Memories of days gone by

For the first time in Sri Lanka, cricketers who represented the country in different eras got together at one venue. There was a good response. Quite naturally the majority were those who played more recently.

Becoming physically less active with age is an accepted fact in life and so with passing time, those who excelled on the field of cricket have to resign themselves to the comfort of spectator seats beyond the boundary. So the captains of the opening game, former greats Bandula Warnapura and Duleep Mendis thought it best to take no further part after appearing at the toss!
All players go through a strict regime of physical training and conditioning during their playing days. Being restrictive in the food and drink consumed becomes essential to help the body recover from all the strains. In short there is discipline and sacrifice involved, to achieve goals.

Once a career is finished and all or most or some aspirations of an individual are reached, it then comes as a relief to conclude playing seriously. Some wish to stay in the game embracing in one or more of its related services while others simply fade away. It is therefore important for a country which is playing at International level to have its past players united.The Sri Lankan Cricketers Association, since its inception a few years ago slowly but steadily progressed in the right direction. This six-a-side tournament and the official dinner be their biggest achievement. A wonderful show of strength.

It was pleasing and encouraging to see a few thousand cricket fans present at the SSC grounds. I wonder what they expected to see? Some of them would have only heard these names who were present at the venue. Some may have seen them play years ago. Were they expecting them to perform similar feats as in the days gone by! Perhaps not!

The oldest player to the field was D.S. de Silva. He is now into his sixties, but looked pretty fit and trim. If that was impressive, then his leg spin and wrong uns were ever more impressive. D.S. took leg spin after he had passed the age twenty on the advice of his elder brother D.H. who was an outstanding cricketer himself. From then on D.S. would have bowled a few million deliveries and has still not lost his action. In fact the six deliveries he sent down were all in line with the stumps.

The brilliant batsmen of yesteryear Roy Dias and Aravinda de Silva scored twenties, produced glimpses of their old selves and emphasizes to all that class is permanent. The drives they play in front of the wicket were technically brilliant, with complete use of the top hand. Although it lasted only a few moments it was a treat to watch and brought back fond memories.

Others who still looked in quite good touch after departing from the top live a while ago were Rohan Jayasekera (now in Canada), Athula Samarasekera, Yohan Gunasekera (both in Australia) and Saliya Ahangama (also in Australia). They still have the appetite to compete.
Ashantha de Mel, Chairman of selectors, showed a thing-or-two to the youngsters who were present. He held the catch of the day, fielding at long on. He covered about ten yards, then threw himself to the left, got the ball into the middle of his palms and rolled over to complete the catch. Even though he bowled off a few paces, the fluent final stride and high arm action were still intact.

Many of those invited were present but did not take the field. There were far too many to mention in this small strip of thought. For the many youngster who turned-up it was a unique occasion. They had the chance of getting close to those who they may have only heard of, seen at a distance or seen on the TV. The autograph hunters had a field day. The atmosphere was relaxed and the stars had all the time to oblige their fans.

There were a number of present players, those not in the national team who also played. If any criticism, those places should have gone to those who had finished their playing careers. Most of those who turned-up were and those who watched on TV wanted to refresh their memories. That should have been the main objective for considering players for selection.

All this would not have been possible if not for the sponsors. Many areas from clothing, to the ground hire to air tickets for those living abroad were sponsored. A real worthy cause and all those who came forward to sponsor must be commended for supporting the game.

This is the commencement of the Association’s bid to insure past national cricketers over the age of fifty five and also build a hostel for outstation cricketers to reside, when they come to Colombo. Both very worthy causes. We wish the Association every success in these endeavors.