Reid brothers pleased with improvement of Sri Lanka cricketby A. C. DE SILVA The name of Reid to the Thomians is a household one as the Reids' have played their hearts out for the Thomians in the 125 years that the Royal-Thomian cricket match has been played. Five brothers - Claude, Ronald, Dr. Buddy, Bryan (Barney) and 'Tiny' have donned the Thomian blazer over the years and when anyone talks of S. Thomas' cricket, the Reids would figure prominently. The Reid brothers are known cricketers, but two of them - Dr. Buddy and Barney have also excelled in Table Tennis, not only in Sri Lanka but overseas as well. The Reids are also humane to a great extent and on this trip to witness the historic 125th Royal-Thomian, they kept a date with one of their old friends who is unfortunately held indoors with an illness that has stopped him from watching cricket matches. Abu Fuard - a former star cricketer in the Sri Lanka team is fast losing his sight and has to be wheeled even to answer a telephone call. Claude Reid is the eldest of the Reid clan and he was the wicketkeeper of S. Thomas' in 1955. He was a recognised batsman too and with Dan Piachaud averted the follow-on for S. Thomas' in the 'Big Match'. Then on the second day with contributions by Dennis Ferdinands and Asoka Perera, S. Thomas' were able to force a draw. He then played for BRC from 1956 to 1967 and then went over to Australia. Before going to Australia in 1960 he played under late Vernon Prins and he also played for Sri Lanka under C. I. Gunasekera and Michael Tissera. He scored a century for Sri Lanka Board XI against Indian State Bank team that included Milkha Singh. He also captained the Mercantile team in the quadrangular tournament in the team that included P. I. Pieris and Stanley Jayasinghe. Having had his early lessons at S. Thomas' under late Lassie Abeywardena and Orville Abeynaike, Claude came under late Shelton Gauder in the first eleven and that where he had to concentrate in wicketkeeping and go lower down the order in batting. He has been associated with cricket for 52 years and headed the batting averages in the 1967-68 Australian League season. Speaking of cricket in general in Sri Lanka, Claude said that it is much easier these days as the Royal-Thomian is a three-day affair quite in contrast to the two-day affair those days. There was a sense of urgency then as declarations had to be made to make it interesting. Claude Reid was of the opinion that Sri Lanka should have got international status in 1967 or so. Though late, we have done well in fits and starts on the International scene. Then Dr. Buddy Reid started his cricket in the under 12 age group at S. Thomas' and cricket continued till he left Sri Lanka. He retired from cricket in 1971 and left Sri Lanka in 1973. Because of his studies in Australia, he didn't play cricket for sometime, but in 1984, he played suburban cricket which is a step lower than district cricket. This was solely for the purpose of getting some sort of exercise. He played for Sri Lanka from 1964 to 1971. He captained one match and played under C. I. Gunasekera (1963 vs Australia) and again in 1964 under Michael Tissera against Pakistan. He has two memorable fifties against England. With Ranjit Fernando made a record partnership of 121 in 1968 against England that included David Brown, Derek Underwood and Pat Pocock. Both scored half centuries. Then in the unofficial Test also against England, the pair had a record partnership. The record there was 119 in the second innings in the three-day match. The first one was 50-over match. That second record stood for 15 years. Dr. Buddy captained the University for one year, was vice-captain in 1962-1963 where the University won by .02 against Colts (that'd just 4 runs). Then in 1964, University were runners-up to Bloomfield and though they didn't lose any matches. They lost on bonus points. Speaking of cricket here, Buddy Reid said that technique-wise, it is the same. 'I think overall, the fielding is better, but speaking of the Royal-Thomian, it is played at a much slower pace as it is a three-day game. It may be a good thing as it can be a move to nurture players for the future for Test cricket. The attraction had, I think lost a little, but it may be towards the development of better standards. The bowling was steady and the spinners didn't bowl many loose balls but flighted the ball a little more than usual. In general, the cricket is on a higher level than when he played, Dr. Buddy Reid said. The fielding is somewhat brilliant now compared to what it was those days. The Sri Lankans should study every opposing player because it takes only a tiny detail between victory and defeat. The fourth of the clan is Bryan Reid (Barney) who played for S. Thomas' from 1963 to 1965. He had the outstanding figures of 8 wickets for 2 runs against St. Sebastian's in 1962 at Mount Lavinia. After leaving school, he played for the Board against Hyderabad Blues XI that included players like M. L. Jaisimha, Abbas Ali Baig, Eknath Solkar. Barney Reid left Sri Lanka at the age of 21 years in 1968. He played Premier Grade cricket as player, captain and then as coach for around 15 years. He is also an umpire in Premier cricket first eleven in Melbourne. Barney Reid felt that cricket in the country is going on smoothly. Going back to 1982 when he saw Aravinda de Silva perform in Australia in Premier cricket where Aravinda got around 15 runs. However, there was talent in the boy and I picked him as a player of the future and he has fulfilled my expectations," said Barney Reid. He feels that the fielding standards in Sri Lanka has improved, but was wondering whether the bowling has improved. This comment he made at the end of the first day's play in the 125th Royal-Thomian cricket match at the SSC grounds. The Thomians had a great opportunity on the first day as the wicket helped movement, but the Thomians tended to bowl a little too far outside the off-stump in the early overs. They also should have attacked a little more once the wicket died down. He advised the young cricketers: Basically cricket is a disciplined game, ones got to discipline oneself as a batsman or a bowler. Play within your limitations. Especially, the youngsters should play the longer game, it is the only way that one can develop one's batting," he said. At junior level, its participating and giving a chance to all, otherwise a team will have good players and they will dominate with bat and ball and everyone else will have to just stand around fielding and not doing much. Besides being a cricketer, he was also a known table tennis player of class. With Feoze Nilam, he was the Indian TT doubles champion. The pair were runners-up in the Junior Nationals in Bombay. Two other brothers Ronald Reid No. 2 among the clan made the historic score of 158 not out in 1956 to hold the Royal-Thomian record until it was broken in 1972 by Duleep Mendis - 184. There was also "Tiny" Reid, the youngest of the clan who played for S. Thomas'. | 
