Thisura Madurapperuma is the Thurstan Cricket Captain of 2010-11 season.
Before he commenced the Cricket season he sat for his AL.
The result released this week gives his gradings as 3 A’s in Economics, Accountancy & Commerce
His Z score is 2.4 and he is 66th in the All Island list & 25th in Colombo.
This is also the best results at Thurstan for this year in all streams
Cricket at Thurstan commenced in 1953, this is the best academic achievement of a Cricket Captain even surpassing that of Hemantha Boteju who entered the Colombo UNI Arts Faculty in the mid 90’s
If my memory serves me correct some Cricket captains who entered LOCAL Universities are as follows
1955 M D D Peiris entered Peradeniya UNI Arts Faculty, but from St Joseph’s as he left Thurstan as the subjects he was offering was not taught at Thurstan
1958 late Shunith Gunatillake Peradeniya UNI Arts Faculty
1966 Priya Paranavitane Colombo UNI Science Faculty
1967 Ranjith Gulawita Katubedda UNI Architecture Faculty
1968 Ajanta Nagodavithana Katubedda UNI Engineering Faculty
1995 Hemantha Boteju Colombi UNI Arts Faculty
2011 Thisura Madurapperuma Probably Sri Jayawardanapura Management Faculty
Thisura’s sister Deveni also entered Sri Jayawardanpura Management Faculty in 2009.
Devani who schooled at Museaus excelled in Athletics – Discuss & Putt Shot at Sri Lanka National Junior & Senior level
The Madurapperuma’s proved yet again that Sports & Academics could go hand in hand provided the child is committed and has his work schdeuled planned accordingly. Of course the Parents also have hand in it to ensure they follow the routine, I believe in this aspect all credit should go to the “mother” as Deepal has been for the last few years in the distant Uva Province as he has been stationed there. But he does his bit when he is in town during the weekends.
They are children of Deepal & Dharshini who excelled in Basketball for Mahamaya Kandy
Deepal is Stalwart of Thurstan Cricket and also for many years played Premier Cricket for Nomads, SSC, BRC & CCC.
He represented Petroleum Corporation in cricket & Badminton for over 25 years
Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardena was the Chief Guest at the National Teachers? Day celebrations held yesterday at Thurstan College. The Minister worships Ven. Suriyagoda Siridhamma Thera on arrival while Deputy Minister T. B. Ekanayake and school principal Y. A. N. D. Yapa look on. (Photo-Siripala Halwala)
DESTRENA ‘ 10, Science Day 2010 – held on 15.10.2010 at the College Main Hall. Main theme was Nanotechnology. Dr. Nilwala Kottegoda, Senior Lecturer in University of Sri Jayawardenapura was the chief Guest and delivered the key note address on Nanotechnology and Challenges of Sri Lanka.
Nishantha Dharmadasa the first ever three star Boxing Referee & Judge in Sri Lanka has been selected and invited to officiate at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games which will be held in Singapore in August 2010 by the International Boxing Association.
Nishantha Dharmadasa is serving in the Air Force and is a Group Captain and function as the present Commanding Officer of Air Force Colombo. To his credit he has officiated in number of International Tournaments which includes the Asian Games in Dhaka number of Asian Championships, European Championship, Commonwealth Championship, World Military Championship, Two World Military Games and more importantly at the Boxing World Championship. When he was invited for the World Boxing Championship in Milan, Italy he was among the best 44 Referees invited by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) from the world and among the 07 Asian Referees. At the last World Championship in Milan, Italy Nishantha did the country proud when his performance as a Referee & Judge was marked as excellent. This is why he has been selected for the Youth Olympic. Last week Nishantha Dharmadasa officiated at the Ocenia Boxing Championship in Canberra, Australia when he was invited by the AIBA.
Nishantha is a proud product of Thurstan College Colombo and is the son of grand old legend of Boxing in Sri Lanka Mr. K V Dharmadasa who himself was an International Referee and was respected by all for his honesty. Nishantha has not only excellent in Boxing but a reputed Rugby player and a public school athletic at Thurstan.
