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| Sunday, 20 March 2005 |
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Go for longer duration game and limit one-day cricket - Schaffter's advice by A. C. de Silva
75 Not out on April 3. This is the proud life-span of Insurance Chief of Janashakthi Insurance Company and former star cricketer and administrator Chandra Schaffter. To live upto the ripe old age of 75 years and still actively interested in cricket is an achievement these days, and "Shaffie" as he is affectionately known to many of his old school friends and others, has stood the test of time well as his bodyframe would clearly show. A student of S. Thomas' and pop comes the question: "Did he play cricket. Being a student of S. Thomas' from 1935 to 1950 (except for 2 years during the World War), brought out the best in Shaffter in cricket, hockey, football and "fives" but it was cricket that he came off with flying colours on the sports field just the way he did on the academic sphere. Cricket has been the 'first love' of many Thomians and "Shaffie" fits in without any difficulty. He played cricket for S. Thomas' from 1947 to 1960, captaining the team in 1950 and opening the attack, partnering him on the other side were Dharmadasa, D. S. Jayawardena and Weinman in those early days. Q: 'Do you see a difference in the game played in the fifties and the game being played now? A: The game is far more competitive now, but I don't think there is a great difference between the quality of players. We had very high quality players even 50 years ago. In the Thomian team there was Roger Inman and Jayalingam - two outstanding players and Royal had C. H. Gunasekera, Gamini Goonesena started playing with me in 1947. He had a very good spell. St. Peter's had quality player in H. I. K. Fernando. This is just a handful of cricketers that come to mind in a flash. Q: Cricket in the early days was confined to Royal, S. Thomas', St. Joseph's, St. Peter's, Ananda and Nalanda. Now, there are many schools who have taken to the game. Your opinion on this? A: I think it is a very good sign. This trend of cricket spreading to the provinces and the great enthusiasm which has been generated, particularly after Sri Lanka's World Cup win, the standard of cricket in the country has gone up and it will be seen that very few Royalists and Thomians, Josephians and Peterites are in the Sri Lanka team, though their standards have not gone down. It means that the standards of others have gone up. That's a very good thing for Sri Lanka cricket. Q: Those days it has been Test cricket and 4-day cricket. These days it appears that the limited overs game has taken a march over the longer duration of the game. What is your view on this new trend? A: There is the good and the bad side. The good side is that it helps to keep the game going where funds are concerned. It attracts more people to watch and television rights from one-day games are higher, so, it helps to keep the game afloat. The down side is that it takes away the charm and also the necessity to play correct cricket and what people forget is that those who are playing one-day games have been nurtured on traditional technically correct Test cricket and County cricket. If we have too much of one-day cricket, and too little of Test cricket, we may have to sacrifice quality for attraction. Q: What would you advise the schoolboys to do, because they too are getting used to one-day cricket rather than two-day cricket? A: I personally think that for schoolboys one-day cricket is bad. I don't think it should be encouraged at school level. I think schoolboys should be nutured on two-day cricket and they should only think of one-day cricket at club level. Q: Still on the one-day issue, will one-day cricket spoil the basic techniques of an up-and-coming cricketer? A: That's what I have told you. At the beginning, it will definitely spoil the technique. This is what many people will not understand. The technique that one learns from playing 2-day or 3-day cricket and Test cricket is not present in one-day cricket. One does not learn technique by playing one-day cricket, and in other words if you get a boy only playing one-day cricket, he will never be able to play in the conventional game. One-day cricket feeds on conventional cricket - is not the other way round - that is my view. Q: Playing matches on turf wickets and matting wickets - what's your views? A: Well, you can always wait without using the coir matting which we use traditionally. You can get the artificial wickets which you can import - they can be rolled up and taken away like the matting. There are many club in England that use artificial wickets these days and they cut costs in the preparation of wickets. I think it is an ideal substitute for matting and I think, that's the best way to practise cricket. Q: Some schools don't have turf wickets. Is it a disadvantage to shift from matting to turf wickets for matches? A: Certainty it is a disadvantage because the matting wicket is fast, bouncy and it takes much more turn, so, many may say it is an advantage that you practise on a matting wicket and play on turf - but, all in all, schools should go in for artificial turf. It gives you a regular bounce and turn and that is the best way to improve your cricket. Q: In Sri Lanka, how will the outstation schools and clubs manage? A: The answer is to