Meeting Between Past Legends: Michael Tissera And Lorenz Pereira

by Sujith Silva
www.quadrangle.lk

Lorenz Pereira, undoubtably one of the greatest if not the most outstanding sportsman produced at Royal College was back in town to attend the blue-ribbon cricketing encounter, the 144th Royal-Thomian Battle of the Blues. He makes it a point to visit and meet all his old friends over breakfast, dinner or drinks or playing tennis at the SLTA.

He enjoys the company of Sarath Samarasinghe, Harsha Samarajeeva, I.S. De Silva and many others and especially the company of the Thomian and his opposing captain in 1958, Michael Tissera, with whom he has been friends since the 50’s. Lorenz customarily invites me to join their gathering. I too enjoy the company of these legends as they spin nostalgic yarns, some to be shared and some to be closely guarded secrets. There’s nothing secret about the friendship between Lorenz Pereira and Michael Tissera which I featured on Quadrangle some years back.

Lorenz Pereira, an outstanding product of Royal College, inherited his greatness through his family DNA. His father, another outstanding Royalist, a renowned scholar from Royal College and Cambridge University, Professor E.O.E. Pereira, was Dean and Founder of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ceylon and later Vice-Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya. Lorenz obtained an MA from Cambridge University and played a few games for the University under Mike Brearley.

Lorenz had two younger brothers, Bryan and Alan. Both have now passed away and of the two, Bryan was an outstanding sportsman, winning colours in cricket, rugby and tennis at Royal College. Their parents, the professor and mother, Mavis, would have been proud of the achievements and contributions to sport by the Pereira brothers, two of whom were outstanding sportsmen.

Lorenz was the Head Prefect at Royal College and not only received colours but excelled in cricket, rugby, tennis and athletics. He also won Public Schools athletics colours. He went on to captain Royal College in cricket and tennis. His epic try scored on the left wing whilst playing on the right wing at the 1958 Bradby, is still spoken about and probably is the best in Bradby Shield tries in the series.

He was the Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 1959 and received the coveted Dornhorst Memorial prize for the Best All-round Student at Royal College in his day. He captained the Combined Schools Cricket XI and also played as a schoolboy for Ceylon in the All – India Rugby Tournament held in Madras in 1959 and later went on to captain the then All Ceylon Rugby XV. He was invited to play for the CCC and CH & FC, subsequently being the first Sri Lankan to captain these two clubs in cricket and rugby in 1966.

I understand that on a minimum three match basis, that Lorenz has the best all round performance at the Royal-Thomian.In 2018, Quadrangle initiated a campaign to promote sportsmanship and Spirit of the Game among schools and alumni fraternities especially targeting Schools Rugby and Cricket. We received Lorenz’s fullest blessing and support for this endeavour and the trophy which is awarded to the Best Disciplined School in Sports was named after Lorenz Pereira (Spirt of the Game Trophy). The first recipient was St. Anthony’s College Katugastota in 2018. The trophy was not awarded in 2019 as the Schools rugby season was disrupted after the Easter bombings and no tournament was conducted in 2020-2021 due to the Covid pandemic.

His old friend and opposing captain at the Royal-Thomian in 1958 was Michael Tissera whom he met long before they competed against each other on the cricket field. Lorenz reminisces with some nostalgia how they came to know each other.

“My father put me to a private tuition class to learn Sinhala before our SSC examinations. Mr. Rufus or as we called him, Uncle Rufus, was the master and Michael’s uncle. The classes were at his home for just three students – myself and Michael who I met for the first time, and a beautiful girl. Michael and I sat on either side of this girl and from the very first day my mind was not focused on what Uncle Rufus was teaching. Instead, I was wondering what Michael was up to on the other side and how I can win over this girl.

“Michael was good looking and smart as always and I’m sure he like me was interested in the girl. Both of us very enthusiastically attended classes. Uncle Rufus used to boast to his friends that he is teaching Professor E.O.E. Pereira’s son and he is confident that I will get through with flying colours. My father too was telling his friends that I’m diligently attending private classes for Sinhala at Rufus’ place. Little did my father and teacher realize I was keener on the girl than on the studies. When the results came, all three of us had failed the exam miserably and my father and Uncle Rufus were devastated”.

Lorenz had and continues to have the highest regard for Michael as a gentleman and cricketer par excellence and one of the finest cricket captains Sri Lanka ever had. Michael Tissera too was a versatile sportsman from S. Thomas’ College. He also played several sports, including rugby as a member of the first ever First XV of S. Thomas’ in 1955/56 before concentrating on cricket. He led the school by the sea in 1957 and 1958 as an outstanding all rounder and later turned out for NCC and CCC. Michael made his Ceylon debut as a schoolboy when Peter May’s Englishmen visited in 1958. Since then, he became a regular member in Ceylon sides and went on to captain in 1964.

A stylish right-hand batsman and a leg-spin bowler, he made headlines when he scored a century against the West Indies which had players like Hall and Sobers in 1961 and followed with centuries in India in 1965 and in Pakistan in 1966. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of Ceylon Cricket who helped Sri Lanka to gain Test status later on. He was a great leader who led from the front and groomed many young cricketers both at NCC and in the Ceylon teams.

Some of his notable wins against Pakistan in 1964 and India in 1965 are still talked about. They enabled Ceylon to be admitted as an Associate member of the ICC in 1965. Michael Tissera went onto captain Ceylon in a record 15 unofficial Tests. In 1969, he led Ceylon to its first win over the MCC in a 60-over match. He had the distinction of turning out for Sri Lanka at the 1975 Cricket World Cup playing just three matches. He would have been happy with that after fighting for decades to get ICC membership for his country.

After retiring from the game, Michael served as a Manager of the Sri Lanka team on several occasions with outstanding results. He was caring like a father of the players and a strict disciplinarian like the warden of his old school. His professionalism, discipline and brilliant man management skills both as a Manager and as Chief Selector later brought good results, stability and also recognition for Sri Lanka cricket and many individual players. These included players like Aravinda de Silva and Sanath Jayasuriya. As a tribute to Michael and Garfield Sobers, the Sri Lanka vs West Indies Trophy (in 2021) was named the Sobers-Tissera Trophy.

In the 1958 Battle of the Blues, Michael Tissera who was leading S.Thomas’ was out caught by wicket-keeper Sarath Samarasinghe off the bowling of Lorenz Pereira; and then in the same match when Royal was batting Lorenz was out caught by Thomian wicket-keeper Errol Lisk off Michael Tissera. Must be a Wisden record.

Every time these two meet up along with the rest of the gang, they wander into the 50’s and 60’s like kids in a candy shop with lots of stories of the ‘good old days’ together with many laughs. The stories range from the playing field to the dressing room.

Both, Lorenz and Michael are a class by themselves in our contemporary cricket history and I sincerely hope that the modern generation takes a cue from them. Their warm friendship, though being in rival camps, their camaraderie, their humility, and the standards they’ve maintained on and off field are lessons for generations to come. They are the epitome of a well-rounded sportsmen and role models for any youngster to follow. Stories of friendships like these and legends of this nature is what makes Cricket great.

Ken Balendra. a good friend of Lorenz, introducing Lorenz as the keynote speaker, at the 125th Year Celebration of the Royal College Union at a dinner held at Cinnamon Grand (Jan. 17. 2016) said:

The most impressive side of ‘Lollo’, is that he like his father is a gentleman to his finger-tips, down to earth, unassuming, with honesty, humility and integrity as his prime, firm, principles. In conclusion, let me say, well-done ‘Lollo’; keep the College flag flying high”.

May your friendship and legacy Michael and Lorenz last forever and continue to inspire the generations to come!