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by Herby Jayasuriya

The recently concluded twenty limited schools cricket tournament in which 12 leading schools participated was played during the period 24th October to 26th October at the Premadasa Stadium.

The whole tournament was telecast by Channel Eye of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation. As there had been dearth of cricket matches telecast during the past few months I was very glad to observe the keenness displayed by the participating schools teams at this tournament. At the outset I must say that the organisation of this tournament was excellent. The committee of St. Joseph's College that planned and conducted this tournament had gone to a great extent to ensure its success.

Speaking of the cricket played by the school boys who took part during this tournament a great deal of sportsmanship was displayed. Last Saturday and Sunday St. Sebestian's, Moratuwa who played extremely well during this tournament emerged as the champions. They had a great scare in the quarter finals when they met Royal College but their low order batsman played extremely well and made the match a tie. On the toss of the coin they were through to the semi-finals to the dismay of the Royal College captain and his teammates.

In another quarter final match St. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia defeated Lumbini Vidyalaya. In this match the all round performance of young P. Rodrigo of St. Thomas' College in batting, bowling and fielding were displayed and this assisted them to beat their rivals.

Both semi-finals matches were very keenly contested and St. Joseph's and St. Sebastian's College, Moratuwa overcame very stiff opposition to enter the finals. In the finals St. Sebastian's defeated St. Joseph's fairly easily due to the wrekless batting of the first 3 batsmen of St. Joseph's College. St. Sebastian's had the advantage of winning the toss and batting first where the ball did not swing much.

They batted with a great deal of confidence which resulted in Lahiru Anthony and D. Cooray engaging in a century stand.

Quite correctly Lahiru Anthony was adjudged the best batsman and the best player of the finals. It was a surprise that the Captain of Royal College, Navin Dias was selected as the player of the tournament. Normally this type of award is given to players who played in the semi-finals and finals and therefore it is normally given to a player who performed well in the semi-finals and the finals. However the committee that adjudicated this award must have had very good reasons to select a player who only participated the quarter finals to be selected as the player of the tournament.

Apart from the cricket that was played one observed that television commentators both in Sinhala and English performed their task extremely well.

The commentators in both languages were very interesting and I must mention that Bandula Warnapura made some very interesting observations during this tournament especially when he said that the wicket keeper of St. Sebastian's College ran to the other side of the wicket after an over and thereby assisted the fielders to get into their places without any undue delay.

At the conclusion of this tournament one was privileged to see a rare act which I do not think had ever been performed at the conclusion of a cricket match. After the finals every single player of the St. Sebastian's team got down on their knees and worshipped their Rector and the Prefect of Games (both of whom were members of the Roman Catholic Clergy). I was highly impressed by the humble and respectful manner by which members of the St. Sebastian's team displayed their appreciation to their Gurus and mentors.

The prize giving too was very well conducted and I do not think as mentioned by one of the commentators one could comment on any flaw in the organising aspect of this tournament. It is a pity that many spectators were not present at this stadium to witness this tournament where cricket of a very high standard was played by these up and coming schoolboy cricketers.

Finally I must congratulate the committee of St. Joseph's College who organised this inaugural tournament for the high stand of cricket provided and for its excellent arrangements.

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