The Peterites had a blockbuster team in 1957, led by a astute skipper – Jayantha Fernando who also captained St. Peter's in rugby. David Muthumani and Nihal Wijesena were the regular openers while fiery Darrel de Silva came in at No.3. I still remember how Darrel lifted the opening attacks of many a school right over the scorebaord and into the Wellawatta Canal. Skipper Jayantha Fernando and Brian Seneviratne were Nos.4 & 5 followed by Russel Duckworth, burly Lakshman Serasinghe, Premasiri Athukorale, Christie Marthalingam (wicket-keeper), Anton Paul Pillai and Anton Perera. Anton was consdidered the fastest bowler in school cricket in the late 50s. The Peterites had a terrific opening attack with with the two Anton's – Perera and Paul Pillai. Lakshman Serasinghe too bowled medium pace and was quite effective with the new bal.

Joe-Pete Big Match in 1957 was a high-scoring game that ended in a tame draw. This was the year that Kirthie Caldera, Wicket-Keeper skipper of the Joes was unfortunate to get out at 99 runs thus been deprived of a well deserved century.

Scores: Match Drawn
SJC – 298 (K. Caldera, 99, Carlyle Perera, 77, and Emilton Fernando, 53.
SPC – 192 (P. Athukorale, 85 and 246 all out (Darrel de Silva, 59, Skipper Jayantha Fernando, 81, P. Athukorale, 52.
Bowling: Ranjit Malawana (SJC) bagged 8 wickets for 57 runs in the 1st innings of the Peterites. Priya Perera took 4 for 73 in the Peterite 2nd innings. For the Peterites, fresher Anton Perera 3 for 69 and Russel Duckworth 3 for 41 were the pick of the bowlers.

1957 was the year that saw the baptism of two great Peterite cricketers. One was young Anton Perera who turned out to be one of the fastest schoolboy bowlers at the time. Anton and his wife Marlene (SPC Primary teacher) immigrated to Los Angeles in 1961 and Anton passed away due to complicated medical issues a few years back. Anton is a cousin of Peterite skipper Travice Fernando and his brothers Lyn, Imbre and Mervyn. The second star was Premasiri Athukorale another phenomenon at the time. A naturally talented batsman, Athu had a terrific run at the big match in 1957 (85 & 52), 1958 (89).

Update of the 1957 team: Anton Paul Pillai lives in Pennsylvania in the U.S., Lakshman Serasinghe, Randy Layman, Mitchell Rabot are domiciled in Australia. Christie Marthalingam lives in Calgary, Alberta in Canada. Russel Duckworth lives in U.K. 
Jayantha Fernando, Darrel de Silva, Nihal Wijesena, Brian Seneviratne, Premasiri Athukorale, are no longer with us and their demise is recorded in Sri Lanka. David Muthumani and Roy Dissanayake passed away in Toronto, Canada. Anton Perera passed away in San Fernando Valley, California.

St. Peter’s College 1st XI Cricket 1957. Jayantha Fernando (Captain), Lakshman Serasinghe (Vice Captain), Darrel De Silva, David Muthumani, Nihal Wijesena, Anton Paul Pillai, Brian Seneviratne, Premasiri Athukorale, Christie Marthalingam, Russell Duckworth, Nihal Ranasinghe, Mitchell Rabot, Roy Dissanayake, S. Davoodbhoy, Randy Layman, N. Lutersz and Anton Perera.