Over Fifty Year old Royalists from Melbourne visit Sydney
  
Reciprocating an inaugural visit by the Sydney Old Boys to Melbourne a year ago, a team of over fifty year old cricketers (and some of their wives)  led by Sam Lawton (Captained Royal in 1974) graced us with their presence in Sydney recently. It was a great week end, with a pre-match dinner feted privately by some Sydney old boys at the  Blue Elephant Function centre in Sydney on Saturday 30^th of January 2010, and was well attended by over a hundred Sydney based old boys & wives, who reminisced about the good old days and were pleasantly entertained .
  
The day of the match ( 31/01/10) dawned dismal, gloomy and showery – possibly the weather gods way of making the Victorians feel at home. However, by 10.45am the rain had stopped and the grounds at Fred Catterson Oval had drained so well, that the game was able to commence – albeit shortened to a 30 over game. In addition, the Sydney old boys had to ‘loan’ to the Melburnians a local wicket keeper cum bowler - Rajkumar Karunairatnam , because one of their players couldn’t make it at the last moment.

The two teams that took to the field  were:

Sydney Royalist team :
Prasanna Kariyawasam, Selva Selvarajan, Mahen Selvarajah, Janaka Subasinghe, Channa Atukorala, Gunaratnam Kandakumar, Chitral Perera, Deva Mylvaganam, Rohan Abayasekera, K Sooriyakumar & JP Jeyapalan

Melbourne Royalists team:
Sam Lawton, Alfred Lawton, Dilip Somaratne, Maliq Dean, Y Rajkumar, Darin Malawarachchi, Ransi Fernando, Devendra Weerasooriya, Athula Ratnayake, Feisul Uduman & Rajkumar Karunairatnam

Sydney captained by Prasanna Kariyawasam ( Royal captain of 1975) batted first and scored  only 123 runs. The grass had not been cut short plus the wet outfield resulting in very few boundaries and many singles, contributing to a low scoring game.

The key feature of this phase of the game was the absolutely inspiring fielding of the Vic Old Boys who took some stunning catches in the outfield.  Maliq Dean ( former College Ruggerite), Dilip Somaratne ( former college cricket coach ) , Alfred Lawton & Y.Rajkumar  being the best of the lot. This was particularly galling to the Sydney-ites, who are well known for grassing sitters and signalling & calling agitatedly to team mates when balls are hit in their own direction.
  
The Victorians in turn began their innings in fine fashion – ie test cricket fashion. Captain  ‘Lawty’ forgot to let one opener know that this was a limited over game resulting in this opener getting himself set for a Geoff Boycott style innings much to the chagrin of his team mates and delight of the wily Sydney captain Kari – who strategically endeavoured to ensure that this batsman was ‘not to be got out at any cost’. As the overs dragged on desperation set in and only some belatedly lusty hitting by Sam Lawton, Malik Dean, Ransi Fernando etc saw them creep dangerously close to the Sydney total. However the initial approach and Kari’s strategy paid off in the end with the Victorians falling agonisingly short by 9 runs.
  
It was interesting to note that both the captains – Lawty and Kari had not lost their touch after so many years. Well done gents.

The organisers wish to convey their sincere thanks to two well known Royal cricketers living in Sydney  ( Sandesh Algama – 1984 Royal Captain & Lalin De Silva ) who have still not reached that magical age 50, but very kindly volunteered their umpiring services for a significant period of time.
 
Special mention must be made of two of the visitors ( Alfred Lawton & Y. Rajkumar) who flew in that morning of the game , just to play the match and joined the many other players who had to catch return flights  immediately after the game to Melbourne.

Also, a very big thank you  to Kaushalya Subasinghe who single handedly, looked after the catering arrangements for lunch and tea on the day of the game. Much appreciated by all..
  
The game, as to be expected of Royalists, was played in the very best traditions of sportsmanship and had a few spectators who came (we assumed to be enthralled by the high standard of cricket) most likely to catch up with old friends. It was a good day, rekindling past friendships and setting an ongoing tradition, which, all concerned are  hoping will continue for years to come.   

Summarised Score sheet:

Sydney Royalists scored  123 for the loss of 9 wickets in the allocated 30overs.

Main scorers for the Sydney side were

P. Kariyawasam - 25 retired as per regulations and scored uncharacteristically all in singles,

C. Atukorala – 22 including two fours, JP Jeyapalan -22 including a six,

G Kandakumar -13 including two fours, J Subasinghe - 12 & R Abayasekera 11 not out.

Whilst for the Melbournites wicket takers were

M Dean &  Raj Karunairatnam …who also kept for a while… got 2 wickets each,

and D.Somaratne, A.Lawton, D Mallawarachchi, R Fernando got a wicket each

Melbourne Royalists scored 114 for the loss of  6 wickets in their allocated 30 overs.

Main scorers for the Melbourne side were

S.Lawton – 26 retired as per regulations it included four twos, two fours and a massive six,

R Fernando - 16  including two fours, M Dean 15, Y Rajkumar 14, D Mallawarachchi 14 &

D Weerasooriya 14 retired due to fatigue.

Whilst for the Sydney side wicket takers were

G Kandakumar who got the two vital wickets of Dilip Somaratne & Maliq Dean

and M Selvarajah, S Selvarajan & C Perera got a wicket each

At the end of play Sam Lawton ( Melbourne ) was adjudicated as the man of the match whilst Alfred Lawton ( Melbourne ) was awarded the best fielder, Gunaratnam Kandakumar ( Sydney ) the best bowlers award & the best batsman award to J.P Jeyapalan ( Sydney ) for his valuable 22 runs down the order.

  
- Report compiled by Jon Karu with the help of the organisers.