The name Buultjens holds a special place in sports. The latest to join this illustrious band is Jason Buultjens of St. Peter’s Under 15 Division One cricket team which emerged champions in the under 15 division inter school tournament recently defeating Royal in the final. The win also gave St. Peter’s their third successive title having won it in 2007 and 2008.
Skipper Julian finished with figures of 5 for 21 to restrict Royal to 139 and Jason spearheaded the run chase with an unbeaten 67 which enabled St. Peter’s to reach the target with 4.5 overs to spare.
It so happens that Jason is the son of Christopher Buultjens the former St. Anthony’s Katugastota off spin bowler in the 1977-79 season. A remarkable feature during this era was that there were three Buultens’s in the field of cricket - umpire the late Doolan Buultjens, Peterite skipper and dashing batsman Rohan Buultjens and Christopher Buultjens of St. Anthony’s Katugastota.
Why did Jason decide to come to St. Peter’s when his father excelled for St. Anthony’s Katugastota? simply because Christopher was attached to a leading mercantile firm in Colombo.
Several Buultjens’ have emerged as top sportsmen in the recent past. Rohan Buultjens also of St. Peter’s fame held sway as a cricketer and Doolan Buultjens was one of Sri Lanka’s top cricket umpires.
Then there was Trinity’s top rugby player and coach Phillip Buultjens and his son Tony who died in a car crash in Australia in the 60s.
To get back to Jason Buultjens, he scored an unbeaten 41 against De Mazenod Kandana in the under 15 tournament semi-finals this year and cracked an unbeaten 65 against Vidyartha and followed it up with 67 not out against Royal in the final.
He was coached by Lionel Mendis at the NCC as a bowler and in batting he had valuable tips from L.H. Sunil and two assistant coaches. |
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