by Sanduni Kulatunga
In Sri Lanka, cricket is a cultural instinct.With the hustle and bustle of cricket talks in distorted radios of lottery vendors,cheerleaders in shabby flats, boys in shorts bowling in roads to the prestigious panel of commentators it’s no secret that cricket is a gene inherited to every Sri Lankan ever since its advent.
The pre-test era produced two cricket maestros who left a prestigious landmark in srilankan cricket history and our grandpa’s are obviously aware of the brotherhood of Sathasivam and De saram.
Fredrick cecil de Saram or “derrik” was born on the 5th of September, 1912 to a family of notable burgers who reigned courts of Dutch/British ceylon with glory.Derrick with the bat in the right, conquered home and overseas,having played 40 first class matches with 2789 runs, preserving a dignity with 6 scintillating tons and 15 halves.
The good old ceylonese were fortunate to behold this man blazing on fields,firing in battlefields and even wrangling in courts.
He was the pride and glory of eton of ceylon who was privileged to have captained the college team in 1931 and glorious enough to head the whole school.During his royal schooling days he glimmered in 4 royal-thomian encounters, striking with scintillating shots and in his final encounter as the skipper he scored a beautiful 140 proving his versatility.
In 1932,de saram bid farewell to ceylon and attended keble University in oxford to initiate with the perpetual service of every de saram,a lawyer.
To everybody’s astonishment in 1934 he was made the captain of Oxford University cricket club.He also played for Hertfordshire County cricket club from 1933 onwards where he scored 904 runs in 12 innings recording 182 as the highest. De saram didn’t just slog with the bat but became the only srilankan to covet blues in cricket and even tennis, a half blue in golf evoking his all-rounder instincts.
Soon derick began to collect international cheers.In his debut to oxford he attacked Gloucestershire with beautiful 208 runs and 128 against the blazing kangaroos.
Giving an end to his Oxford days, Derick returned to Ceylon in 1937 as a barrister and a honoured MBE.Upon his arrival,club cricket aided him to get acquainted with the ceylon grass once again,where he scored 1190 runs for Sinhalese sports club with marvelling 5 tons.
Wearing grandeur like a cloak of being an avid sportsman in 1949 Fredrick De saram was made the captain of ceylon national cricket team which he captained until 1954 with glory.Coupling with his aggressiveness and the stamina of the bat he roared with a 118 against pakistan and shots of 90 against all blacks.
The world was at war again and the army needed his lieutenant’ wit.He joined ceylon army in 1939.Having trained at sandhurst colonel de saram, the officer commanding the artillery garrison took measures to prevent the downfall of ceylon,during the Japanese attack on trincomalee naval base in 1942.In 1950 he was awarded the OBE for his gallantry in the minefields and the ED for wartime service and the ceylon armed services inauguration medal for his excellent performance in the battlefront.He was later promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
It was amazing to see a slender man playing roles in the field, battlefronts and even in the courts intermittently and it’s more than an honour to have had such a brilliant personality lived in our own motherlandDe
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