[caption id="attachment_126687" align="alignleft" width="401"]
Jayasinghe at the Leicestershire cricket nets in 1961[/caption]
Making a long thing short, Stanley Jaysasinghe was one of the leading batmen of the Ceylonese cricket team during the 1950s and 60s. Such an “old” story becomes relevant today because they explain to us about an era where our cricketers were so simple, yet very professional and highly spirited too.
On the school days at Nalanda College, Colombo:
First and foremost, I must be grateful to the (Nalanda) Principal Mr. D.C. Lowris and Mr. Kandasamy. They were the people who instilled discipline in me. Gerry Gunaratne was our coach. Those days I was at an uphill battle trying to get a place in the cricket world.
During November-December time in 1948, I was in a trial for a Combined Colleges team to play against a touring West Indies side in January-February 1949.
That time I was at Badalkumbura, Badulla, which was thick jungle then. There was only one bus per week between Badalkumbura and Badulla. I was on a stay at our house there when my father (Arthur Jayasinghe), who was Post Master of Puslanda then, received the letter requesting me to participate in the trials.
I was so keen to go but there were no buses. I told this to grandfather who was a Muhandiram. He arranged me a man to go with me to Badulla on foot to reach our house there and catch a bus from Badulla to Colombo.
We needed to walk on a footpath through thick jungle for about 12 miles to reach Buttala. My mother (Martha) and the sister were there. Those days, the Badalkumbura area was full of elephants, leopards, and bear. But my assistant knew “ali manthara” (mantra that kept the elephants away), the grandfather told me.
I became the top scorer of both the trial matches. But when the team was announced, there was no Jayasinghe. Then there was no place for Ananda, Nalanda, Dharmaraja or Mahinda. I was the one who broke the barrier. After I toured Pakistan with the Ceylon team, the doors were open to the less glamorous schools.
Joining Sri Lanka tour to Pakistan in 1950 as a schoolboy
But when the Ceylon team was announced for the Pakistan tour couple of months later, my name was there. Sargo Jayawickrema was the Captain and Sathi Coomaraswamy was the Vice Captain. I was absolutely over the moon. It was 1950.
We took our plane from Ratmalana to Bombay. We were to refuel in Bombay and go to Karachi. It was a “gini petti” (match box) type small propeller aircraft. About half of the team was vomiting inside the plane after lunch. It was so bumpy.
Meeting Jawaharlal Nehru in Assam
Also in 1950, I was invited to play in the Assam Earth Relief Fund cricket match in India along with Lucien de Soysa, from Ceylon.
There were heavy floods in Assam. When I batted, the crowd booed and then I started to hit hard and got out for 18 runs. Then Prime Minister Pundit Nehru wanted to see me at the stadium. He was watching the match.
“Ah, Jey-singhaa, come on, sit here,” Nehru said. He explained that the crowd was not actually shouting at me. “They were cheering,” he said.
On playing county cricket in England:
I happened to come under the care of Sir Leary Constantine when he came to Ceylon in 1953 to coach the Young Ceylonese. He was the one who paved the way for me to play professional cricket in England. Later England were going to Australia (MCC tour of Australia 1954-55) and stopped here for a match.
Len Hutten was the Captain. (Jim) Laker, (Brian) Stetham, (Fred) Trueman, (Peter) Loader… all good bowlers. (F.C de) Sarem scored 40 not out and I made about 28.
Then some of the members of the England team, including Skipper Hutton, were returning home after winning the Ashes in that tour. Their ship stopped again in Ceylon. I went to the ship to interview them because that time I was on the verge of leaving school and working as a junior reporter in The Times of Ceylon. In our meeting Len Hutton permitted me to put his name as a referee, on my request, if I was to apply for professional cricket in England.
I saw an advertisement in The Cricketer magazine and applied to play league cricket for 60 pounds for Penzance. They agreed to pay me 16 pounds and my passage to England which was to be later deducted from my weekly salary. I boarded the ship on 30 March 1955 and the duration of the trip was 14 days. After Penzance, I was at the Lancashire league for three years and was part of the team that won a ‘double’, first time after 88 years.
