The Great Memories of the 103rd Lovers' Quarrel
104th Lovers' Quarrel Scorecard
Mahinda College Cricket team Who's who
They played the first match in 1905, 102 years ago, when many of us were not born and quite a few of us were in an innocent cradle or enjoying the ‘sweet sensations’ of childhood
That evening there was not the hilarious foregathering of young and old folk, as there takes place now. Darrel of Richmond would have delved into an abstruse problem in mathematics; and Woodward of Mahinda, having carried a few basket-loads of bricks up the old school hill-as he was wont to – would have retried to some hoary volumes containing the timeless words of Buddha.
What a far cry these were from such a ‘mundane’ thing as cricket!
But, however strange it may seem, the vital pioneering step was thus taken, and the pace happened to be maintained for sixty long years, with ever-increasing enthusiasm and ceremony.
Into the scene now stepped to men (men, we repeat) similar in stature both physical an personal , an equal in wit an understanding, and the mere presence of whom in a gathering adorns it with an air of dignity and sobriety.
With them at the helm of affairs at the respective institutions for an almost equally long period of time, this encounter has grown to be a very healthy annual argument with bat and ball, where, though keen the fight and loud the cheers, composure reigns serene everywhere.
It appears to be the sprit of the Silva of Richmond and Wijesooriya of Mahinda blossoming forth every year in the third weekend of March.
On this day of days which Marks the sixtieth anniversary of the “Lovers Quarrel” (so they call it , of late) let us be privileged to salute the great pioneers and pilots, and the many other name less ones on and off the field for this splendid repast of sport that is annually being offered
To us in this dear old city.
May the match be played, and its spirit prevail and grow from year to year!
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