Michael Tissera matched heroics of Windies with classy 102 not out
By Ranjan ANANDAPPA
CRICKET: It was 1961, precisely on March 1st the cricket
starved public in Sri Lankan, got the treat of their lives when six West
Indian cricketers namely Garfield Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Wesley Hall,
Seymour Nurse, Chester Watson and Conrad Hunte anchored in Colombo while
sailing to England to play for their respective counties.
The six cricketers were involved in a one-day game (not a
limited-over game) against a Ceylon Cricket Association team at the
Colombo Oval (P. Sara Stadium).
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Garfield Sobers - a classic knock of 50 |
The visitor’s team was tagged as the ‘Daily Mirror XI which comprised
four promising local players, namely wicket keeper H. I. K. Fernando,
Priya Perera, Yatagama Amaradasa and Tissa de Soysa.
A person called Hewson, who was sailing with the players in the same
ship ‘Stratheden’ made up the eleven players for the Mirror XI. Those
were the days where the players had to sail instead of flying.
A crowd of over 22,000 flocked to the Colombo Oval to witness the
match. With the ‘tied’ Test still fresh in their minds the spectators
wanted to have a closer look at these great cricketers, and this was
rare occasion at that time.
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Michael Tissera - a superb knock of 102 not out thrilled the
large crowd. |
The visitors did not disappoint the crowd who had come in great
numbers from early hours in the morning to have a glimpse of these
windies who were fresh after a highly rated Test tour of Australia.
C. Ivers. Gunasekera captained the CCA XI and Conrad Hunte led the
Mirror XI.
The spectators enjoyed every bit of the match ,and had their monies
worth with most of the West Indians giving pleasing batting displays,
Rohan Kanhai top scored with 60 prior to retiring at lunch, hitting two
huge sixes both off leg-spinner Fitzroy Crozier and six fours.
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Rohan Kanhai top Windies 60 and them retired |
Then Sobers completed a class 58 before Sonny Yatawara rattled his
stumps. The Mirror XI scored 305 for 6, with Hunte (50), Nurse (31
retired) and Hall (44) also adding to the total.
The batting fiesta continued ,and now it was Ceylon’s turn to display
their batting prowess.
After losing half the side for 80 runs, Michael Tissera stopped a
seemingly disintegrating Ceylon innings scoring an unbeaten 102.
Unperturbed by the ‘thunderbolts’ sent by Hall and Watson , Tissera
hooked, cut and drove with elegance to remain to unbeaten on 102. to get
to his unbeaten century.
SCOREBOARD DAILY MIRROR XI
Conrad Hunte c & b Abu Fuard 50
Chester Watson c Tissera b K. M. T. Perera 22
Rohan Kanhai retired 60
Seymour Nurse retired 31
Garfield Sobers b Yatawara 58
Wesley Hall b Yatawara 44
H.I.K.Fernando not out 16
Hewson not out 0
Did not bat Priya Perera, Tissa de Soysa
and Yatagama Amaradasa.
EXTRAS 24
TOTAL (For 6 wkts declared) 305
FALL OF WICKETS: 63 (Watson), 109 (Hunte), 184 (Kanhai), 184 (Nurse),
264 (Hall), 297 (Sobers).
BOWLING: Sonny Yatawara 8-0-41-2, K.M.T. Perera 18-2-82-1,
Abu Fuard 15-1-64-1, C.I. Gunasekera 10-0-60-0, Fitzroy Crozier 6-0-34-0.
CEYLON CA XI
Sarath Silva b Hall 0
T.C.T. Edwards run out 14
Lasantha Rodrigo lbw b. Hall 1
C.I. Gunesekera c. P.Perera b. Hall 0
Michael Tissera not out 102
D.H. de Silva c Hall b Sobers 7
H.C. Perera c.Fernando b. Kanhai 17
Abu Fuard c Hall b Hewson 2
Sonny Yatawara not out 13
Did not bat; Fitzroy Crozier and K. M. T. Perera.
EXTRAS 24
TOTAL (For 7 wkts) 180
FALL OF WICKETS : 4 (Sarath Silva), 25 (Rodrigo), 25 (Gunesekera), 28 (Edwards),
80 (DH de Silva), 129 (HC Perera), 133 (Fuard).
BOWLING: Wesley Hall 10-3-37-3, Chester Watson 6-2-15-0, Gary Sobers 7-2-15-1,
Conrad Hunte 4-1-10-0, Rohan Kanhai 5-0-27-1, Yatagama Amaradasa 3-0-25-0,
C. Hewson 2-0-16-1, Priya Perera 2-0-11-0. |
