Eardley Lieversz, reflecting on the University of Ceylon’s Triumph in the Sara Trophy in the 1962/63 Season in an essay entitled “The Social Make-Up of the Varsity Team”
Until the late sixties, playing sport, particularly cricket, was not incompatible with academic achievement, particularly in the hard sciences. Non arts students came from Colombo schools and from English speaking backgrounds. For instance, the Royal cricket team of 1969 produced four engineers and a doctor. One image which never left me was a twice Royal captain pulling out his study notes after being dismissed in the game against St. Sebastian’s in the third term (1968).
In 2013 the Island of 18 March 2013 covered the reunion of the University of Ceylon cricket team of 1962-3 which took out the Sara trophy of that year. The full article is available in appendix IV. I quote the first four paragraphs of the article.
“Former members of the University of Ceylon ‘62/63 will gather at the NCC on the morning of March 23 to celebrate their winning the Sara Trophy 50 years ago. Their feat has never been achieved by any other university team. In spite of the heavy burden of studies, they had to contend with, they were able to excel in their chosen sport to win the Sara Trophy in the 1962/63 season. The team consisted of a very talented group of youngsters who were not at all overawed by the might of the opposition, sporting All Ceylon players of that era. They, in their youthful exuberance, overcame all odds in capturing the title. Their conduct off the field was exemplary. They were gentlemen to the core in their behaviour. Continue reading
