Ceylon’s first win against India came in 1965
By Ranjan ANANDAPPA
The Sri Lanka Test cricketers turned out to be great guns defeating
India by an innings and 239 runs in the recently concluded first Test at
the SSC to record their biggest Test win against the neighbouring
country India.
In 1965 January, Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, completely
outplayed a full fledged Indian team in an unofficial Test match at the
Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad to register their first
unofficial Test win overseas.
In that game India made 189 and just 66 in the second innings. Sri
Lanka made 144 for 7 declared and 115 for 6. In the six weeks tour,
Ceylon lost the three-Test series 1-2.
The Nawab of Pataudi (Jnr) (Mansur Ali Khan) captained India while
Michael Tissera skippered the All Ceylon side.
In the four-day unofficial Test, the first day was ruined by rain and
on the second day, play was possible only at 3.20 p.m. The match was
played just over two and a half days and India winning the toss and
batting first, were 51 for 3 on the second day. On the third day, India
were all out for 189 and Ceylon were 144 for 7 and declared their
innings. India were bowled out for a paltry 66 in their second innings,
leaving Ceylon to get 115 runs to win.
Stanley Jayasinghe the Leicestershire professional and Norton
Frederick were the bowling heroes for Ceylon.
Jayasinghe - took 6 for 38 in 17.4 overs in the first innings,
followed up his fine bowling effort in the second innings too, taking 3
for 14 while Frederick took 4 for 85 in 28 overs and 3 for 24 in the
second innings.
Anurudha Polonowita too, played a pivotal role scoring 53 in the
first innings and bagged 3 for 7 in the second innings in 3.4 overs. Dr.
H. I. K. Fernando kept wickets splendidly, being involved in seven
dismissals in both innings.
Ceylon needed 115 runs for an outright win Abu Fuard (40) who opened
in the absence of the late T. C. T. Edwards who was injured and Mano
Ponniah (22) put on 41 runs for the first wicket.
Ceylon were reduced to ten players as Edwards was struck on the face
by a ball while fielding in the slips and broke his pair of spectacles
in the process and needed four stitches under his eye. He did not take
part in the match thereafter.
Stanley Jayasinghe (19) and an unbeaten 15 by skipper Michael Tissera
saw his team reach the required victory target losing 6 wickets.
The All Ceylon squad was: Michael Tissera (Captain), Stanley
Jayasinghe, T. C. T. Edwards, C. E. M. Ponniah, Lasantha Rodrigo, Dr. H.
I. K. Fernando, Anurudha Polonowita, Neil Chanmugam, D. P. de Silva,
Lareef Idroos, Abu Fuard, Norton Frederick, Darrel Lieversz, Dhanasiri
Weerasinghe, Ranjith Fernando, Muttiah Devarajah. Sylvester Dias.
INDIA 1ST INNINGS
F. M. Engineer c Polonowita b Frederick 17
Dilip Sardesai c Tissera b Frederick 9
Abbas Ali Baig c Fernando b Frederick 10
Hanumant Singh lbw b Jayasinghe 30
Nawab of Pataudi (Jnr) c Fernando b Frederick 28
Ramesh Saxena not out 63
Ambar Roy c Polonowita b Jayasinghe 3
S. Venkataraghavan c and b Jayasinghe 13
U. Kulkarni b Jayasinghe 0
C. K. Bhaskar St. Fernando b Jayasinghe 8
Rajinder Goel lbw b Jayasinghe 0
EXTRAS 8
TOTAL 189
FALL OF WICKETS: 24, 36, 37, 79, 114, 122, 166, 178, 187, 189.
BOWLING: Darrel Lieversz 18-5-43-0, Norton Frederick 28-8-85-4, Stanley Jayasinghe 17.4-6-38-6,
Neil Chanmugam 4-0-14-0, Anurudha Polonowita 1-0-1-0.
CEYLON 1ST INNINGS
Abu Fuard lbw b Kulkarni 6
Mano Ponniah b Kulkarni 8
Lasantha Rodrigo c Saxena b Kulkarni 0
Stanley Jayasinghe b Bhaskar 3
Michael Tissera c Ambar Roy b Kulkarni 28
N. Chanmugam c Hunumant Singh b Bhaskar 0
Fernando not out 38
Anurudha Polonowita b Venkataraghavan 53
Darrel Lieversz not out 0
Norton Frederick did not bat -
TCT Edwards absent ill -
EXTRAS 8
TOTAL (For 7 wickets declared) 144
FALL OF WICKETS: 14, 14, 15, 18, 25, 57, 142.
BOWLING: U Kulkarni 13-2-43-4, C. K. Bhaskar 10-1-35-2,
Rajinder Goel 10-3-24-0, S. Venkataraghavan 13-2-34-1.
INDIA 2ND INNINGS
D. N. Sardesai b Fredrick 0
Abbas Ali Baig b Lieversz 4
Ambar Roy lbw b Jayasinghe 16
Hanumant Singh lbw b Frederick 0
Nawab Of Pataudi (Jnr) c Polonowita b Frederick 8
Ramesh Saxena c Fernando b Polonowita 12
Farookh Engineer c Fernando b Jayasinghe 2
Venkataraghavan St. Fernando b Plonowita 4
Umesh Kulkarni b Jayasinghe 1
C. K. Bhaskar St. Fernando b Polonowita 5
Rajinder Goel not out 1
EXTRAS 13
TOTAL 66
FALL OF WICKETS: 4, 4, 4, 20, 44, 46, 50, 51, 55, 66.
BOWLING: Darell Lieversz 5-2-8-1, Norton Frederick 11-4-24-3,
Stanley Jayasinghe 7-4-14-3, Anurudha Polonowita 3.4-1-7-3.
CEYLON 2ND INNINGS
Abu Fuard b Goel 40
M. Ponniah St. Engineer b Venkataraghavan 22
Lasantha Rodrigo run out 9
Stanley Jayasinghe b Goel 19
Michael Tissera not out 15
Neil Chanmugam c Pataudi b Goel 0
Fernando b Goel 0
A. Polonowita not out 3
EXTRAS 7
TOTAL (for 6 wickets declared) 115
FALL OF WICKETS: 41, 77, 87, 98, 98, 98.
BOWLING: U. Kulkarni 11-4-18-0, C. K. Bhaskar 8-5-16-0, R. Goel 13.2-6-33-4,
S. Venkataraghavan 18-5-34-1, Hanumant Singh 1-0-3-0, R. Saxena 1-0-4-0. |
