Memories of Cricket at SMI

By :

P. Vellupillai

(Michaelian 1970s who represented Malaysia and also served at SMI as Senior Assistant (Student Affairs) (2000-2010)

The writer retired from the Education Service as  the Principal of SMK Sg Pari,Ipoh.)

Cricket has been played at St. Michael’s Institution for many years. The earliest players included Amaladoss, his son Arul Doss all of whom played for the school in 1940s and 50s. The old cricket ground was set at the field behind the school. Later on part of the school field was taken up to build the sixth form blocks which were completed in 1968. If one were to look from the top of the sixth form blocks, one can see the outline of the original cricket pitch.

Former competitions between schools in Perak started with the introduction with the Dragoons’ Trophy which was instituted by the Royal Hussars in 1959. This regiment was based in Ipoh during the emergency and they felt that cricket should be played between schools in a proper tournament style.

Mr Jeyaram Nair

St. Michael’s Institution participated in this tournament from its inception. Among the players who represented the schools in 1960s were Ralph Marshal, Francis Xavier and Andrew Phua.

Finally in 1971, the St. Michael’s team won the Dragoons’ Cup  by defeating Malay College by four runs in the finals at Ipoh Padang. A last wicket partnership between T. Rajaskanda who top scored with 25 runs and P. Vellupillai ( later senior assistant at St. Michael’s) helped the team to win the match. The scores were as follows :

Malay College - 53 runs,

St. Michaels   -  57 runs

In 1972, St. Michael’s again repeated its feat by defeating Malay College in the finals by two runs at the Kilat Club ground. T. Rajaskanda who captained the team scored thirty eight runs and bowled half the teams of eighty overs i.e. forty overs. His bowling feat of forty overs, twenty maidens for fifty runs with five wickets has never been equalled  by any other players in the history of St. Michael’s cricket.

The scores were as follows :

St. Michael’s   - 109 runs

Malay College - 107 runs

The players who represented St. Michael’ at  cricket in the 1970s when St. Michael’s golden era began were Terance Bernard, Kenneth Acton, Sunny Chan, T. Balaskanda, T.Rajaskanda, T. Sriskanda, P. Vellupillai, Baharuddin Abd. Hamid, V. Vijayalingam, Daniel D Silva, Nasarudin , Wong Weng Chiong, K L Raman, K L Rajendran, Andrew Ravindran, Khong Leng Cheng.

In 1973, the Perak Cricket Association started the Junior League . The tournament was held as a round robin tournament and St. Michael’s beat  all the  other teams to be the first champion of the league.

Perhaps, the most famous player of this era was V.Vijayalingam who went on to  played for Malaysia and also captained the Perak state team in the Malaysian Cricket Association league where he led the Perak state team to become champions in the early 1990s. V.Vijayalingam who started of as a medium pace bowler transformed himself into an  opening bat in his later years when he batted throughout the innings in the MCA finals to lead the Perak state team to victory.

Mr Koo Kim Kuang

In the later part of 1970s, Mr Koo Kim Kuang who had played for Malaysia and the Perak state team as a wicket keeper cum opening batsman became the school coach when he was transferred to St. Michael’s. During this era, St. Michael’s produced many great players including Iqbal Ali, Arulrudin Raj, Akbarudin Raj, Edwin Victor, Ridzuan Mohammad  and  Anthony Christer.

St.Michael’s cricket team won the under 15 inter school cricket tournament in 1979. The same team carried on to win the Dragoon Cups in 1980,1981 and 1983. During this period, under the coaching of Mr. Koo Kim Kuang many of the players represented the state in the various tournaments including representing the senior state team. Iqbal Ali, Arulrudin Raj, Akbarudin Raj, Edwin Victor, Ridzuan Mohammad , Anthony Christer went on to represent the senior state team in the later part of the 1980s and 1990s and under the leadership of  V Vijayalingam they went on to win the MCA League in the 1990s.

In the later part of 1980s, St. Michael produced players like Conrad Yang, (nephew of Adrian Tsen) who represented the school and the state. Jerome Concisam and  Sivam were the other players of note.

Following the retirement of Mr. Koo Kin Kuang as a teacher and later as a cricket coach, the standard of cricket has gone down. The 21st century has  not yet shown any hopes  for cricket at St. Michaels. It is the hope of all cricket players (past and present) from St. Michael’s that cricket in St. Michaels will once again rise  to its former glory.