Frederick Cecil (Derrick) de Saram:

Incomparable Icon

by Rohan Wijesinghe

CRICKET: His hand upon his precious heart, F.C. de Saram did what he thought was right for Royal College, S.S.C. and this country. As chinwag has it, he was arguably the most opinionated Royalist to have drawn breath. His characteristically colourful and robust language delighted his acquaintances and no doubt made Mother blush. Royalists in particular had more than a sneaking affection for the outrageous colonel. His rather aristocratic carriage nonetheless conveying an image of arrogance, to those who didn’t know him too intimately. More than a few cringed, at the very sight of his roofless beach buggy.

Frederick Cecil de Saram was not a genius by birth, but very much a scion of an incomparable sporting dynasty. A proud and principled man, who didn’t pull his punches, parading his utterly imperial approach to life. Another gem in the long and distinguished tradition of Royal College.

Schoolboy scorebooks bursting with his runs and deeds, Derrick went on to skipper Royal College in the year 1930. Batting was his forte. The moment he parked his bat at middle and leg, he looked certain to score runs. He would push into the covers, up until the anxiety racked first hour was behind him.

The maestro would then climb into top gear so majestically, unravelling his bouquet of champagne shots on the leg side silky on drives, picket pounding pulls, chic glides and his characteristic whip off his hips past square. He always batted well behind his chin and chest, so fearless against hazardous pace. As the sun baked the pitch, his crisp, concise, compact footwork would come into play against the spinners, as the strip took turn.

Passage to prosperity

Following the passage to prosperity aboard the vessel S.S. Arnhem, Derrick sailed to England, dropping anchor at the immaculately manicured Oxford in hot pursuit of his twin passions cricket and the study of law. He was quick to pick up the threads of first class cricket. Greeting Woodfulls Aussies of 1934 with a brilliant 128 runs, 98 of those coming in boundaries. For good measure he notched a lovely 208 against Gloucestershire. In the big game against Cambridge University, he scored 80 and 22.

An exciting English future beckoned him. MCC invited him to tour the West Indies in 1934/35 under Bob Wyatt which offer he had to reluctantly decline due to pressure of looming examinations. For Hertfordshire in the minor countries, he scored 904 runs in 12 innings averaging 90.40 with 182 as his highest score. About this period he was awarded the coveted Oxford Cricket Blue and the Tennis Blue as well in addition to a half blue in Golf. That De Saram was brilliant at Billiards is a little known fact.

On his return to, Ceylon in 1937, he scored 1190 runs for Sinhalese Sports Club with 5 ‘tons’ and carved a torrent of runs in the Gopalan Trophy against stiff South Indian opposition. For the record Derrick scored 63 ‘tons’ in club cricket as against Sargo Jayawickreme’s 58 ‘tons’ and Sathasivam’s 45 centuries.

If one were looking for yardsticks, Derrick wore the Ceylon cap with immense pride in the years 1949 to 1954. Against the Pakistani Test side Derrick unveiled a splendid 118 in 1943 following his stubborn 90 against New Zealand in 1937. With Tyson, Statham and Loader snarling off the grassy Oval surface, Derrick made a defiant 43, the year being 1953.

In 1947, he bucked the trend by boycotting C.K. Nayudu’s Ranji Trophy holders Holkar, playing pied piper to a star-studded retinue the line consisting of Gerry Goonertne, Sargo Jayawickreme, Ben Navaratne, Bertie Wijesinha and C.I. Gunasekera - the bone of contention being country’s captaincy, the tussle for the leadership between the two mavericks De Saram and Sathasivam.

There emerged in F.C. de Saram, as must emerge in all great leaders a certain quantum of conceit, steel and self centering. Derrick had them all in just the required quantities, a man of firm conviction, he captained with loads of imagination, against much odds and must be saluted for that.

The Sandhurst-trained colonel proved his mettle in the Army as well. As the officer commanding the artillery garrison, the colonel resisted the Japanese fighter planes that were hell bent on blasting Colombo in the year 1942, for which gallantry he was awarded the OBE, in 1950.

I can well imagine the crusty Colonel firing his missiles and gaudy expletives at the hapless Japs. The maverick Derrick surfaced from his bunker in 1962 to mastermind a politically conspired coup against the incumbent Sirimavo Bandaranaike government which ended in failure. De Saram was found guilty by the Supreme Court following a lengthy trial and the grim judgement was so thankfully overturned by the Privy Council in Britain on an appeal.

The colonel coloured our committee rooms with his boundless energy and incomparable expertise, bearing the mantle of Honourary Secretary of the Ceylon Cricket Association from 1953 to 1956 and served for many years in the Board of Control for Cricket, supposedly denting a few egos as can be imagined and exercising something like a military sway over the proceedings.

Traversing and cris-crossing the length and breadth of this land in his beach buggy, preaching his gospel on cricket, the great man gave so much of himself and asked for so little in return. As with so many of our past greats our appreciation of the colonel has been terribly tardy at best.

He coached Royal from time immemorial, whence so many honours came to roost at Reid Avenue on the wings of his precious produce, Prasanna Kariyawasam, the Pasquals Ajita and Sudath, Ashok Jayawickreme, Rohan Jayasekere, Asitha Jayaweera, Ranjan Madugalle, and Rochana Jayawardene amongest so many others. School boy bats had to play utterly straight. I remember a time at the Torrigton nets at a coaching clinic of sorts, when he crept behind my back and held my bat on its downswing from third slip. The ball nipped in crashing into my abdominal protector denting all three, my ego, my dignity and my manhood. Quite Apart from playing straight I couldn’t straighten up for many a day.

Besides coaching Royal, Derrick also devoted time in later years and coached S. Thomas’ too. His son Dijen played for S. Thomas’.

The cricketer, administrator, selector, coach and lawyer par excellence retired from the game in 1960 having devoted well nigh 50 years towards his pursuits. At 80 years of age it had been a marathon spell twas was time to take the sweater. The grand-old-man of our cricket passed away peacefully in the year 1983, rolling away to infinity having contributed so immeasurably to the renaissance of Sri Lankan cricket.