Former cricketer turned sports administrator Upali de Silva completes 50 years in active service this month. De Silva, a former student of St. Thomas’ College Matara excelled in cricket as a prominent left hand top order batsman and a left-arm fast bowler. He was instrumental in helping St. Thomas’ record many wins and was a [...]

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Upali half century in active sports

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Upali de Silva

Former cricketer turned sports administrator Upali de Silva completes 50 years in active service this month. De Silva, a former student of St. Thomas’ College Matara excelled in cricket as a prominent left hand top order batsman and a left-arm fast bowler. He was instrumental in helping St. Thomas’ record many wins and was a one-time record holder for the highest score made by a schoolboy cricketer, hitting 202 in 1957 when his team became champions. The record still remains as the best scored by a schoolboy cricket at the Galle venue. He was also one of the leading track and field athlete and a football player during his schooldays. Before crossing over to St. Thomas’ he was a student of Rahula College Matara.

De Silva later entered the YMCA College of Physical Education in Madras, now Chennai in India and graduated with merit. He also represented the YMCA College cricket team and was one of the nine Sri Lankans to be featured in the same team in a year. He also represented Matara Sports Club in the then famous ‘Daily News Cup’ from 1956 to 1964. Soon after his return from India, in 1960 de Silva joined the Ministry of Education as a PTI and served many schools across Sri Lanka. While serving as a government official, he also represented the Ministry of Education in the Government Services Division A cricket tournament.

In 1967 de Silva joined the newly formed Ministry of Sports as a sports officer before retiring in 1990 from the government service. In 1991 de Silva joined S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia as a sports officer and PTI while serving as their master-in-charge in junior and senior cricket, football and athletics. After serving ten years at S. Thomas’, in 2001 de Silva joined Lyceum International School Nugegoda in the same capacity. Under his direct supervision Lyceum Nugegoda excelled in the fields of cricket and athletics. In 2006 he joined Vidura College as sports coordinator, where he is in charge of all sports activities of the school up to date. De Silva is also a Class I qualified umpire in the Sri Lanka Cricket panel and was actively involved in umpiring from 1978 to 2001.




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