Stanley de Alwis' all-round performance helped Cambrians beat Royalists by 1 wkt

By Dilwin MENDIS - Moratuwa Sports Corr.

CRICKET: Speak of cricket, and inter-school cricket at that in the good old days of the fifties, there are many stories that come to mind of cricketers excelling at school and then with the experience that they gained at school level, they made good the opportunities that had come their way and gone on to finally represent Sri Lanka at international level.

In the year 1955, there was a cricketer by the name of Stanley de Alwis who turned out to be a outstanding allrounder for Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa. He was one of the finest allrounders in those days, a pace bowler with much venom in his quickies and a batsman of no mean repute.

He captained Prince of Wales that year and his all-round experience and expertise with the new ball helped the Cambrians to some fine performances. Alwis' fine performances at school level stood him in good stead in later years and he went on to excel at club level and also played for Ceylon. The country had not got Test status at that time and Saravanamuttu Trophy inter-club matches were the order of the day.

De Alwis played for the Singhalese Sports Club and then for Ceylon, he played alongside such cricketing giants like A.C.M. Lafir, the late Channa Gunasekera, C.I.Gunasekera, Vernon Prins, H.I.K. Fernando and Sonny Yatawara, names that come to mind in a flash.

So, before getting into high company, it was the school that guided the cricketers to improve their skill and Prince of Wales were not behind the other schools. The Cambrians had a fiery bowler in Ashley Fonseka to open the bowling with Stanley de Alwis.

In these early years, a match that comes to mind where the Cambrians were involved was their clash with Royal College in 1955 in Moratuwa. Prince of Wales was captained by Stanley de Alwis and Royal had Fitzroy Crozier, the left-arm leg spinner as their captain.

Royal who took first strike on the matting wicket at Moratuwa, were somewhat bundled out for 143 with De Alwis capturing 4 wickets with his lively bowling on the matting wicket. But, this was somewhat of a good score when one considers that the Royalists then shot out the Cambrians for a paltry 51 in their first turn, with Crozier doing the damage taking 6 for 14 runs.

First innings lead of 92 runs was considered to be a good lead for the Royalists. When Royal batted a second time, they collected 149 for 7 wickets when they applied the closure at the 'milk interval' on the second day, leaving the Cambrians a target of 242 runs to make in the fourth innings to clinch victory.

Fans proved wrong

The Cambrians supporters and fans alike thought that this total was a bit too much for their team to make in the vital period after the 'milk interval' and they had a Royal victory on their minds.

But skipper Stanley de Alwis had other ideas. But De Alwis also had some shocks to contend with. Three Cambrians wickets, those of their star batsman K. T. P. Wijedasa, Lasantha Rodrigo and Herbert Fonseka were back in the pavilion for a meagre 29 runs.

It was at this stage that skipper De Alwis joined Jagath de Soysa at the wickets. From that gloomy position, things somewhat brightened up for the Cambrians and they hit out with attractive strokes to make the score rattle along.

Skipper Stanley de Alwis was seen at his best in batting and he paid scant respect to the Royal attack, while De Sousa somewhat played second fiddle and allowed his skipper to go on from strength to strength.

De Alwis sprayed the Royal bowlers to all corners of the field and made a quickfire 163 which included 19 hits to the ropes and 11 sixes. When De Alwis got out, the Cambrians had only to score 23 runs more for victory with three wickets in hand.

The Cambrians finally rapped up the game with a wicket in hand.

Incidentally Lasantha Rodrigo's elderbrother Ranjan Rodrigo who had earlier played for Royal, was in the Cambrian team and he had the last laugh by scoring the winning runs.

An elated Principal of Prince of Wales' - the late Mr. J.B.C. Rodrigo summoned a special assembly on the following Monday and presented the bat used by De Alwis to make his effervescent century and the ball to De Alwis for the fine achievement gained.