Sunil Karunanayake
Thurstan will scrum down with Wesley for the Diyanesh Rajaratnam trophy on June 11 at the CR & FC grounds, Longdon Place . Diyanesh Rajaratnam trophy was inaugurated in 1998 in memory of late Diyanesh Rajaratnam who is the only Thurstanite to have captained both cricket and rugby at Thurstan; he captained the cricket team in 1971 and rugby team in 1972.
The match is also of significance due to the fact that Rajaratnam came over to Thurstan from Wesley in 1967 and the Rajaratnam family renowned for sports had links with both these schools.
Diyanesh Rajaratnam played his first game for Thurstan in 1968 as a wing three quarter against Wesley and scored Thurstan’s first try and the match was won by Thurstan 8-3. This team was captained by Upali Hewage (currently Deputy Inspector General of Police Sabaragamuwa Range ) who rendered yeoman service to Thurstan for well over a decade in serving as its Rugby – Co-ordinator.
DIG Upali Hewage has most fittingly being invited to be the Chief Guest for the occasion. Diyanesh won fame more as a leading schoolboy cricketer and had the honour of representing Ceylon Schools team in their Indian tour of 1970 where the series was won by them.
After leaving school he continued an active cricket career and represented Nomads & Tamils in the premier division and was a Sri Lanka trialist and represented board President’s xi. He also coached Thurstan cricket for a brief period.
After retiring from first class cricket Diyanesh turned out be a leading commentator and sports program presenter for the SLBC achieving great heights as a Cricket and a Rugby commentator, this is yet another outstanding feat of this great sportsman who passed away suddenly in 1997.
Thurstan & Wesley has been playing each other regularly from 1959 and the Rajaratnam Trophy was won by Thurstan from inception in 1998 up to 2001 while Wesley has been the holders since 2002.
Both Thurstan and Wesley who played in the “A” division last year were relegated to “B” division this year and have had limited success.