November 26, 2025 · 7:48 pm

A Heartening Shift in Sri Lanka’s Political Culture Today

Bedgar Perera

I had happened to listen on youtube some time in February,2025, to an address by a learned senior professor,(whose name I had failed to get at) delivered before a distinguished audience that had included a large gathering of Buddhist clergy,a former President, a former Speaker and other politicians most of whom held power in yesteryear and are since out of the saddle.

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November 26, 2025 · 11:41 am

Nissanka Mauls Zimbabwe …..

Madushka Balasuriya in  ESPNcricinfo, November  2025 where the  title reads   “Nissanka’s 98* keeps Sri Lanka’s hopes of making tri-series final alive” ….

Sri Lanka 148 for 1 (Nissanka 98*, Kusal 25*, Evans 1-36) beat Zimbabwe 146 for 5 (Burl 37*, Hasaranga 2-23, Theekshana 2-23) by nine wickets
Pathum Nissanka found a timely return to form as he struck a devastating 98 off 58 deliveries to help Sri Lanka chase down a target of 147 against Zimbabwe in just 16.2 overs, with nine wickets to spare, in what was a must-win game in Rawalpindi. The result gives Sri Lanka their first win on the tour, and snaps a five-match losing streak in T20Is. It now means Sri Lanka go into their final game against Pakistan on Thursday knowing that a win will mean they qualify for the final of the tri-series.
Before Nissanka’s blitz, Sri Lanka’s bowlers had done well to restrict Zimbabwe to a sub-par total of 146 for 5. Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga ended with identical innings-best figures of 2 for 23, as Zimbabwe struggled to push their innings into high gear.

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November 25, 2025 · 12:14 am

My Interaction with Bradman ….. Bradman Weerakoon

Michael Roberts

Though Don Bradman had settled down in Adelaide and his son was a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Adelaide University and thereby a colleague [1], I never met the Don personally (while recognising his greatness by attending the massed commemoration of his death at the Adelaide Oval in 2001).

The first encounter with Bradman Weerakon was via his wife. It was an unplanned ‘encounter’. She was floating in  complete peace in the relatively calm waters between reef and shore at the Boy’s Bathing Place off the Fort of Galle  — a spot about 500 yards from the Roberts house in Middle Street — without  allowance for the gentle current which took her into a rocky  section of the swimming  spot where corals and sea pencils were a danger.  Spotting this, I swam rapidly to her side, told her to stay calm and floating and then guided her safely (still floating on her back) to a spot on the shoreline. She was pleased and grateful to the teenage lad who had assisted her.

the photo alongside is not of the Boy’d Bsthing Place” but it suggests the  ckind of physical circumstances where I participated ona minor rescue act

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November 24, 2025 · 7:15 pm

Bradman Weerakoon: An Enduring Epitaph

Chandrasena Maliyadde, in DailyFT 12 July 2025, where the title reads thus: “A Man lived in Many Hearts”….. https://www.ft.lk/columns/A-man-lived-in-many-hearts/4-778880

His legacy, lasting impact, and the void have no substitutes. His loss is not mourned only by his family, relatives, or friends. The entire country does it. The entire population was his family. There are 1.5 million public servants in the country. Bradman was always the pinnacle and was among the few most respected public servants. His demise marks the end of an era. It marks a profound loss and an absence that leaves a lasting impact and cannot be easily replaced.

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November 24, 2025 · 6:40 pm

Heil “LILI MARLEEN” …. A Song That Straddled Enemy Lines

Lili Marleen (German version) – A song full of contradictions and history

One song and two singers came to represent opposition and resistance to Hitler in the Second World War. The most beautiful and certainly most popular song of the Second World War was Lili Marlene.

A poem written in 1915, it was first recorded by German singer Lale Andersen in 1939 and was titled Das Mädchen unter der Laterne (The Girl under the Lantern). Another hugely popular version was recorded by Marlene Dietrich, a German exile living in the USA.00:00

03:13

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November 24, 2025 · 4:30 pm

Remembering Upali Seneviratne: An Exemplary Police Officer

Merril  Gunaratne, in Sunday Island, 23 November 2025, …with  highlighting being impositions of The Editor, Thuppahi

Upali Seneviratne was one of the finest officers of the Police of a bygone era, when it’s repute was at a peak. They were times when, subject to exceptions, officers considered themselves bound only by the writ of the IGP and the rule of law. Unfortunately, Upali’s odyssey with the police was relatively brief. He enlisted as a sub inspector in 1957, and retired in 1980 as an ASP.

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November 24, 2025 · 12:13 am

Sri Lankan Cricket Board in Sunday Times Gunsights

Item in The Sunday Times, 27 November 2025, … Authorship Not Indicated … A Travessty This

There’s one thing that never seems to change in Sri Lanka cricket. It’s not progress. It’s not new ideas. It’s the same old stagnation. It has gone on for so long that it now feels normal. Whether it is, the governing body or the national team, both have failed to evolve in any meaningful way. The consequences, unsurprisingly, are damning and increasingly difficult to ignore.

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November 23, 2025 · 3:06 pm

Some Outstanding SL Civil Service Personnel in the Recent Past

Gamini Seneviratne, in The  Island, 23 November 2025., with this  title “Footnotes to the Ceylon Civil Service”

MDD Pieris
Your Sunday edition has become habituated to publishing extracts from autobiographical accounts of their careers by public servants. We have had the fluently told tales of the late Bradman Weerakoon, undoubtedly the most accomplished and the modest of them, some snippets from Chandra Arulpragasam, whose working life was mostly spent at the FAO in Rome, Dharmasiri Pieris records of his career a good segment of which was as Secretary to Prime Minister Mrs. Bandaranaike, all based not on mere memory but, more meticulously, on his diaries. And, more recently, we see the occasionally factitious accounts of his experience as a politician by Sarath Amunugama. They were all members of the Ceylon Civil Service in its final years.

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November 23, 2025 · 2:09 pm

Revolutionary Cricket? More Sri Lankan Commentary on the Perth Test Match

Responding to  Lorenz Pereira’s  Reflections, other Sri Lankan Aficianado have presented theri  Thoughts …. significant thoughts  because they are Not Dinky-die Aussies as such ...EDITOR, Thuppahi

PERTH, AUSTRALIA – NOVEMBER 22: Mitchell Starc of Australia celebrates with Travis Head after dismissing Zak Crawley of England during day two of the First 2025/26 Ashes Series Test Match between Australia and England at Perth Stadium on November 22, 2025 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

SYDNEY  FERNANDO  in  Colombo, November  2025

I must first confess that by the time i started watching on the first day England had been bowled out for 172 and Australia were one down for 20 or less; then, in just about two hours they were 8 for 123.
What I saw was a team trying to play T20 style cricket on the first day of the test. Many dismissals were to rash strokes. Its as if they have limited overs to play with the undoubted influence of T20 and ODI cricket.

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November 23, 2025 · 11:07 am

Perceptive Readings of The Perth Test Match

EMAIL COMMENTS  From Lorenz Pereira of Royal College, now in Melbourne,  on the  Sunday after  the match

Dear Fitzy

What baffles me is how a so-called batting wicket resulted in 30 wickets falling in 5 sessions of a Test match.   You say the difference was Starck.  But 20 other wickets fell cheaply, all to the fast bowlers. Stokes got 5 of them and decimated the Aussies.   Lyon hardly bowled.  So the wicket must have helped the quickies.
Then a mystery.  How could such a tricky wicket suddenly become a batting paradise within a few hours? If the trend of the previous 5 sessions were to continue, Australia should have lost or most certainly struggled  What was the difference?

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