Farewell Sene Ettipola

Sene B.Ettipola had the potential to be the country’s finest all-round sportsman of the second half of the 20th Century. That he did not keep his promises was because he was a victim of his own circumstances.

Trinity has always produced men of impeccable temper and tone but what it failed to equip her proteges with, was claw. Sene was not the only boy who came out of that admirable school set in a rural environment to get engulfed in the vortex of life in the fast lanes of the metropolis where the street savvy held sway.

The son of illustrious cricket Lion, R.B.Ettipola who had been the front-line bowler from 1922 to ‘25 under the captaincy of A.P.Maralande, V.C.’Pug’ Schokman and Harry Delwita when Trinity won all their matches except against STC and SJC in 1925, Sene, himself, was a bowler who would weave mesmerising spells. 1955 was when he reaped the golden harvest under Mahinda Ratwatte’s captaincy, by ensnaring 43 wickets in seven two day games.

In the curtailed game against Ananda he took on the role of the belter and scored a hurricane 52 runs even though he went wicketless. His harvest consisted of 12 for 50 against Zahira, 10 for 87 against Wesley, 5 for 57 Vs Royal, 4, 2 and 7 against STC, SJC and SACK.

Certainly he was Lion material who, had he been honoured would have done wonders in the open market long before Murali.

Sene’s slice of fame was not restricted to cricket. The Trinity College magazines of 1955 and ‘56 have him adorning every sports group photograph other than Boxing. Despite his all-round prowess in sports his was too mild an ethos to get him into the Boxing ring.

He under-played, in fact, all his achievements on and off the field and the burlesque, even grotesque behaviour of today’s sportsmen appaled him to the core and pith of his soul.

Sene spent the evening of his life in cloistered solitude in his ancestral Siyabalangoda walauwa in danture, a tiny hamlet in the outskirts of Pilimatalauwe. But, then, had not Mathew Arnold said “Dotting the shoreless watery wild, we mortal millions live alone.”

Farewell, sweet prince, you gave us joy and you have now joined the great majority even though yo shunned its vulgarity of sham.

Sharm de Alwis