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| Sunday, 25 May 2003 |
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Batting stalwart Makkin Salih dead By SA'ADI THAWFEEQ One of the finest opening batsmen produced by Sri Lanka (then All-Ceylon) Makkin Salih died yesterday following a sudden heart attack. His funeral took place on the same day. Aged in his early eighties, Salih's name was synonymous with Moors SC whom he served for many years after he finished his education at St. Joseph's College, Colombo. Salih followed in the footsteps of Robert Fernando, another Josephian stalwart whom he succeeded to the national team as opener. A batsman with a sound defence, Salih made his mark for the Ceylon Cricket Association (CCA) XI on their tour to South India in 1947. Batting first against a South Indian XI played at Chepauk, Salih with an innings of 98 putting on 109 for the second wicket with F.C. de Saram. CCA scored at a rapid rate reaching 119-1 by lunch, 263-3 by tea and 368-4 by close on the first day. The final total of 521-7 declared comprised an unforgettable double century (215) scored by Mahadevan Sathasivam which still remains one of the finest ever innings played at Chepauk. This match which was called the Gopalan memorial, later led to the annual series between All-Ceylon and Madras for the Gopalan trophy. It was in this series that Salih formed an opening partnership with Channa Gunasekara which was to serve Sri Lanka cricket for quite some time. They made a successful opening pair sharing partnerships of 88 and 98 in the first two Gopalan trophy matches against Madras (now Tamil Nadu) played in 1953 and 1954 respectively. "I always enjoyed batting with Makkin because he responded to my calls. This way it was easier batting with him. We complimented each other because he was a strong on- side player and I was equally strong on the off," said Channa Gunasekara. Prior to playing in the Gopalan series, Salih began his international debut with a century scoring an unbeaten 111 for CCA XI against Ranji trophy champions Holkar in 1948 when the Grand Old Man (GOM) of Indian cricket C.K. Nayudu brought the team over to Sri Lanka. He was afterwards picked to tour Pakistan with the All-Ceylon team captained by Sargo Jayawickreme in 1950. With Mahes Rodrigo as his opening partner, Salih provided good starts in the two unofficial Tests. Two years later Salih representing Moors SC figured in a record opening stand of 351 with Herbie Felsinger in a division I Sara trophy match against Notts & AC. It remained a Sri Lankan record till 1981-82 when Tamil Union pair Athula Samarasekera and Wayne Jansz bettered it by one run against Police SC. Salih's contribution in the partnership was a marathon unbeaten double century (237). Felsinger made 118 not out. Salih continued to etch his name in the record books when he helped Municipality SC run up the highest ever total achieved in Sri Lanka at that time. Opening the batting he scored 62 and shared an opening partnership of 148 with Sarath Silva to enable Municipality total 925 all out against Irrigation Department in the Government Services 'A' division match played over five days at Vihara Maha Devi Park in 1959. Salih's cricket career from school spanned for 20 years from 1940 and during that time he made 21 centuries of which 14 were for Moors SC. Salih has a twin brother Zacky who is still living and an elder brother Rauf, who passed away some time ago. He also has two sisters. He is the brother in law of former Sri Lanka off-spinner Abu Fuard. Later in life Salih became very religious, but suffered a loss of memory and he was unable to remember people whom he had met just the other day. |
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