The Ceylonese cricket era of First-Class cricket has produced multifaceted dynamic personalities who conquered both home and overseas. Michael Tissera secures a special place on the list, the finest gentleman cricketer of Ceylonese Cricket.
Michael Hugh Tissera was born on the 23rd of March 1939 – the age of British ambience. Tissera had the privilege to attend the ‘School by the Sea’ and with that he successfully grasped the art of bowling and batting. He was just a 14-year-old kid when he began to play in the most prestigious big match of the country, the Battle of Blues. With hard work and prospered potential, he led the Thomians in the encounters of 1957 and 1958.
Having bid farewell to his schooling days, Tissera embraced the beauty of club cricket which propelled him to score a beautiful 103 for NCC during his debut in first-class club cricket in the P. Sara trophy. Once he stroked against Saracens scoring 58 runs in a one-sided partnership also taking 6 for 30 which was a brilliant performance that invaded the arena.
Tissera made his first-class debut in 1959, in the annual Gopalan Trophy encounter between Ceylon and Madras where Madras conquered by 8 wickets.
Michael Tissera was a man whose name is engraved in gold in the pre-test era who captained Ceylon in 15 unofficial test matches which is a brilliant record. Thus, Ceylon was able to play unofficial test matches under his captaincy which led to massive victories. In 1964 Ceylon team enlightened by the spirts of Tissera beat Pakistan by 41 runs and this filled the record books of Ceylonese cricket as the very first victory in an unofficial test match.
Following up the success in the same year Tissera’s team managed to beat our very own neighbors in a test match in a three-day four unofficial test matches. Tissera scored 122 runs in the 2nd innings of the Second test match where he built up a strong partnership of 224 for 4 wickets against India with Stanley Jayasinghe (135) and this beautiful score is recorded as his career best. But the team secured victory in the third unofficial test-which was Ceylon’s first victory over a Test-playing nation.
Tissera was one of the successful batsmen of the series who scored 249 runs in overall. Along with the grit and the wit this victory opened the eyes of ICC-where in 1965 we officially became associate members of the international Cricket Council. In 1966 Ceylonese once again met with the Pakistani’s where Tissera scored a beautiful 120 not out in the second innings where he was greeted and acclaimed for his talent by the massive spectators including the captain Hanif Mohammed.
1969 was good year for Tissera and the Ceylonese cricketers. Sri Lanka hosted its very first limited over international match (60-over match) at P. Sara Oval on the 25th of January 1969 playing against MCC. Ceylon’s board XI once again led by this outstanding man beat MCC which was Ceylon’s debut victory over MCC and not a surprise because it was led by the finest of all.
Michael Tissera was an exceptional right-hand batsman who bowled leg break, who enchanted the spectators and even misled the opponents with his batting and bowling charms. Thus, he had the fortune to partake in the 1975 World Cup where he played for 3 ODI’s scoring a total of 78 runs, including a score of 52 runs against the Kangaroos in the second match.
Tissera hung his boots in 1975 but continued to strive for the upliftment of the game as an administrator where he managed the national team between 2005-2009. In the recent past he was granted full time membership of ICC as an honorary member for his immense service to the game.
Thereby, Michael Tissera can be considered a mastermind cricketer of the pre-test era who’s conquered 30 First Class matches with 1394 runs including two centuries and 8 half centuries and 27 wickets including a 5-wicket haul during his prestigious career from 1958 to 1975.
The recently concluded Sri Lanka-West Indies test series is played for Sobers-Tissera trophy, which is a great honour for a man like Tissera to stand next to one of the greatest all-rounders of the world, making him one of the sporting legends the future behold to embrace.
By Sanduni Kulatunga
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