Sri Lanka: Government Services cricket memories (19 June 1999)

19 June 1999

Sri Lanka: Government Services cricket memories

Herby Jayasuriya

In the 1960s the Railway Department was in the forefront of Government Services sports activities. The Railway team in 1961 played in the A Division of the Government Services. However they fared badly during this season and were relegated to play in the B Division in 1962. The Police met the Railway in the first match of the tournament in 1962 and was played on the Police grounds.

I have a close affinity to the Railway Department because my father-in-law, the late Mr. Ivo Peiris, was the first Ceylonese to be appointed the Chief Accountant of this Department. The Railway is one form of public transport which many persons patronise. There is an interesting story about an American who got into a crowded train in London to travel to Glasgow, Scotland which is a long distance. He walked up and down and found that he could not get a seat. However he found in one compartment a lady was seated by the side of the window and a huge dog seated on the rest of the seat. The American requested the lady to take the god down so that he could sit on that seat. But the lady refused and said that she had purchased a ticket for the dog. The American walked up and down in the train for about 15 minutes and as he could not find a seat, came back to the compartment where the lady was seated with the dog. He spoke to the lady and said "Madam, can you take the dog away, so that I could sit". She said "Nothing doing buster". At this reply the American lost his temper and threw the dog out of the compartment window of the train and sat down next to the lady. The lady complained to a gentleman who was in front of her and said "Look at these Americans. They have absolutely no manners". This gentleman replied and told the lady "Madam, the Americans are very peculiar people. They eat with the fork on the right hand. They drive their cars on the right hand side of the road and now see this American who is seated next to you. He had made a big mistake by throwing the wrong bitch out of the window".

To come back to the match against the Railway as far as I recollect my school teammate Wimal Fernando was attached to the Railway as an FPL and opened their bowling. The Railway had a former Prince of Wales College all rounder Sunil Silva and one of the famous Amendra brothers of Mahinda College, Galle, and an excellent right hand batsman named Buultjens. I cannot remember the names of the other players who played for the Railway.

The Police was captained by the famous Dharmaraja College batsman Inspector S. G. Munasinghe. However, Mr. Munasinghe was sick and did not play in this match. As such ASP Kunaratnam, a former Royal College and Tamil Union cricketer captained this team. The other members of the team were Inspectors S. L. Silva a product of Ananda College who subsequently played for the Bloomfield Sports Club, Bertus Perera an old Wesleyite who was an all round sportsman, T. Kadiragamar an old boy of St. John's College, Jaffna another all round sportsman, Carlyle Dias an old boy of St. Sebestian's College, Moratuwa, Bindu Kumaratunga the son of the illustrious bard of the "Hela Basa", Dennis Ebert a very good batsman and an old Wesleyite, Freddi Vedamuttu an all round cricketer from St. Aloysius Galle, Duke Rajaratnam an excellent wicket keeper who opened batting with me. I was the youngest member of the side.

With regard to the above players who represented the Police team Bindu Kumaratunga and Carlyle Dias served in Kandy. When I was a schoolboy I still remember I was leaving the Kingswood main gate on a push cycle with my friend Clifford Harvie on the bar. This was a period when doubling on a push cycle was a very serious offence. As I passed the Kingswood gate and turned towards Kandy I saw Bindu Kumaratunga travelling on a motor cycle with Carlyle Dias on the pillion. Both were clad in the smart Sub Inspectors uniform. I stopped the cycle just past the gate and in order to avoid being detected by these two officers got out of the seat and ran to the school premises leaving Clifford harvie seated on the bar of the cycle to bear the consequences. I was told by Clifford that the two police officers slowed the motor cycle and shouted "shameless fellows" and went away. Thereafter Clifford never went with me on a push cycle. It is said in another instance a policeman had detected four persons travelling on a push cycle. He is said to have admonished the miscreants by saying "I don't mind doubling two but 3 doubling three and doubling four, I cannot understand."

To revert to the cricket match against the Railway we were bundled out in the first innings for 144 runs. At the close of play on the first day the Railway scored 210 runs for 5 wickets. The following day we were able to get the Railway side out for 235 runs in about half an hour after play was resumed. We went into bat in the 2nd innings after about 45 minutes play commenced, Duke Rajaratnam and I scored 60 runs for the 1st wicket very quickly. Wickets fell at regular intervals, however Carlyle Dias and S. L. Silva came together in a match winning partnership and due to their efforts we were able to score 220 runs and declared our innings closed by the tea interval. S. L. Silva thrashed the Railway bowlers all over the Police grounds and scored a brilliant century. Carlyle Dias also contributed a very good score. The Railway went into bat in the 2nd innings and they were dismissed for 65 runs due to the excellent bowling of Bindu Kumaratunga who took 6 wickets and Mr. Kunaratnam who accounted for the other 4 wickets. Both these bowlers were almost unplayable.

This was an excellent win for the Police team because during three fourths of the match, the Railway had the upper hand and we were able to beat them due to the excellent batting of Carlyle and S. L. and the deadly bowling of Bindu and Mr. Kunaratnam. Of the players who played in this match Carlyle Dias lost his life due to an explosion whilst he was working for a private organisation in Jaffna. Mr. Kunaratnam and Dennis Ebert are domiciled in Australia. Mr. Kadiragamar is presently in Canada. All others are presently retired from the Police service.

Source :: The Daily News