I was a stroke-player. Though I didn’t reach the heights of (Mahadevan) Sathasivam or (Kumar) Sangakkara, I instilled team spirit. Leicestershire noticed me and asked me to join the county in 1960. I played there for five more years.
[caption id="attachment_126683" align="alignnone" width="1040"]
Stanley Jayasinghe talking to Sunday Morning Sports in his Thalapathpitiya house last Tuesday (23)[/caption]
Interviewed by Revatha S. Silva
Photo Eshan Dasanayake
IF YOU DO NOT KNOW?
Stanley Jayasinghe Bio & Career
[caption id="attachment_126690" align="alignleft" width="211"]
Stanley Jayasinghe was 1951 Nalanda Captain[/caption]
Born: 19 January 1931
Current Age: 90
Place of Birth: Badulla
Education: Nalanda College, Colombo
Known For: All Ceylon Cricketer
Played For: Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and Leicestershire
* Stanley Jayasinghe is a former SL cricketer prior to the country receiving either Test of ODI status
* He was a right-handed batsman and part-time off-break bowler
* Jayasinghe captained Nalanda in 1951 in their annual “Big Match” against Ananda College, Colombo
* Karunaratne Abeysekera, Dr. Harischandra Wijayatunga, Dr. Hudson Silva, Dr. Dharmasena Attygalle, Dr. Henry Jayasena, Rupa Karunathilake, and Bernie Wijesekera were his classmates
* Carl Obeysekera and Ashley de Silva, who were also at Nalanda during Jayasinghe’s time, played for Ceylon too with Jayasinghe
* He was adjudged the Times of Ceylon Sportsman of the Year in 1951.
* His first-class cricket career began in 1949/50
* In 1965, he publicly refused to play against the white-only South Africans who were touring England, citing his own experiences of racism while playing against the South Africans in 1960
* Jayasinghe retired in 1968/69
* He later became a member of the SL National Selection Committee and also was Manager of the Sri Lanka cricket team
* In September 2018, he was one of 49 former Sri Lankan cricketers felicitated by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for their services before Sri Lanka became a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC)
* Jayasinghe is married to Erika, a German and they have a daughter named Yvonne
Some of the info here and Jayasinghe photo (batting) courtesy Wikipedia
Jayasinghe at the Leicestershire cricket nets in 1961[/caption]
Making a long thing short, Stanley Jaysasinghe was one of the leading batmen of the Ceylonese cricket team during the 1950s and 60s. Such an “old” story becomes relevant today because they explain to us about an era where our cricketers were so simple, yet very professional and highly spirited too.
On the school days at Nalanda College, Colombo:
First and foremost, I must be grateful to the (Nalanda) Principal Mr. D.C. Lowris and Mr. Kandasamy. They were the people who instilled discipline in me. Gerry Gunaratne was our coach. Those days I was at an uphill battle trying to get a place in the cricket world.
During November-December time in 1948, I was in a trial for a Combined Colleges team to play against a touring West Indies side in January-February 1949.
That time I was at Badalkumbura, Badulla, which was thick jungle then. There was only one bus per week between Badalkumbura and Badulla. I was on a stay at our house there when my father (Arthur Jayasinghe), who was Post Master of Puslanda then, received the letter requesting me to participate in the trials.
I was so keen to go but there were no buses. I told this to grandfather who was a Muhandiram. He arranged me a man to go with me to Badulla on foot to reach our house there and catch a bus from Badulla to Colombo.
We needed to walk on a footpath through thick jungle for about 12 miles to reach Buttala. My mother (Martha) and the sister were there. Those days, the Badalkumbura area was full of elephants, leopards, and bear. But my assistant knew “ali manthara” (mantra that kept the elephants away), the grandfather told me.
I became the top scorer of both the trial matches. But when the team was announced, there was no Jayasinghe. Then there was no place for Ananda, Nalanda, Dharmaraja or Mahinda. I was the one who broke the barrier. After I toured Pakistan with the Ceylon team, the doors were open to the less glamorous schools.
Joining Sri Lanka tour to Pakistan in 1950 as a schoolboy
But when the Ceylon team was announced for the Pakistan tour couple of months later, my name was there. Sargo Jayawickrema was the Captain and Sathi Coomaraswamy was the Vice Captain. I was absolutely over the moon. It was 1950.