Nishantha paid a growing tribute to his Guru and Boxing Master Mr. Donald Munasinghe and Mr. Herbert and Mrs. Nevia Embuldeniya for grooming him to be what he is today. He also mentioned the assistance extended to him by the Commander of the Air Force.
Senior Counsel M.R.K.S. Suresh Chandra took oaths as a Judge of the Supreme Court in the presence of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees yesterday.
SUPREME COURT JUDGE JUSTICE R K S SURESHCHANDRA-Cricketer and Cricket commentator of eminence
Thurstan College and the OBU are due to felicitate shortly His Lordship Justice Sureshchandra a distinguished alumni on his appointment to the highest levels of the judiciary ,Supreme Court.
Suresh joined Thurstan from Hoy Cross college Kalutara after completing his OL?s in 1963 to pursue higher studies as Thurstan possessed very good laboratory facilities and teaching rsources. His ambition was to enter the Medical faculty as in that era passing the Practical exam was mandatory to enter University to do science or medicine. Suresh who showed his prowess as a cricketer for Holy Cross continued his cricket career at Thurstan. Suresh travelled by train from Kalutara where his family was residing and I could distinctly remember Suresh hurrying after cricket practices to catch the train. Most of his studies were done in the train, such was dedication to studies and his desire to play cricket.
Suresh played a crucial part with his off spinners and bowled with tandem with me to rout Isipathana for Thurstan to register first ever win in the big match series in 1965. Suresh played for Thurstan for 3 years from 1964 -66. In 1966 Suresh could not play in the big match as the date coincided with the AL practical examination.
Suresh also Captained the College “Science Quiz ” Team , “The Spelling Bee” Team to Radio Ceylon.
Suresh could not enter the medical faculty, but decided to switch to law and entered University of Colombo Law Faculty in September 1967 so that he could follow in the footsteps of his father, the late S S Rajaratnam who had a lucrative practice in the Kalutara bar & when they moved to Colombo in 1967 he commenced a law school where he paved the way for many persevering aspirants who could not gain entry to the University to pursue their legal studies and become Professionals. Rajaratnams were an illustrious family in Kalutara figuring prominently in the field of law & cricket. Suresh, initially represented the Kalutara town club in the ?Daily News? cricket tournament.
In hindsight I think he made the correct choice in pursuing a law degree. Some of his contemporizes at the law faculty are current Chief Justice Asoka de Silva, Supreme Court Judge Nimal Gamini Amaratunga, Current Head of the Sri Lanka Mission in to the United Nation Palitha Khona, former Treasury Secretary Charitha Ratwatte & present Leader of opposition Ranil Wickramsinghe among many others. In fact Ranil at a function held at the inauguration of the Thurstan Building Fund way back 1986 as the then Education Minister paid a compliment to his erstwhile colleague Suresh that his success at the law faculty was due to him studying comprehensive set of notes of Suresh ! Suresh at the University continued to play Cricket and was a member of the University side that entered the final round of the Sara Trophy in 1969-70 under Mevan Pieris. That was the last University side to enter a final round. Suresh?s many talents were amply demonstrated when he kept us in raptures with his rendering of many English and Sinhala songs in the long train journeys when the University of Colombo team toured South India to play in the Inter University tournament ( which I had the privilege to captain) in December 1969. Upon leaving University he represented Bloomfield in the P Sara tournament.
After obtaining the LLB from the University he completed his Masters in Law and was called to the bar in 1972. He was apprentice to late Sharwanandha who later became the Chief Justice. Initially he was a junior to late E R S R Coomaraswamy PC who was a leading legal luminary of the day. Suresh was appointed a member of the National Arbitration Panel of the National Arbitration Centre and served under a number of Industrial organizations. For well over 30 years Suresh functioned as a lecturer in law at the Open University, Colombo & Katubedda Campuses and Law College.
During his overseas Career he served as the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Sri Lanka Mission in to the United Nation for a period of one year in 2009 and was a member of the delegation to the Non-Aligned conference in Egypt last year. Even in the US he was much in demand for cricket and was the tournament Director for the Sri Lanka schools cricket tournament and also did his stint with the commentaries.