live within one's means. If the Sports Ministry can make a contribution by importing artificial turfs at a subsidised rate and make them available to the clubs and schools that need them, the game of cricket will spread for more than what has been done in the past. Q: School inter-school cricket be confined to 2 days or should it be spread over 3 days? A: I would say that 3 days is far preferable, but, impracticable. When going to school, the first thing is to learn and cricket comes only second. I think one will ruin his studies if one starts playing three-day cricket regularly. Q: Around what age should a boy take cricket seriously? A: I think that today, unless you think about cricket at school, you are going to be left behind in the race. Then I think anybody who wants to be what is called a professional cricketer, must start thinking at the age of 16 or 17, otherwise it's going to be too late unless he is a genius. He will find it very difficult. Q: Any advice to school cricketers? A: Well giving advice is not an easy thing. The basic requirements for advancement is practice, practice and more practice, unless one is willing to practise hard, you are not going to reach the top. It is very difficult to reach the top, unless one is really talented. Q: You have played cricket, football, hockey and 'fives'. Which game has given you the greatest pleasure. A: It certainly is cricket. The game of cricket teaches one a lot of things which no other game teaches an individual. One of these is team spirit that will take one right to the top. It teaches one to take victory and defeat in the right spirit like a batsman scoring a hundred and then a 'duck' in the very same match in another innings. Then a bowler taking 8 wickets in one innings and no wickets in another innings in the same match. The game teaches many lessons which stands you in good stead in life if you are willing to learn from the game. The game also teaches you decency - the level of decency which no other game can teach and most important of all, it teaches you to be a gentleman. Cricket had spread throughout the length and breadth of the country, especially among schools. Now, I don't know whether the schoolboys are getting enough backing by the Schools Association and the Board of Control. Cricket is an expensive game and the schools deserve to be subsidised. I think it will be difficult for many schools to be able to maintain their cricket at the level they need to maintain to produce good cricket. I think the financial problem will be a very serious one. Q: After playing for S. Thomas', what did you do on the sports scene. A: After my stint at S. Thomas', I went to the University - I was there for only one year and I got colours in hockey and cricket and then started a career in the Mercantile sector. He started off with Ceylon Insurance, then established Janashakthi Life Insurance Company in 1994 and is now the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. While still at school, he played for Tamil Union cricket from 1949 till 1967 and was also the first Sri Lankan President of the Mercantile Cricket Association. Schaffter played for Ceylon - as the country was then known, and was in the 1954 team that played against Len Hutton's team. The Ceylon team was captained by F. C. de Saram and it included Vernon Prins, C. H. Gunasekera and Stanley Jayasinghe - an outstanding cricketer. There was also A. C. M. Lafir. Schaffter opened the attack in that game and according to his memory, it was Sathi Coomaraswamy who partnered him. After his playing days were over, 'Schaffie' still continued his interest in the game and was picked as manager of Sri Lankan teams on four different occasions. In 1982, he was in charge of the team captained by Bandula Warnapura that toured India, in 1991, he managed the Sri Lanka team captained by Aravinda de Silva that toured England, then in 1999 he was in charge of the team captained by Sanath Jayasuriya that toured Australia for Tests, one-day matches and also to Dubai, then in 2002, was the manager again of the team captained by Jayasuriya that went on a 3-month tour of England. He was a National cricket selector for many years and was also Treasurer of the Asian Cricket Council in 1986 and 1987 when Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup and was also President of the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club for about 3 or 4 years. Q: Now Janashakthi is involved in sponsorship ventures. What made your company come into the sports scene. A: Well, one of the main reasons of course is to encourage young cricketers to further their interest in the game. We started with cricket is due largely with my affiliation with the game and my interest in it. But also sponsorship has a commercial value in it. So, it is a two-fold thing. We have come several times to the aid of the Cricket Board when they haven't been able to get sponsors and we have not always looked at the commercial advantage. Q: Being the manager of a Sri Lankan team is no easy task, what with the liberties extended to the players. What were your experiences on tour. A: I had absolutely no problems whatsoever with all the teams. My
problems were outside the teams I would say that the Sri Lankan teams, by
and large, were extremely disciplined and very co-operative and were well
behaved at all times. |
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