Bloomfield rocks back to ’64, Mahanama and Dharmasena
On May 30th Saturday Bloomfield Cricket and Athletics Club will receive members of its past championship cricket team that won the P. Saravanamuttu Trophy in 1964 along with two internationally respected former Bloomfielders Roshan Mahanama and Kumara Dharmasena for a felicitation ceremony at the club pavilion.
The Sara Trophy winning team of 1964 with the then Bloomfield officials T.M.N. Mahmood (Secretary) and H.L. Gunaratne (President)
In 1964 Bloomfield led by late Noel Perera brought the major award for the club by winning the pinnacle of Ceylon cricket at that time the P. Sara Trophy for the first time. During this time Bloomfield was housed on a caravan sort club house on the wheels at the Campbell Park. The triangular shaped tiny ground was the home ground for this little club. The ground with a matting wicket was used only for practices and the premier league matches were played at away venues.
A member of the champion team D.P. Wickramarachchi revealed to the Sunday Times before every match the team got together and planned their strategies match by match and every member of the team’s target was only victory. According to Wickramarachchi the secret behind their success was dedication, commitment, sacrifice and team spirit. The main theme of the outfit was never to give up and fight for the end was proved so many times when even a small total was defended to bring victory with superb team work. A fine pace attack spearheaded by Norton Fredrick was well supported by Ranjith Malawana, Wickey himself and Stanley Amendra and in the spin department Mahinda Athulathmudali, W.A.N. Silva, Charles Warnakulasuriya, Mahinda Wijesinghe and Dhanasiri Weerasinghe never allowed any team to settle down in posting big scores.
A batting line up which ran deep into the tail had been a headache for the opponents with openers Nihal Jayasinghe and Lucky Abeywardena gave solids starts in almost every match and batsmen in the caliber of Dhanasiri Weerasinghe, K.A.S. Perera, Dharmasiri De Silva and Stanley Amendra following made merry with every bowling attack to build huge totals.
On their way to the championship Bloomfield defeated clubs like NCC, Colts and Tamil Union and met Moors in the finals which match they proved their supremacy by defeating them easily. This was the start for the Campbell Park club to dominate Sri Lanka cricket up to that unfortunate rebel tour to South Africa in 1982.
Being top class cricketers during their school days and later in the international arena Roshan Mahanama and Kumara Dharmasena still involved in the game as a well respected match referee and as an accurate umpire. Two proud products of Nalanda College these two Sri Lankans were highly recognised internationally for their knowledge in the game that made their tasks easy. Both of them are being strict disciplinarians always fulfill their endeavour to the best of their abilities were hailed by cricketers, officials and followers of the game all over the world.
As a gesture of highest class Bloomfield C & AC felicitates Roshan and Kumar along with the surviving veterans of the 1964 team for their service to the club and the country.
The Sara Trophy winning team was represented by: Noel Perera (Capt.), Mahinda Wijesinghe, W.A.N. Silva, Luckey Abeywardena, Dhanasiri Weerasinghe. Norton Fredrick, Ranjith Malawana, D.P. Wickramarachchi, Nihal Jayasinghe, Charles Warnakulasuriya, K.A.S. Perera, Dharmasiri De Silva, Daya Amarasinghe and Stanley Amendra.