Suresh did his share of social work. He was the President of the Apex Sri Lanka and was the Cabinet Secretary of the Lions movement in 2007-8. Suresh also served the Thurstan OBU steering committee and was instrumental in setting up the legal structure for the Thurstan college Building Fund & the Thurstan College Trust fund.
Suresh took up to cricket commentaries following to the untimely death of his brother Diyanesh in 1997. He like most present day commentators had his baptism at the Thurstan-Isipathana big match and with his elevation to high places in the Hultsdorf we may not hear him in the commentaries for some time. But his son Kosala will continue the good work. I always told Suresh that Kosala has more drive in his commentaries than the father! I can remember the 2 young brothers playing in the backyard of their home in Kollupitiya and they were giving running commentaries of their ?match? . Both sons Kosala & Rashantha played cricket for D S Senanayake College
Suresh?s brother Late Diyanesh and sister Yamuna took up to law. While Amaresh played cricket with distinction for Wesley and Diyanesh stamped his class both in Cricket & Rugby at Thurstan being captain in both games. Diyanesh was also accomplished commentator in Rugby.
Suresh has earned the respect and regard from both the bar & the bench for his unblemished reputation.? In fact most folks of the Hulftsdorf expected this appointment to have been made years back?.
The appointment to this Apex court from the unofficial bar is always fought with much trepidation. In his address at the ceremonial sitting to welcome him, His Lordship Justice Sureshchandra put it very succinctly. ?Likewise, several members of the unofficial bar have been appointed to this Apex Court from time to time in keeping with the noble tradition of uplifting the quality of the composition of the court which enables to maintain a certain balance regarding the interest of the Bar & the bench?.
Suresh also said the following. ?In the current era there is too much respect to the letters of the law as opposed to the spirit of the law. Laws are formulated with certain principles in mind. It is necessary to see whether in the application of the laws, those principles are being accommodated. This requires rational interpretation of such laws to suit the given situation?.
I hope and pray that Suresh will be able to bring fresh thinking into this august body.
My association with Suresh goes back to nearly 47 years both on and off the field and we have had many enjoyable times and our families continue to be very closely knit.
In conclusion I will be failing in my duty if I do not to say a big ? thank you ? to the lady of his life ? Savithri, who has been the pillar of the success of Suresh in many myriad activities of his life.
Priya Paranavitane
Cricket Captain Thurstan 1966
Represented University in Cricket 1967-70
I began life at Thurstan from the kindergarten in 1950 and my interests were not much in the class room even from early days. I loved cricket and had no difficulty in getting in to the under 14 team at the first ever opportunity, in junior cricket we played with most leading schools and fared very well. However, I developed a liking to Rugby and this was not surprising as most cricketers were in the Rugby team too.
I was also inspired by two pioneers of Thurstan Rugby from my neighborhood Surath Wickremasighe (Our first Captain 1957 & 58) and Jeff Rutnam (who skippered Sri Lanka) to whom we owe much for the strong foundation for Rugby. As T M K Samat another of the pioneers & one of the greatest scribes once wrote Thurstan was then an “L” shaped school and the going was not easy. Not very well known in the rugby circles sans a play ground or old boy support every thing was tough from practicing in the corner of the old Racecourse and obtaining fixtures, and personalities like Surath will be hard to forget for their courage, determination and leadership that paved the way for us to recognition..
My first big year in Rugby was in 1962 when I got in to the 1st XV under Rajah Wirasekera (now domiciled in Germany) and our happiest moment was when we surprised Colombo with a superb win over St Peters and this did give us lot of encouragement. In 1963 we probably fielded the best ever team we had by enjoying a magnificent season losing only to Trinity in Kandy. It was a superb well knit team that was always together both on & off the field excepting in the class room! The team had six classy players and Deepal de Zoysa was the captain, Ranjit Jayawardena was the vice captain Indra Piyatissa was the secretary. The fact that Deepal, Ranjith, Indra and Srinath Gunasekera were picked to represent the Colombo Schools (then dominated by Royal, St Peters & Zahira) and Ranjith was elected as captain for the prestigious Gratiaen cup between Colombo & Up-country Schools, speaks of our team.
