Sydney’s Royal Thomian Derby at Memorial Oval Ingleburn, Tradition lives on
A change of day from the traditional “Australia Day” encounter and the “Venue” was ominous at the start of the day with grey skies and early morning showers as the players drove in for an early morning start of the Classics game. What greeted them was a typical Sri Lankan breakfast organised by Royal. By the time all enjoyed their fill, the skies cleared on the picturesque Ingleburn Oval, the picket fenced ‘turf wicket’ for the open game and the synthetic wicket for the Classic and Masters encounters.
Ingleburn ground management had taken great care in preparing the grounds and all facilities, this enabled teams to settle in quickly for the matches in time. Ingleburn management had decided to make a donation of the grounds hire charges to the McGrath Foundation, hence the wickets were ‘pink’, a very worthy and deserving gesture. The day turned out to be pleasant, exciting and enjoyable in every sense, with many loyal old boys’ families and friends supporting and cheering on the keen cricketers.
Three matches were played on two grounds. Each age group reflected their levels of agility and fitness. The classics batted, bowled and fielded with surprising quickness to make the encounter a thrilling one. The Masters were more focused and buoyant displaying signs of preparation for an eager dual. The open game was the most professional exercise in as close to schoolboy tradition as possible. No favours were asked for or expected. The youngsters all played with plenty of focus and purpose. The watching crowd was entertained to some wonderful batting, bowling and fielding.
There was a great display of sportsmanship displayed by both sides. Classics and Masters games were played in the best spirit of the game rules with the Thomians winning comfortably with close to half the overs to spare. Great team effort by the Thomians. The traditional rivalry continues in the Opens, a low scoring game on the turf wicket an indication of the well-prepared hard surface and the quality of bowling. Consistent and dogged top order batting saw the Royalists retain the trophy for another year.
The awards ceremony at the end of the day displayed the true spirit of friendship and mateship between Royalists and Thomians. Many were the friendships that were rekindled on the day. Kumar Rasiah conducted proceedings in a timely and professional manner introducing the ‘Guest of honour’ Kamal Samarasinghe, a Thomian cricketer and coloursman in the early ‘70s. Kamal delivered his message evoking the experiences at his Alma mater that moulded his character. That was a testimony to a generation of Thomians that shaped the corporate and business worlds during that era. Kamal spoke with passion and respect about Royal resilience and Thomain grit briefly touching on his experiences as a player for STC and a Schoolboy International. He spoke with passion and down to earth sincerity that captivated an appreciative audience and supporters from both schools. Following his speech the Presidents of RCOBA,Theo Soumyaraj and President of STCOBA, Kulasiri Jayasinghe spoke on the importance of the event and thanked the organisers and others who helped in numerous ways. The main item on the agenda was awarding the individual trophies. OBA’s joint committee appointed independent adjudicators, Sinthujan Sudarshan from RCOBA and Nihal Dias Abayasinghe from STCOBA who witnessed all games throughout the day and made their decision based on overall performance. Each award winner was introduced by inviting them to receive their respective awards presented by Kamal. Kumar was gracious in his vote of thanks to Kulasiri, President of the STC OBA for the organisation and operation of the big match by the STC OBA. A presentation of a “citation” in memory of the event was handed over to Kamal. The Challenge Shields were presented to the winning Captains, Classics to Lasa Peris (STC), Masters to Richie de Silva (STC) and the Opens to Pruthuwi Attanayake (RC)
The day ended by singing of College Anthems, Old Boys of both schools stood up to sing their college songs lustily, full of spirit and passion. In a wonderful display of mateship many were the Royalists who lent their voices to the Thomian anthem as were Thomians who did the same when the Royalists sang ……. such is the Royal Thomian spirit that simply uplifts and empowers.
Esto perpetua
Disce aut discede
Classics Game for “Rama Sellamuttu Challenge Shield”
RC Captain: Janaka Subasinghe
STC Captain: Lasa Peris
RC - 79 all out, off 20 Overs
STC - 81/2 off 11 Overs
Royal Innings
Ranjan Sivagnasundaram - 17
Shantikumar Ratnam - 8
STC bowling - Chitral Perera – 2/5 : Stanley Jayanthakumar – 1/12 : Lasa Peris – 1/5
STC Innings
Nihal Ramanayaka – 20 retired
Lasa Peris – 21 retired
Jerome Gasperson – 12 not ot
Chitral Perera – 13
RC bowling – Kesara de Costa 1/17 : Janar Weerasingham 1/9
Awards
Best Batsman – Nihal Ramanayaka (STC)
Best Bowler – Chitral Perera (STC)
Man of The Match – Lasa Peris (STC)
Masters Game – for “Mabel Morrell Challenge Shield”
RC Captain: Jonathan Krishnamoorthy
STC Captain: Richie de Silva
RC - 121 for 8 off 30 Overs
STC - 124 for 4 off 19 Overs
Royal Innings
Chanaka Gunasekara – 15
Selvan David – 20
Panjan Nagaratnam - 22
Praba Sivapathasunderam -14
STC bowling – Don Jayasinghe 2/21: Richie de Silva 2/31: Chaminda Thirimanne 1/24: Ruwan Senaviratne 1/6
STC innings
Richie de Silva – 33 retired
Chaminda Thirimanne – 30 retired
Lal Samuel – 26 not out
RC bowling - Panjan Nagaratnam 1/9 : Saman Mahaarachchi 2/19
Awards
Best Batsman – Chaminda Thirimanne (STC)
Best Bowler - Saman Mahaarachchi (RC)
Man of The Match – Richie de Silva (STC)
Open Game – for “E C Gunasekara Challenge Shield”
RC Captain: Pruthuwi Attanayake
STC Captain: Anuk Silva
STC – 142 all out in 39.1 overs
RC – 143 for 2 off 36 Overs
STC Innings
Sean Gunasekera – 33
Amila Wijedasa – 44
Rajeeva de Alwis – 17
RC Bowling – Vineetha 4/31 : Charith 2/16: Kogulan 1/19:Hiran 1/16: Ruwan 1/28 : Pruthuwi 1/8
RC Innings
Lalin De Silva – 77
Kogulan Baskaran – 50 not out
STC Bowling – Ruwan Gunasinghe 1/31: Sean Gunasekera 1/18
Awards
Best Batsman – Lalin De Silva (RC)
Best Bowler – Vineetha Rajakaruna (RC)
Man of The Match - Kogulan Baskara
