We are indebted to the Pre-Seventies group (Keith Bennett & Stanley Lumanauf) for informing us the sad news of the passing of MAURICE DECKKER, Peterite cricketer of the sixties. He passed away this morning (November 2, 2013). Maurice Deckker had his baptism to 1st XI cricket when he was picked to open bowling in 1960, with Anton Perera – one of the fastest bowlers produced by St. Peter's College in 79 years of school cricket. Maurice played four years until 1963 and made an indelible mark at the time as a splendid fast bowler for his 'on the spot' fast pace deliveries. He also bowled his inswingers very effectively and was vice-captain to Tyrone Le Mercier in 1963.

OBITUARY – MAURICE DECKKER

DECKKER: Maurice (Old Boy St.Peters College) Beloved husband of Arlene, loving father of Tamara, Deborah (Australia), Jessica, Derrick and Michael, father-in-law of Darren (Australia), Lloyed, Verina and Theja, beloved grandfather of Nathan, Justin, Ashley, Janine, Leon, Liza, Christina, Stewart, Maxwell and Kateleyn. Beloved brother of Yvonne, Jermeyn (Australia) and Rienzie. His mortal remains at 18/9, Greenland Avenue, off Kadawatha Road, Nedimala, Dehiwala. Cortege leaves residence on Wednesday 6th November 2013 at 4.00pm for burial at Anderson Road General Cemetry, Nedimala, Dehiwala. 241370 –

On leaving school, Maurice played for Nomads as an employee of the Colombo Municipality where he worked as a Playground Instructor. But it is interesting to capture his performances in the "Big Match" encounters playing alongside players like Anton Perera (Los Angeles), Tyrone Le Mercier (Melbourne), Premasiri Athukorale, Adiel Anghie USA), David (U.K.) & Richard (USA) Heyn, Tissa Jayaweera (Melbourne), Travis Fernando, Darrell Wimalaratne, Peter de Neise (Melbourne), and others. Sadly, Premasiri Athukorale and Darrell Wimalaratne are no more while the others mentioned here live overseas. Only Travis Fernando and Maurice Deckker lived in Colombo, Sri Lanka presently,

Let us also look at Maurice Decker's performance in the Joe-Pete encounters from 1960-1963.

•1960 – SJC – 227 for 9 wickets and 161 for 3 wickets declared – SPC – 249 for 7 wickets declared and 30 for 2 wickets. Match Drawn. Maurice Decker had a match bag of 5 for 72 in the two innings taking 3 for 32 in the 1st innings bowling out star batsman Raja de Silva, and Lakshman Fernando and taking the wicket of N. Samaranayake. In the 2nd innings, Maurice took the wicket of Raja de Silva again and clean bowled skipper Priya Perera for 26. The match was drawn. The Peterites had a strong team in 1960 with Premasiri Athukorale captaining the side. Mark de Silva and Randy Layman opened the innings and Richard Alles went it at No.3 followed by skipper Athukorale, Adiel Andhie, Richard Heyn, Maurice Deckker, Anton Perera, Didacus de Almeida, Elmo Gunasekara and Tyrone Le Mercier. The Josephians had a strong top order batting line-up of Hilary Marcelline, Penrose Fernandopulle, Skipper Priya Perera, Raja de Silva, Tissa de Zoysa, Travis Perera, and Lakshman Fernando. The Josephian bowling was spear headed by pace bowler Brian Perumal and Lakshman Rasanayagam with Tissa de Zoysa, Priya Perera, Raja de Silva and Victor Wickramasinghe throwin in the spinners.

•1961 – SPC – 230 for 9 declared (Adiel Anghie – 101) – SJC – 109 All Out and 140 for 8 wickets. Match Drawn. Maurice Deckker scored 17 runs adding to the Peterite total and bagged only wicket in both innings. Peterites had five freshers in the side in 1961 with David Heyn, Tissa Jayaweera, Travis Fernando, Sam Rajah and Rohan Abyesundera joining the team. Adiel Anghie captained the side and scored a brilliant century that was the highlight of this close game. The Josephians were captained by all-rounder Raja de Silva. The Peterite batting line-up had Richard Alles and Sam Rajah opening with skipper Adiel Anghie going in at No.3 followed by the Heyn brothers Richard and David. Tissa Jayaweera went in at No.6 followed by Tyrone Le Mercier, Maurice Deckker, Didacus de Almeida,, Travis Fernando and burly Rohan Abeysundera.

•1962 – SPC – 55 All Out and 168 for 9 wkts declared. SJC – 82 and 139 for 9 wickets. Match Drawn. Maurice Deckker scored 5 and 3 in this low-scoring game. He captured 3 wickets for 11 in the 1st innings and did not take any wickets in the 2nd innings. The Peterites were led by Richard Heyn and had four freshers in a new opening combination of Adithiya de Silva and Ravindra Fernando, F. Bowen, and Clifford Bartlett. This game was a close low-scoring game with the Josephians having only 2-runs for victory with 1-wicket in hand. The Peterite batting line-up saw Adithiya de Silva and Ravindra Fernando opening the innings, Tissa Jayaweera going in at No.3 followed by Richard & David Heyn, Tyrone Le Mercier, Maurice Deckker, F. Bowen, Clifford Bartlett, Rohan Abeysundera and Travis Fernando. The Josephians were led by opening batsman Hilary Marcelline and had many newcomers in the side.

•1963 – SPC – 161 All Out and 152 for 4 wkys declared. SJC – 106 and 118 for 7 wickets. Match Drawn. This year was Maurice Decker's best year in the four Big Match encounters he played. Batting No.8 he scored 10 in the 1st innings and had a whirlwind unbeaten 46 runs in the 2nd innings and was associated in a hard-hitting partnership with David Heyn who was unbeaten with 64 runs. This partnership gave the Peterites enough runs to bid for victory and also made it if not for a stubborn unbeaten knock of 35 runs by Victor Wickramasinghe who saved the day for the Joes. 1963 was Tyrone Le Mercier's year to captain and the team openers were freshmen F. Asgerally and Darrell Wimalaratne. Ravindra Fernando came in No.3 followed by David Heyn, skipper Tyrone Le Mercier, Adithiya de Silva, Desmond Le Mercier, Maurice Deckker, F. Bowen, Peter de Neise, and Travis Fernando. The Joes were captained y Brian Perumal and Berchman and Joy de Alwis, Placidus Liyanage, Brian Pereira in the side. The Josephian-Peterite Alumni Association of Canada extend our deepest sympathy to the family of Maurice Deckker. May His Soul Rest in Peace!