Lucien de Zoysa

Lucien Edward de Zoysa (1917 – 1995) was a Ceylonese cricketer who played first-class cricket between 1947 and 1954. He became a stage actor, playwright, author, and cricket commentator on radio.

Lucien de Zoysa
Personal information
Full nameLucien Edward de Zoysa
Born1917
Ceylon
Died11 June 1995 (aged 78)
Sri Lanka
BowlingRight-arm leg-spin
RelationsSir Francis de Zoysa (father)
Richard de Zoysa (son)
Michael de Zoysa (son)
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 12
Runs scored 55
Batting average 4.58
100s/50s 0/0
Top score 17
Balls bowled 2237
Wickets 38
Bowling average 25.81
5 wickets in innings 2
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 6/65
Catches/stumpings 2/–
Source: CricketArchive, 25 February 2018

Early life and education

Lucien de Zoysa was one of seven sons of Sir Francis de Zoysa, a Ceylonese lawyer and statesman. He attended both of Ceylon's two pre-eminent schools: first S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, and then Royal College, Colombo.[1] 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.[2]

Cricket career

A leg-spin bowler, de Zoysa played club cricket in Colombo with Sinhalese Sports Club. He was the leading wicket-taker when the club made a short tour of three non-first-class matches in India in 1945-46.[3]

He played his first match for Ceylon in 1946-47, taking six wickets when the Ceylon Cricket Association team defeated a Southern India team in Madras by an innings.[4] 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.[5] In the match against Pakistan in Karachi 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.[3][6] A few days earlier, against the Commander-in-Chief's XI at Rawalpindi, he had taken his best first-class figures of 6 for 65 in the first innings.[7]

In 1950-51 he was one of two Ceylonese cricketers (the other was Stanley Jayasinghe) invited to play for a combined Indian, Pakistani and Ceylonese side against the touring Commonwealth XI in Bombay.[8][9]

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.[10] 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.[3]

Personal life

He and his wife, Dr Manorani Saravanamuttu, had two sons. One, Richard, a journalist and human rights activist, was murdered in 1990. The other son, Michael, was a Sri Lankan cricket administrator who managed some Sri Lankan touring teams; he died in 2019.

Books by Lucien de Zoysa
  • Fortress in the Sky (play, 1956)
  • Princess of the Lonely Days (play, 1957)
  • 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)
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References
  1. Wijesinghe, Mahinda (4 February 2001). "Lucien De Zoysa, cricketer, actor, writer and raconteur". The Island. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  2. Weeraratna, Senaka (1 December 1998). "Royal College Cricket XI tour of Australia in 1936". The Yorker. Archived from the original on 7 August 2001. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  3. Epasinha, Premasara (15 June 2011). "Lucien De Zoysa: Gentlemanly cricketer". The Island. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  4. "Southern India v Ceylon Cricket Association 1946-47". CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  5. "First-class bowling for Ceylon". CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  6. "Pakistan v Ceylon, Karachi 1949-50". CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  7. "Commander-in-Chief's XI v Ceylon 1949-50". CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  8. S. S. Perera, The Janashakthi Book of Sri Lanka Cricket (1832–1996), Janashakthi Insurance, Colombo, 1999, p. 243.
  9. "Prime Minister's XI v Commonwealth XI 1950-51". Cricinfo. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  10. Eugene Benson and L. W. Conolly, eds., Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English, Routledge, London, 2004, p. 410.
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