Lucien Edward de Zoysa (1917 – 1995) was a
Ceylonese
Sri Lankan or Ceylonese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Sri Lanka
* A person from Sri Lanka, see Demographics of Sri Lanka
** Sinhalese people, the ethnic majority
** Sri Lankan Tamils, an ethnic minority
** Sri L ...
cricketer
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
who played
first-class cricket
First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...
between 1947 and 1954. He became a stage actor, playwright, author, and cricket commentator on radio.
Early life and education
Lucien de Zoysa was one of the 12 children of Sir
Francis de Zoysa
Sir Francis Sreenath de Zoysa Abeysiriwardena, KC (1874–1942) was a Ceylonese lawyer and statesmen. He was a member of the State Council of Ceylon and a president of the Ceylon National Congress.
Legal career
He was born in the coastal villag ...
, a Ceylonese lawyer and statesman.
He attended both of Ceylon's two pre-eminent schools: first
S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia
, motto_translation = Be Thou Forever
, song = Thomian Song
, athletics = Yes
, sports = Yes
, nickname = Thora
, denomination = Anglican
, patron ...
, and then
Royal College, Colombo
Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...
. In March and April 1936 he took part in the first visit to Australia by any cricket team from Asia when he toured with the Royal College team.
Cricket career
A leg-spin bowler, de Zoysa played club cricket in
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
with
Sinhalese Sports Club
The Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. Singhalese is the most successful club in Sri Lankan domestic cricket, having won the Premier Trophy a record 32 times to 2017. Although the name is correctly spelt wi ...
. He was the leading wicket-taker when the club made a short tour of three non-first-class matches in India in 1945–46.
He played his first match for
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
in 1946–47, taking six wickets when the Ceylon Cricket Association team defeated a Southern India team in
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
by an innings. In 1949-50 he was easily the most successful bowler when
Ceylon toured Pakistan. Ceylon lost three and drew two of the five matches, but de Zoysa took wickets consistently and finished with 21 wickets at an average of 16.23. In the match against
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
he took 6 for 72 in the first innings, becoming the first Ceylonese player to take six wickets in an innings in an international match.
A few days earlier, against the Commander-in-Chief's XI at
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...
, he had taken his best first-class figures of 6 for 65 in the first innings.
In 1950-51 he was one of two Ceylonese cricketers (the other was
Stanley Jayasinghe
Stanley Jayasinghe (born January 19, 1931 in Badulla) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played for Ceylon prior to the country being renamed Sri Lanka, and prior to them receiving either Test of ODI status. He was a right-handed batsman and pa ...
) invited to play for a combined Indian, Pakistani and Ceylonese side against the touring
Commonwealth XI in
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
.
Later career
De Zoysa's main career was in the theatre. He was an actor and director, and wrote several English-language plays and stories based on the history and legends of Ceylon. He also became a cricket commentator on radio, providing English-language descriptions for many years in partnership with his former Ceylon and Sinhalese Sports Club teammate
Bertie Wijesinha.
Personal life
De Zoysa had two sons. He married his first wife, Jean Rock, a prominent tennis player in Ceylon, in 1940,
and they had
Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
, a Sri Lankan cricket administrator who managed some Sri Lankan touring teams. Michael died in 2019.
Lucien de Zoysa and Jean were divorced.
[ With his second wife, Dr Manorani Saravanamuttu (daughter of ]Manicasothy Saravanamuttu
Manicasothy Saravanamuttu (died 1970) was a Sri Lankan journalist and diplomat in Malaya. He was the editor of '' The Straits Echo'', Penang (1931–1941), and was credited with 'saving' Penang during Japanese invasion in 1941.
Early life
He was b ...
), a medical doctor and actress who played opposite him in some of his theatrical productions, de Zoysa had Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...
, a journalist and human rights activist, who was murdered in 1990.
Lucien de Zoysa died suddenly at his home in the northern Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
seaside suburb of Hendala, in June 1995, aged 78. He was survived by his third wife, Evelyn.[
]
Books by Lucien de Zoysa
*''Indian Culture in the Days of the Buddha'' (history, 1955)
*''Fortress in the Sky'' (play, 1956)
*''Princess of the Lonely Days'' (play, 1957)
*''Fire and Storm Wind'' (play, 1958)
*''Put Out the Light'' (play, 1964)
*''Self-Portrait of a King'' (novel, 1971)
*''Stories from the Culavamsa and other historical tales'' (stories, 1988)
*''Stories from the Mahavamsa'' (stories, 1988)
*''First Love'' (cricket memoir, 1992)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zoysa, Lucien
1917 births
1995 deaths
Alumni of Royal College, Colombo
Sri Lankan cricketers
All-Ceylon cricketers
Sinhalese Sports Club cricketers
Sri Lankan cricket commentators
Sri Lankan dramatists and playwrights
Sri Lankan male stage actors
Sri Lankan novelists
Writers about India
Buddhist writers