SBC-SACK play for Rayen/Joseph Trophy

Elmo Rodrigopulle

The inter-school cricket encounter between St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena and St. Anthony’s College, Kandy will be played for the Lovelly Rayen/Charlie Joseph Memorial Trophy at Kotahena, this weekend. The cricket committees of the two schools should be congratulated for deciding to play this game for a trophy in honour of two cricketers who strode the school playing fields like colossus during their time.

A few weeks ago the Bens and the Joes decided to play the Joe/Ben inter-school cricket encounter in memory of two of their former captains who have also crossed the great divide in Malcom Mack and Trevor Croner by offering the Mac/Cro Memorial Trophy.

Sadly both Rayen and Joseph had to answer the call of their creator in the prime of life and it is encouraging to note that these two former school cricket greats will be honored and remembered in future years.

Having started my cricket career under Lovellyn Rayen in 1957, I was the captain of the green, white and green school when Charlie Joseph captained the Kandy school in 1960. Srilal de Silva, Secretary of the SBC cricket committee called me and in breaking the news that the inter-school match between the two schools would be played for a trophy in memory of these two cricketers, said that I would be the ideal person to write a little brief about these two game’s greats.

First to the more senior of the two - Rayen. Rayen played for the Kotahena school from 1954 to 1957 captaining in his final year, which year the Benedictines emerged unofficial inter-school cricket champions. That was the year that signaled the renaissance of cricket in the school.

Rayen was easily the best captain in schools that year and it was a great injustice that those who ran school cricket at that time refused to give honor where honor was richly deserved and acknowledge that he was the best captain. He should have captained the Combined Schools that year. It is better that I do not ruffle feathers at this time, nearly 52 years after.

Rayen was a stylish right hand batsman and notched up a century against the Kandy school in 1956 when the game was played at Kotahena. The year he captained, we led the Antonians on the first innings played in Kandy. Rayen captained SBC in five sports - Cricket, Athletics, Soccer, Table Tennis and Hockey.

Charlie Joseph and the writer were opposing captains in 1960. In the game played at Kotahena, we were well poised to beat them with left arm paceman Nihal Zoysa threatening to demolish the Antonians.

With two wickets down for below 10 in the second innings, Joseph walked in and if my memory serves me right before opening his account he drove Zoysa uppishly.

The writer fielding at mid off, believe it or not, dropped what was a sitter. Joseph profiting by that dropped catch slammed a brilliant century and took the game away from the Bens.

That dropped catch still haunts me. I still try to fathom how I dropped that sitter. He too was a right hander, stylish and a powerful hitter of the ball.

That year Charlie Joseph went on to win the ‘Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year’ award.

It is hoped that former cricketers of these two great institutions would gather in their numbers to watch this game and honor these two fallen heroes.

It would have been better had this game been played for the Rayen/Premaratne or Rayen/Dorenagama Trophy, because they played in the same era. Charlie Joseph played much later.