Jan Tissera, the Trinity First XV skipper of 1979, will be the chief guest at the second leg of 72nd Bradby Shield at Pallekale on May 14. Tissera, led a Trinity team that was well balanced, added with individual brilliance. The only hiccup prior to the first leg, was their unbeaten record tarnished by the [...]

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

One of the finest Trinity triumphs

1979 Bradby 1st leg at Bogambara
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Jan Tissera, the Trinity First XV skipper of 1979, will be the chief guest at the second leg of 72nd Bradby Shield at Pallekale on May 14.
Tissera, led a Trinity team that was well balanced, added with individual brilliance. The only hiccup prior to the first leg, was their unbeaten record tarnished by the Thomians for the Canon de Saram shield.  The Royal team in that year, was skippered by late Raba Gunasekara, a fine wing forward. Royal before the first leg of Bradby, maintained an unbeaten record but came in for a surprise in the first leg.  In the first leg, Trinity pulled out a last minute victory after trailing 0-3.

The winning try was scored by yours truly, playing as a wing three making the finishing touches of a an unconverted try to end the game 4 points to 3. This was one of the narrowest wins in the history of Bradby Shield at that time. The Trinity team played their hearts out to inflict and tarnish the unbeaten run of Royal in the season. Lalin Sourjah, the center was impeccable. He and the two speedy wings, the writer himself and Tony Bertus, made inroads into Royal territory time and again. Out of the forwards, Michael Richardson, Ravi Ratnayake and Chang Kwai Ching, played their hearts out.

Only a rock hard defence put up by Royal back row forwards, in Irshad Rahiman and skipper Gunasekara, prevented ‘Lions’ from piling up more points. Royal too were at their best in the game.  But in the second leg it was totally a different story. Royal defeated Trinity 18-0 to retain the Bradby Shield for the second year running.  Most of the players from Trinity and Royal, after leaving school,continued to play the game and made a mark.Richardson and Ravi Bandaranayake (The skipper of great 1981 Bradby winning team) both played for Kandy SC. Tikiri Ellepola (The skipper of 1980 team) played for CR and FC.

Sourjah and skipper Tissera represented CH and FC. And yours truly represented the triple champion Havelock outfit in year 1981(The best team ever produced by Havelocks so far) and for many years.  Ravi Ratnayake, finally ended up as a fine cricketing all rounder. He represented Sri Lanka in cricket and in later years, opened the batting and was a opening bowler as well.  From the Royalists, Raheel Hashim, Sujantha Kumar (The skipper of 1980 Bradby winning team), Haroon Musafer, Raheem Jainudeen and Subramaniam Sritharan donned the CH and FC jersey. Sujeewa Cooray (The skipper of 1981 team) went on to play for CR and FC.

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