We took our plane from Ratmalana to Bombay. We were to refuel in Bombay and go to Karachi. It was a “gini petti” (match box) type small propeller aircraft. About half of the team was vomiting inside the plane after lunch. It was so bumpy.
Meeting Jawaharlal Nehru in Assam
Also in 1950, I was invited to play in the Assam Earth Relief Fund cricket match in India along with Lucien de Soysa, from Ceylon.
There were heavy floods in Assam. When I batted, the crowd booed and then I started to hit hard and got out for 18 runs. Then Prime Minister Pundit Nehru wanted to see me at the stadium. He was watching the match.
“Ah, Jey-singhaa, come on, sit here,” Nehru said. He explained that the crowd was not actually shouting at me. “They were cheering,” he said.
On playing county cricket in England:
I happened to come under the care of Sir Leary Constantine when he came to Ceylon in 1953 to coach the Young Ceylonese. He was the one who paved the way for me to play professional cricket in England. Later England were going to Australia (MCC tour of Australia 1954-55) and stopped here for a match.
Len Hutten was the Captain. (Jim) Laker, (Brian) Stetham, (Fred) Trueman, (Peter) Loader… all good bowlers. (F.C de) Sarem scored 40 not out and I made about 28.
Then some of the members of the England team, including Skipper Hutton, were returning home after winning the Ashes in that tour. Their ship stopped again in Ceylon. I went to the ship to interview them because that time I was on the verge of leaving school and working as a junior reporter in The Times of Ceylon. In our meeting Len Hutton permitted me to put his name as a referee, on my request, if I was to apply for professional cricket in England.
I saw an advertisement in The Cricketer magazine and applied to play league cricket for 60 pounds for Penzance. They agreed to pay me 16 pounds and my passage to England which was to be later deducted from my weekly salary. I boarded the ship on 30 March 1955 and the duration of the trip was 14 days. After Penzance, I was at the Lancashire league for three years and was part of the team that won a ‘double’, first time after 88 years.
I was a stroke-player. Though I didn’t reach the heights of (Mahadevan) Sathasivam or (Kumar) Sangakkara, I instilled team spirit. Leicestershire noticed me and asked me to join the county in 1960. I played there for five more years.
[caption id="attachment_126683" align="alignnone" width="1040"] Stanley Jayasinghe talking to Sunday Morning Sports in his Thalapathpitiya house last Tuesday (23)[/caption]
Interviewed by Revatha S. Silva
Photo Eshan Dasanayake
IF YOU DO NOT KNOW?
Stanley Jayasinghe Bio & Career
[caption id="attachment_126690" align="alignleft" width="211"] Stanley Jayasinghe was 1951 Nalanda Captain[/caption]
Born: 19 January 1931
Current Age: 90
Place of Birth: Badulla
Education: Nalanda College, Colombo
Known For: All Ceylon Cricketer
Played For: Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and Leicestershire
* Stanley Jayasinghe is a former SL cricketer prior to the country receiving either Test of ODI status
* He was a right-handed batsman and part-time off-break bowler
* Jayasinghe captained Nalanda in 1951 in their annual “Big Match” against Ananda College, Colombo
* Karunaratne Abeysekera, Dr. Harischandra Wijayatunga, Dr. Hudson Silva, Dr. Dharmasena Attygalle, Dr. Henry Jayasena, Rupa Karunathilake, and Bernie Wijesekera were his classmates
* Carl Obeysekera and Ashley de Silva, who were also at Nalanda during Jayasinghe’s time, played for Ceylon too with Jayasinghe
* He was adjudged the Times of Ceylon Sportsman of the Year in 1951.
* His first-class cricket career began in 1949/50
* In 1965, he publicly refused to play against the white-only South Africans who were touring England, citing his own experiences of racism while playing against the South Africans in 1960
* Jayasinghe retired in 1968/69
* He later became a member of the SL National Selection Committee and also was Manager of the Sri Lanka cricket team
* In September 2018, he was one of 49 former Sri Lankan cricketers felicitated by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for their services before Sri Lanka became a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC)
* Jayasinghe is married to Erika, a German and they have a daughter named Yvonne
Some of the info here and Jayasinghe photo (batting) courtesy Wikipedia