match played in Jaffna. It was one-sided, yes. That’s the least important thing here. What will be remembered is the significance of the game.
This is the first two-day match between the schools in 48
years. In that time there was a one-off
one-day encounter played in Jaffna as part of a tour where Royal played some
other schools in the peninsula as well.
Royal won that encounter but not without suffering some anxiety. This was in 1980 and this writer has
recollection because he was there as a member of the Royal College chess team,
again playing a one-off match against the same school.
The chess match was played in the morning. It was over in a couple of hours. Royal won
7.5-0.5. Players of both teams made their way to the school grounds to watch
the cricket. Ajith Devasurendra, a
member of that Royal team, doesn’t remember the exact scores but certain things
appear to have been etched in memory.
We’ll get back to that later.
Royal was led by Sudat Pasqual. He had the services of
‘Deva’ and Sumithra (Charlie) Warnakulasuriya, both of whom went on to lead
Royal, as well as some ‘known names’ in cricketing circles of the time. This was after the end of the regular season
and Deva remembers that some players who hadn’t played too many games were
given an opportunity to represent the school.
Devendra Chelliah was one of them.
Deva remembers that Chelliah made of solid contribution. Royal put up a formidable total. St John’s in reply kept losing wickets at
regular intervals. Deva remembers that the late Yasantha Peiris took 6
wickets.
The result was not in question for anyone watching the match.
A young boy from the Jaffna school had other ideas. Vasanthan couldn’t hold the
batting together but probably realizing he would have to do it all alone, tried
to do just that. He just hit and hit and
hit. He rattled the Royal bowlers and
probably caused a lot of anxiety in the Royal camp. He was a delight to watch. The spectators came alive. He was cheered on. Let Deva take up the narrative from here.
‘Haroon Musaffer came on to bowl. He had his cap on as he ran in. He stopped,
handed the cap to the umpire and walked back to his mark. As he ran in again, he stopped to tie his
shoelaces. Then he changed the
field. Vasanthan must have been livid
and frustrated. He probably wanted to
hit Musaffer out of the park. He was
caught on the boundary line for 97.’
Deva remembers other and more important things. The hospitality, for example.
‘We were warmly welcomed.
Everyone was so hospitable wherever we went.’
That’s true. The
chess team was met at the Jaffna Railway Station by the Principal of St John’s,
Mr Chelliah Edwin Anandarajah. He had
made excellent arrangements for the chess team (and of course for the
cricketers who were in the adjacent dormitory).
He was friendly, kind and full of enthusiasm. Sadly, this was also his
downfall. He was gunned down by the LTTE
a few years later for the ‘crime’ of organizing a cricket match with the
Army. At no point did we feel we were
strangers.
A lot happened in the 30 plus years that passed since that
match. This writer remembers Vasanthan’s
knock as the defining element of that match.
Those who watched this year’s encounter, if they look back 34 years on,
regardless of which team they supported, might likewise remember Randev
Pathirana’s amazing spell of bowling (5 for 1) to skittle St John’s for 45 or
Thiran Dhanapala’s unbeaten century.
They’ll probably find that other things stick better in memory. Things that are more important. Like youthful sameness, cheering good
performances, hospitality and the common love for the game of cricket.
Malinda Seneviratne is the Editor-in-Chief of 'The Nation' and can be reached at msenevira@gmail.com