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| Sunday, 9 October 2005 |
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Mahes Rodrigo, FC and CI scored centuries
by A. C. de Silva Ceylon as the country was then known in 1949, suffered an innings defeat at the hands of the touring West Indies in the first "Test" in Colombo in February 1949. The West Indian batsmen struck fine form on the opening day, hammering 462 for two wickets with Walcott, Weeks and Rae scoring centuries. The opener Carew too would have got a hundred if he had not been run out with his individual score at 77 and the team score at 200.
Ceylon's fielding was pathetic with a number of catches being grassed. The West Indies fast bowlers Jones and Trim then shot out Ceylon for a mere 122. The top scorer was Bertie Wijesinha with 28. Jones bagged 4 for 39 and Trim 3 for 27. Following on, Ceylon put up an improved performance, but there was never any hope of saving the game. Mahes Rorigo batted gallantly for Ceylon. He made 135 not out and shared a 116-run stand for the fifth wicket with C. Ivers Gunasekera who made 72. West Indian paceman Jones was at it again taking 6 for 23 and thereby having eye-catching match figures of 10 for 62. West Indies 462 for 2 wkts dec (A. Red 116, R. Carew 77, E. Weeks 133, C. Walcott 125) Ceylon 122(R. B. Wijesinha 28. Jones 4 for 39, Trim 4 for 27) and 318 (Mahes Rodrigo 135 not out, S. Coomaraswamy 72, Jones 6 for 23). 2nd 'Test ' vs West Indies Ceylon did well to hold the touring West Indies to a draw in the second "Test" in Colombo in March 1949. F. C. de Saram was brought into the Ceylon team for this match and he proved his worth with a well made 94. The consistent C. I. Gunasekera Chipped in with 71 and Sathi Coomaraswamy made 57 and with all these useful contributions helped Ceylon to make 381 in the first innings. As usual, the West Indian batsmen ran riot with the Ceylonese bowling. Stollmeyer and Rae shared a 199-run partnership before the former was caught behind for 93. Rae went on to complete his century. Christiani was another one unlucky to miss his century, he was bowled by R. B. Wijesinha for 96. The West Indies grabbed a first innings lead of 132 runs, making 513 runs, with J. Stollmeyer making 93, A. Rae 137, Walcott 54, R. Christiani 96 and D. Atkinson 74. Lucien de Zoysa was the most successful Ceylonese bowler taking 3 for 92 Ceylon started their second innings on a somewhat poor note, losing four wickets for 78. But Jayawickreme and Sathi Coomaraswamy batted well to stem the rout with Jayawickrema marking 50 not out and Coomaraswamy 41 not out in their unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 69 runs and Ceylon made 140 for 5 wickets. Ceylon: 381 (F. C. de Saram 94, M. Sathasivam 32, Jayawickrema 29, C. I. Gunasekera 71, S. Coomaraswamy 57, F. Dalpathadu 34, Trim 5 for 63, Atkinson 3 for 83) and 140 for 5 wkts (Jayawickrema 50 not out, S. Coomaraswamy 41 not out). West Indies: 513 (J. Stollmeyer 93, A. Rae 137, C Walcott 54, R. Christiani 96, D. Atkinson 74, L. de Zoysa 3 for 92). 1st 'Test' vs Pakistan Caught for the second time on a wet wicket, Ceylon tumbled to an innings defeat in the first unofficial Test against Pakistan in Colombo in early April 1949. Pakistan's pace duo of Khan Mohamed (4 for 24) and Fazal Mohamed (4 for 15) bowled out Ceylon for 95 in the second innigns. In the first innigns, Ceylon made 112. Ceylon were put into bat on the first day. Though the Ceylonese batsmen had difficulty in batting on a wet wicket, the Pakistan did not find it all that difficult and made 399. When Pakistan batted, Mohmood Saedmade 93, Alim-ud-Din made 67, Mohmood Saeed 93 and Maqsood Ahmed 85 to help them make 399. Bertie Wijesinha was the most successful Ceylonese bowler taking 5 for 105 and Lucien de Zoysa took 3 for 99. Came the second innings and Pakistan's Khan Mohamed and Fazal Mohamed ran through Ceylon taking four wickts each and Caylon were shot out for 95. Ceylon : 112 (R. B. Wijesinha 29, Khan Mohamed 3 for 36, Chippa 3, for 29) and 95 Khan Mohmood 4 for 24, Fazal Mohamed 4 for 15) Pakistan 339 (Nazar Mohamed 29, Alim-ud-Din 67, Mohmood Saeed 93, Maqsood Ahmed 85, Fazal Mahamed 