Thuppahi's Blog

S. S. Chandra Perera, in The Janashakthi Book of Cricket 1832-1996, Colombo, pp. 320-26 …. with emphasis in blue & red from The Editor, Thuppahi and that in  black by Chandra Perera himself

In 1935, a selection debacle had been commented on in verse. Now, 33 years later, a few more lines in verse in a local newspaper fired the first shots to start the controversy over the 1968 tour to England. The tour certainly created much dissension amongst the local cricket fraternity. The lines by pro Bono ‘Pabilis’ read:

And so the Chairman had his day

We thought it would only be HIK,

And poor Mike who won a Test

Found after all he was not the best,

And neither was Gamini, the Cambridge Cap,

Came all the way from England

Little realising that we are now free

And that two Selectors are as good as three.

Does it matter who played against Lister?

Wimalaratne is just poor sister

May be he can play the Chairman’s role

And vote for himself and the Nation

In one magnificent operation.

Remember the words of good old John,

“Serve yourself till you are gone:

Life is but a fleeting thing

Nomads may travel, Gypsies are Kings”.

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