Cricket at Richmond- The Golden Era
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Richmond College Galle has a long history of playing cricket. Like in many other schools that existed in the colonial era, cricket has been the main team sport at the College. In fact it is one of the pioneers in school cricket.
Richmond played its’ first ever inter-school cricket match against All Saints’ College, Galle, on 5th May 1888. Rev. Triggs was the Richmond Principal at that time. It was just ten years after the first inter-school match in Colombo between The Colombo Academy (later Royal College) and St. Thomas’ College.
Richmond – Wesley encounter, now being played for the E R De Silva memorial trophy, dates back to 1901.
First ever Richmond- Mahinda big match was played in 1905. Except for a few interruptions due to the Second World War, the big match has been played continuously for the past 111 years. It was interesting to note that the principals of the two schools stood as on field umpires on several occasions.
In the early years both the teachers and students played in the College team. In fact C W W Kannanagara, later the Father of Free Education, played for Richmond as a member of the teaching staff. Several well known names stand out in the history of cricket at Richmond.
E M Karunaratne, the first prefect of games at Richmond in 1905, was the philanthropist who helped many schools in Galle. After being the president of the Galle Cricket Club for 15 years, he became the president of the Ceylon Cricket Association, the fore-runner to the current Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka Cricket).
P S Tuduwewatta was the first school boy ever in the island in 1917 to capture 100 wickets in a season. Prasad Kariyawasam, the present Sri Lanka Ambassador to the USA, holds the record for the highest score (156) by a Richmondite at the big match in 1972. Jagath Perera was the first outstation school boy cricketer to score over 1000 runs in a season. Cholitha Kasthuriarachchi was the most popular schoolboy cricketer of the year in 1992.
Champaka Ramanayakeis the first Richmondite ever to play Test Cricket. Having being the opening bowler for Richmond, he is at present the Fast Bowling Coach for the national test team.
Richmondites were the Under 13 all island champions in 1980 and the under 17 all island champions in 1981. Richmond is currently enjoying a golden era in School Cricket. In the past few years Richmond were the all island champions in under 13 and under 15 tournaments. Having been runners up in 2011/2012, they were adjudged the best under 19 all island school cricket team in 2012/13 and in 2013/14.
After almost 45 years without success, Richmond won the Richmond- Mahinda big match in 2014 and 2015, two years in succession. Individual performances of our cricketers too were remarkable.
Charith Asalanka was adjudged the school boy cricketer of the year in two consecutive years 2014/15 and 2015/16. This was only the fourth time in the history that this has happened. He was the best batsman in 22014/15 and 2015/16. Dananjaya De Silva was the best all rounder in 2012/13.
A K Tyron was the best captain in 2014/15 and the best all rounder in 2013/14 and 2013/14 while Wanindu Hasaranga was the best fielder in 2014/15.
Several of our cricketers have played in international cricket. Charith Asalanka captained the Sri Lanka under 19 team at the world cup in 2016 and played for the Sri Lanka A team as well. Wanindu Hasaranga is the captain of the under 19 Sri Lanka team. Altogether, as much as nine Richmondites have played for the Sri Lanka under19team.
At present there are four Richmondites playing for Sri Lankain international cricket. Dananjaya de Silva and Suranga Lakmal in the Test team, Charith Asalanka in the Sri Lanka A team and Kamindu Mendis as captain of the Under 19 youth team. Their performance in international cricket has been excellent. Full credit should go to the coaching they received as well as the discipline they were imparted at Richmond.
All this was achieved with a well laid out plan over the past decade starting from under 13 level. They were guided by the then principal E M S Ekanayake and supported by the old boys. The super coaches have achieved these wonderful results. Damith Prasanna was the master in charge of cricket. Ranjith Gamage and later S R Nanayakkara were the prefects of games.
Lakmal Silva coached at the junior level and passed them on to the coach of the senior team. Succeeding Niel Kamal and Mr. C K Hewamanne, Dhammika Sudharshana is the current coach. The latter is the main architect of the golden era of cricket Richmondites are enjoying now.
It is noteworthy that all these are Richmondites themselves with their everlasting devotion to their alma mater. Their excellent achievements bring much pride and joy to all Richmondites, young and old.
Special mention should be made of Rohitha Wickremasekera. Having being the wicket keeper with a record of 46 victims in 1973 that stood for 20 years, he was the cricket coach for many years. Despite not being in the best of health, he is currently busy compiling a book on the history of cricket at Richmond. We wish him success in this endeavor.
Richmond College Old Boys’ Association, Richmond College Union (RCU) Colombo, Richmond Cricket Club and other groups of old boys take pride as major stakeholders in these historic achievements.
The RCU Colombo been providing all the cricket material at all levels for the past 20 years as well as contributing significantly towards the coaching expenses. The bus donated by the RCU Colombo is being used by the teams to travel on their various tours within the country.
The Richmond- Mahinda 50 over match will be played from 2017 onwards for the
“RCU Colombo Centenary Challenge Cup”.
To highlight the contribution of RCU Colombo towards cricket at Richmond, a special award was made in December last year at the Centenary Banquet to Charith Asalanka, for being the “School Boy Cricketer of the Year” for two consecutive years, 2015 and 2016.
I am indebted to Cecil Surasena, the unofficial historian of Richmond, and Rohitha Wickremasekera for providing the information for this article. I have obtained material extensively from the Richmond College magazine of 1994, authored by them.
Dr.Sarath Gamini De Silva Richmond College 60-70 group