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| Sunday, 8 February 2004 |
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Academy skipper J. W. de Silva emulates Ashley Walker's feat and takes 14 wickets to bring victory.. Royal win first official match by 62 runs in 1880 The question has been asked many times as to why masters played alongside schoolboys in the inaugural Royal-Thomian cricket match in 1879. With two Englishmen - Ashley Walker in charge of the Academy, as Royal were then known, and F. T. Falkner - the Thomian cricket coach then, were keen to instil discipline among the schoolboys at the big venture and that seemed the likely reason why masters of the two schools played in that inaugural match. With no untoward incidents in that first game, the masters kept away from the second game onwards and from 1880 onwards, only schoolboys played which was the starting point really in the great series. S. Thomas' had the reputation of being the first school to have cricket in an organised manner and they had even beaten some of the big clubs in the past. However, the Academy, not be overawed by the reputation with which the Thomians came, played with much authority and won the second game too, thus making it 2-nil in the series, winning by 62 runs. The match was played on October 29 and 30 at Galle Face. The Academy was captained by J. W. de Silva, while S. Thomas' was led by F. W. McDonnell. The early games were low-scoring affairs. Though the Thomians had an experienced side, they were bundled out for 59 and 24 in the first and second innings respectively. Five 'ducks' in the Thomian first innings created somewhat of an early record, which the Thomians would like to forget. The five batsmen who failed to score were: F. T. Ellawela, C. H. de Saram, skipper F. W. McDonnell, C. Wilkins and W. E. Grenier and the only Thomian batsman to enter double figures in the first innings was C. de Saram who made 23. If the first innings was considered poor, then the second innings was disastrous and appalling as the Thomians were out for just 24, with skipper McDonell, Ellawela and C. H. de Saram collecting a 'pair' - another record that the Thomians would not like recalling. High-flying figures While low-scores seemed to be the order of the day in the infancy of the series, it has also been mentioned that in the early matches, all the runs had to be run for as boundaries were not in vogue. With the batsmen finding it difficult to make runs, the bowlers came up with high-flying figures. The Academy skipper J. W. de Silva emulated the feat of Ashley Walker and took 14 wickets in this second match. The bowling analysis is not on record, but if it had, then it would have been startling indeed! The Academy did a little better than the Thomians and managed to get 110 in the first innings, but fared somewhat miserably in the second innings and got only 35. THE ACADEMY - 1ST INNINGS B. W. Bawa b C. de Saram 3, B. de Silva b Lourensz 7, C. Walloopillai c E. R. McDonnell b C. de Saram 23, Wilfred de Kretser b Lourensz 8, A. Weinman b Lourensz 2, J. W. de Silva c Wendt b Lourensz 10, P. P. Jansz c McDonnell b Lourensz 17, William de Kretser c Wendt b Lourensz 22, A. Jansz not out, 4, O. Van Hoff b Wilkins 0, C. de Silva run out 2, Extras: 12. TOTAL 110. BOWLING: C. de Saram 1 wkt., J. Lourensz 5 wkts., C. Wilkins 2 wkts., D. Wendt 1 wkt. S. THOMAS' - 1ST INNINGS E. R. McDonnell c and b J. W. de Silva 1, F. T. Ellawella b A. Weinman 0, C. de Saram c A. Jansz b P. Jansz 23, D. Wendt b J. W. de Silva 2, J. Lourensz c A. Jansz b J. W. de Silva 5, C. H. de Saram c C. de Silva b J. W. de Silva 0, W. B. de Saram c A. Jansz b J. W. de Silva 8, F. W. McDonnell c W. de Kretser b P. Jansz 0, C. Wilkins c P. Jansz b J. W. de Silva 0, C. O. Siebel not out 3, W. E. Grenier b J. W. de Silva 0, Extras 17. TOTAL 59 BOWLING: J. W. de Silva 7 wkts., P. Jansz 2 wkts., A. Weinman 1 wkt. THE ACADEMY - 2ND INNINGS B. W. Bawa c De Saram b Lourensz 3, B. de Silva b C. de Saram 1, C. Walloopillai run out 8, Wilfred de Kretser run out 3, A. Weinman c Grenier b Lourensz 2, J. W. de Silva c Wendt b Lourensz 2, P. P. Jansz b C. de Saram 2, William de Kretser c Grenier b C. de Saram 2, A. Jansz and b C. de Saram 4, O. Van Hoff c and b C. de Saram 2, C. de Silva not out 2, Extras 4. TOTAL 35 BOWLING: C. de Saram 5 wkts., J. Lourensz 3 wkts. S. THOMAS' - 2ND INNINGS E. R. McDonnell b J. W. de Silva 4, F. T. Ellawella c De Kretser b Jansz 0, C. de Saram b J. W. de Silva 7, D. Wendt J. W. de Silva 3, J. Lourensz lbw b P. Jansz 5, C. H. de Saram b P. Jansz 0. W. B. de Saram c C. de Silva b J. W. de Silva 3, F. W. McDonnell b J. W. de Silva 0, C. Wilkins not out 0, C. O. Siebel c and b J. W. de Silva 0, W. E. Grenier c W. de Kretser b J. W. de Silva 1, Extras 1. TOTAL 24 BOWLING: J. W. de Silva 7 wkts., P. Jansz 3 wkts. |
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