MUNCHEE GLUCOFIT SIXES 2009

Organized by Old Wesleyites

St Josephs’, Colombo clinched the 17^th invitational schools six-a-side cricket tournament which was successfully completed at Campbell Park on Sunday 18^th of October. St.Sebastians’ College, Moratuwa were the runners-up. It was a great tournament which saw combined schools district teams from Jaffna, Batticaloa, Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee take on the much fancied Colombo schools teams & 34 teams battled for 3 days showing off their talents & skills. The spectators witnessed some clean hitting by the youngsters, many clearing the boundaries with ease and landing on the side of All Saints’ school & the road. There was some top class bowling & breathtaking fielding as well.

The Jaffna district combined schools team did well to reach the quarter final stage before losing narrowly to Richmond College, Galle.

Every year the organizers strive to induce new thinking. This year “free hit” off an overstepped no ball was introduced, Cricinfo sent live updates via their website and 2 girls’ schools – Presbetarian College and Girls High School engaged in a friendly exhibition softball match during the lunch break on the final day.

The Munchee Glucofit Sixes drew many spectators this time. With the famous “papare” band doing their kaffringna tunes & the DJ’s spinning music during the overs’ break, the tournament was lively & entertaining.

A few enthusiastic old boys led by Dilshan Hossen organized an Art competition for the students of Wesley College on Saturday & Sunday at Campbell Park. The theme was “cricket action”. More than 300 students from different age groups participated. Winners & runners-up were awarded medals & Munchee gift packs.   

The Old Wesleyites used this opportunity to ceremoniously open the new turf pitches laid at Campbell Park with the help from Sri Lanka Cricket. The honour of cutting the ribbon to signal the opening was with Edmund Dissanayake who captained Wesley in 1946 – the oldest Wesley Cricket Captain living in Sri Lanka. Current Wesley Cricket captain – Dulanjana Wijesinghe batted 2 immaculately accurate balls sent down by LCR (Lalith) Wijesinghe. Legendary wicket keeper – Russell Hamer stood behind the stumps donning the keeping gloves. Here are names of the Past Wesley cricketers who were present – Hamer brothers, Russell, Mervyn & Granville, T.Kodituwakku, Milroy Muthuvaloe, Neil Galaha, Kenneth de Silva, MN Samsudeen, M.Mihlar, Lucky Goonetileke, K.Dayaparan, NR Gajendran and past cricketers of the younger generation. 

The organizers did their job admirably. Hats off to the Chairman of the Committee- Capt Navin de Silva, Deputy Chairman – Jeremy Brohier, Tournament Co-ordinator – Dharshana Liyanage and the rest of the team comprising – Ivor Maharoof, Farman Cassim, Richie Sappideen, Laksanda Gunewardena, Asif Johar, Maithree Vithanage, Teran Carrim, Kalavanathan, Fowzil Nawaz (secretary), R.Sivagnanam (treasurer), Shifaz Najeemudeen, Dilshan Hossen, K.Thirukumar, M.Issadeen,  Rohan Amerasinghe & Senaka Amaratunge,