Shorts to International cricket
A youngster clad in a pair of shorts who went to witness the Prince of Wales College’s old boys and present boys annual cricket encounter was requested to stand as a temporary umpire in the absence of the assigned umpire.
Thilak Wijedasa - Pic by Anuradha Bandara
This opportunity opened the window for this youngster to pay special interest on cricket and umpiring and to climb to the highest position to be a member of the International panel of cricket umpires.
That youngster was none other than Thilak Wijedasa who later played for his alma mater Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa as a wicket-keeper and opening batsman who was awarded colours for cricket.
Later Wijedasa played for Catamarans Sports Club in 1956/57 that won the then premier tournament the Daily News Trophy.
This keen student of the game captained Catamarans SC in the P. Sara Trophy competition and later played for Nomads under Late D.H. de Silva and was a member of the Colombo Municipality team that won the Government Services cricket championship before he took up to umpiring.
Donning the long white coat in 1967 Wijedasa officiated for over a decade in the Mercantile ‘A’, State Services ‘A’ Divisions, Browns Trophy, Honda Trophy Lakspray Trophy cricket tournaments.
The year 1984 was a memorable one for this former Cambrian when his dream came true. He was selected to the International Panel of Umpires for the New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka.
Wijedasa was not only a cricketer and an umpire; he served the game as Asst. Assignment secretary, secretary of the Disciplinary Committee and was a member of the Examination and Grading Board.
He was the Physical Training instructor for the national cricket team that won the ICC Trophy in England under the captaincy of Anura Tennekoon and for the Sri Lanka Under 19 and 23 teams and the Sri Lanka Women’s team that toured India.
As a true sportsman Wijedasa gave back what he gained from cricket back to the youngsters by compiling a booklet with the late Camillus Perera and M.M. Mendis on the latest rules of cricket in Sinhala and lectured on cricket laws for the new sports officers of the Sports School and for the National Youth Council officers.
Wijedasa also conducted a weekly programme over SLBC on Wednesdays, discussed and explained latest cricket rules along with Bandula Warnapura the first Sri Lanka Test captain.
Sri Lanka lost the services of this knowledgeable figure when he migrated to the United States where he is still involved in the game as a member of the Association of Cricket umpires of South California.
While holidaying in Sri Lanka Wijedasa spoke to the Sunday Times on the standard of umpiring in the olden days and in the present and went on to say that with the aid of the modern technology the job of the umpires had been made easy and accurate.
He also said that he gives his 100% support on the implementation of the Decision Review System (DRS) as umpires are human and can make mistakes which may turn a game upside down and this system will do justice to all teams as well as for the players.
Wijedasa paid a glowing tribute to the Sri Lankan umpires who are members of the elite panel of international umpires for exhibiting high standards in international matches and further stated that Sri Lanka should be proud of having two internationally reputed match referees.
In conclusion when asked about the standard of cricket in the States, Wijedasa said that it is gradually catching up and hopefully in a short time they will be on par with some of the present test playing nations.