36, R. B. Wijesinha 5 for 105, Lucien de Zoysa 3 for 99). .2nd Test vs Pakistan Pakistan scored the second successive win over Ceylon in the 2nd unoffical Test series in Colombo in April 1949. As compared to the first 'Test' the second 'Test' was dominated by the batsmen until Ceylon collapsed in the second innings, to the onsalught of Fazal Mohamed. Ceylon started poorly in the first innings, but good batting later on by F. C. de Saram (118) and C. Ivers Gunasekera (120) who shared a fifth wicket partnership of 181, Ceylon were able to get to 311 in the first innings. The two former Royal College stalwarts batted superbly on this occasion. F. C. was the first Sri Lankan to get his Oxford Blue in one seas on of English cricket, he scored over 1,000 runs. That season was 1934 where in 23 innings, once not out, he amassed 1,110 runs with a highest score of 208 for an average of 50.86 runs with three centuries thrown in. In 1937 he played for Sri Lanka (Ceylon then) against he scored 90 out of 223 and then against Don Bradman's Australians in 1938. 'F.C.' was the top scorer for the local side with 31. In 1954, he captained Ceylon against Len Hutton's Englishmen and top scored with 43 for the local side. He played for Ceylon between 1937 and 1954 - fourteen occasions in all and captained the team on several times. C. I. Gunasekera had the reputation of being the most colourful batsman in Ceylon cricket. An innings of his is never complete unless it features a sixer. But it would be wrong to describe him as a wild hitter. Adventurous and carefree though his batting is it has the stamp of class in it. Moreover he has proved that his batting talents are not capable of providing spectacular innings against our local bowlers. When the majority of Ceylon's leading batsmen wilted and fell before the West Indians and the Pakistanis, C. I. Gunasekera was one of the few batsmen who faced the onslaught with confidence and success. Two scores of over 70 against the West Indies and a century against Pakistan was his record in those memorable Tests. A member of the West Indies team remarked that C. I. Gunasekera would be an asset to English league cricket. High praise indeed. Khan Mohamed was Pakistan's most successful bowler, taking 5 for 72 while Fazal Mohamed had 3 for 52. Pakistan ran up a passage total of 474 for 9 wickets declared with Nazar Mohamed making 170, Murrawat Hussain 164 and the two of them shared a second-wicket stand of 269. Fazal Mohamed made 65 not out. Sathi Coomaraswamy took 4 for 81. Ceylon was not so badly off until the second innings collapse. Fazal Mohamed, the Pakistan speedster grabbed three vital wickets to take the backbone off the Ceylon innings. Ceylon were out for 210 in the second innings. Pakistan who had to make 48 runs for victory got the runs without losing any wickets. Ceylon: 311 (F. C. de Saram 118, C. I. Gunasekera 120; Khan Mohamed 5 for 72, Fazal Mohamed 3 for 52) and 210 (Mahes Rodrigo 26, Ben Navaratne 58, C. I. Gunasekera 30, R. B. Wijesinha 30; Fazal Mohamed 3 for 44). Pakistan: 474 for 9 wkts dec (Nazar Mohamed 170, Murawat Hussein 164, Maqsood Ahmed 26, Fazal Mahmood 65 not out; Sathi Coomaraswamy 4 for 81) and 48 for no loss (Nazar Mohamed 25 not out). Two-day match Pakistan just failed to clinch victory in the two-day side game against Ceylon by 16 runs and so their match ended in a draw in March 1949. Pakistan grabbed a first innings lead of 82 runs when they made 231 in reply to Ceylon's 149 with Mohamed Saeed making 91. Ceylon declared their second innings at 181 for 9 wickets with M. Kasipillai making and Fazal Mohamed had 5 for 36 for Pakistan. Nazar Mohamed (31) and Imitiaz Ahmed (41 not out) went hammer and tongs in the second innings and just failed to reach their winning target by 16 runs. Ceylon: 149 (Makkin Salih 43, C. E. Abaysekera 34, S. Coomaraswamy 29; Khan Mohamed 4 for 19, Chippa 3 for 33) and 181 for 9 wkts dec (M. Wright 34, M. S. Kasipillai 50; Fazal Mohamed 5 for 36). Pakistan: 231 (Mohamed Saeed 91, Anwar Hussain 46, Nathaniels 4 for 63, Coomaraswamy 4 for 45) and 84 for one wkt (Nazar Mohamed 31, Imitiaz Ahmed 41 not out). |
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