Indra’s house was just opposite the college and it was our centre of operations. We practiced mainly at the Race course (Old CH & FC) and University grounds, and Indra as an efficient secretary organized many fun filled outstation matches, Our coaches were two of the best at that time Brian Mills & Kavan Rambukwella. Our trips had many interesting anecdotes; Let me share only a few that could be published!! Our first friendly was against Navy at the Dockyard in Trinco and we boarded the train from Colombo Fort, when stopped at Maho, Deepal whose father was the Station Master got a bright idea that we should move on to 1st Class, we jumped at the idea & followed him but our fun was short lived when the Ticket checkers stormed and it was simply luck & persuasion that saved us from being taken to the Police. Next was a match against Kandy Lake club (then playing in Clifford cup) at Bogambara, we were put up at Queens then one of the best hotels in the country our heavy meal extended the post lunch snooze and when we woke up, it was the time for the match, we ran to the grounds and were beaten soundly only to get a good leathering following day from our usually calm MIC Athula Ratnayake and was lucky to escape from further punishment from Principal Late Mr. M. D. Gunewardena.
School season was terrific & we really played hard that put the opposing teams at bay. I still remember well the Zahira (then a leading team) match where Ranjith Jayawardena after collecting a kick punted ahead collected his own punt and dashed over to score a brilliant try that made us winners. Next was the Royal match at University grounds where we were up against strong Royal Team, match was played at a terrific pace and scores were nil all for most part of the game when Ranjith Jayawadena scored another brilliant try to be converted by Full back Senaka Jinadasa to give us a truly memorable victory & we became instant heroes . Last match was against star studded St Thomas’ Mt Lavinia at the Race course. Deepal who played as wing forward was a fiery tackler who had a tendency to go for the ankle and the match was barely few minutes old when Deepal sent the Thomian captain Mohan Samarasonghe playing at fly half off the field with a bone crunching tackle.. Being a rainy day, in front of a large crowd neither side has scored when almost at the long whistle in semi darkness yours truly dived through the legs of Thomian scrum half Tony Sirimanne (who later on coached Thurstan) for a try, but to our disappointment try was disallowed and the referee who was our coach called off the match stating the lines were not visible and the crowd was encroaching the field.
The team as I remember (with apologies to memory lapses) as follows
Front Row- Wimal Kulatunga, Indra Piyatissa, Susantha de Silva
Second Row Dushyantha Samarasekera, Bobby Senaweera
Third row Ranjit Jayawardena, Vernon Caldera, Deepal de Zoysa
Three Quarters- Vasantha Jayawardena, “Baba” Fonska, Ananda Karunaratne & T. N. Fernando
Full back Senaka Jinadasa.
Stand byes were Mahinda Wijayaratne, Mangala Ratnayake, Mahinda Seneviratne, K L Perera, Lal Kumarage, G Kularatne, Sunil Jayakody & J Rodrigo as I remember.
Unfortunately Indra Piyatissa, Deepal de Zoysa, Lionel Wickremasekra and Susantha de Silva are not among the living today.
At the end of the season, Ranjit Jayawadena walked in to Havelocks team, Deepal and Dushyantha joined CR while the rest of us who were leaving school went to form the nucleus of the 1st ever NCC Rugby team. Well, we enjoyed our Rugby days, made many friends and even after four decades we are still very much linked together.
I am delighted by the initiative taken by Sarath Weerasuriya to regroup the past Rugby players and wish Chula Dharmadasa a former National player cum selector and young Suranga Kulawickrema all success in their efforts to build up Rugby at Thurstan.
VERNON CALDERA represented Thurstan in Rugby, Cricket and Table Tennis and on leaving school joined NCC representing them in Cricket, Rugby Tennis & Hockey. Latterly he played for Nomads & CCC. On retiring from active sports Vernon became an outstanding Golfer and a Squash Player until an injury forced him out of sports.
