If an old boy from the swinging sixties of S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia was to head down to his alma mater’s cricket grounds on a day in which the home team was playing an opposing school, he would catch sight of an austere and solitary figure prowling the boundary line. Eventually he would realize that the face of this figure, which so unwaveringly scrutinizes the action on the pitch, belongs to one of the great Thomian all rounders of his era, Barney Reid.

Barney (Bryan) Reid and his four brothers, Claude, Ronnie (Ronald), Buddy (Barclay), and Johan (Tiny) each represented the S. Thomas’ cricket team at some point during the period 1955 to 1968. In this regard they hold a record of sorts, tied with the De Saram brothers (1879-1885) for the most number of brothers to play for S. Thomas’ College.

Eldest brother Claude was the first of the Reid brothers to take up the sport of cricket, progressing from the Under 12 age group right up to the senior team which he represented for one year. Barney was late in putting on his pads so to speak, taking to the game at the age of sixteen and continuing for three years from 1963-1965.

During his time in school Barney also showed great promise also a table tennis player. The doubles pair of Feoze Nilam and him clinched the runners-up spot at the Junior Nationals held in Bombay.

After completing his schooling Barney migrated to Australia to study Accountancy at Melbourne University. However he refused to stray away from cricket and began playing for the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC).
All four of his other brothers had equally illustrious cricket careers. The second of the Reid brothers, Ronald, scored 158 not out in 1956, a Royal-Thomian record which stood for 16 years until Duleep Mendis overtook it with his innings of 184.

At one point during their time at S. Thomas’, two of the Reid brothers, Claude and Ronnie, both occupied spots in the school cricket team. Buddy Reid, like his younger brother Barney, excelled in the sport of Table Tennis. All four of the Reid brothers, with the exception of Barney, went on to play for the Sri Lanka Board XI and then eventually immigrated to Australia.

Emerging from the land Down Under after more than 40 years, Barney has functioned as the S. Thomas’ College cricket team’s head coach since January of this year. His combined love for both the game of cricket and his old school has brought him full circle back to the place where it all began. This time around he is slightly greyer and instead of a bat and ball he is armed with a clipboard and a bag full of tactics to aid his young charges.

“I did not know much about the school cricket being played in Sri Lanka while I was abroad. I am still at a stage where I am getting to know the players,” Barney explained in the brief pauses in play during match between his S. Thomas’ side and Mahanama.

Barney admits that he was pleasantly surprised to note the progress that schools such as Mahanama and Lumbini MV have made in cricket since the time he last played. “Back then it was only Royal, St Peter’s, St Joseph’s, Ananda, Nalanda and other big named schools who you had to look out for, but now you have so many more schools to contend with. This is a positive sign for school cricket because it demonstrates that standards have risen,” Barney revealed.

In light of the fact that the Royal-Thomian is less than a month away Barney is now busy grilling his team in preparation for the encounter. For him one of the key aspects for success on the field is discipline.
His players should be willing to put in the hard work necessary when preparing for a big match in order to improve and achieve victory. In the bowling department he requests that his bowlers consistently place the ball in the right spots and not stray too much with the line and length of their deliveries.

On his side’s batting he ruefully shakes his head and says,” the boys are just too aggressive with their style of play.” Elaborating on this point, Barney explains that although his players have all the shots in the book they want to score quickly by slapping boundaries constantly instead of practicing patience and slowly sculpting their innings.

Another characteristic of the game that Barney wants to dispel from his young Thomian outfit is superstition. “Right before they go out to bat I see them kissing the ground. That superstitious stuff won’t work. When you are out in the middle it is just you and you have to back yourself and not depend on anything else,” he says.

He furthermore adds that the discipline he is trying to instill in his young side is not restricted to the cricket pitch. He wants to see it manifest itself in their day to day lives so they can be examples as citizens as well as proud Thomians.

Noticing the small number of students that grace the boundary line, Barney laments about the lukewarm enthusiasm cricket matches now stir among the sizable student population. In a moment clothed in nostalgia he fondly reflects on how excited the students during his time used to get on a match day.
“We were all abuzz and we would run down to the grounds during lunchtime and sit at the boundary line to catch as most of the action as we could,” Barney recalls.

When asked how the current Royal-Thomian atmosphere compares to how it was in his era Barney again sports a look of mild disappointment. He explains that during the period he watched and participated in the big match the event was a two day extravaganza which drew in massive crowds from day one. Barney explains that nowadays attendance is progressive and gathers momentum towards the end.

However he maintains that the Royal-Thomian encounter is still the biggest event on the school’s calendar and the crowds it pulls are still unrivalled, adding, “The Royal -Thomian is an institution in itself, its participants are remembered forever in history and I think this is what draws people to it.”