Category Archives: unusual people

September 15, 2020 · 5:17 pm

“Michael Holding is shooting blind” – Jof Archer

George Dobell, in ESPNcricinfo, 13 September 2020,

Jofra Archer has claimed Michael Holding “doesn’t know anything that is going on behind the scenes” after he criticised England and Australia for failing to take a knee during their limited-overs series.

Holding, the former West Indies fast bowler, has been a vocal advocate of the Black Lives Matter movement in recent months. As well as providing impassioned testimony of his experiences on Sky and with ESPNcricinfo, he welcomed the decision of the England, West Indies and Ireland teams to register their respect for the movement by taking a knee ahead of their Test and ODI fixtures earlier this season.

Jofra Archer, back in the light blue of England’s ODI team Getty Images

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August 31, 2020 · 7:02 pm

An Appreciation of PI Pieris …. Ian to Some, “PI” to Others

Mevan Pieris of S. Thomas College & SSC

Dear Michael, …… Read with interest Gerry Suraweera’s appreciation of Ian Pieris. Indeed when Arpico beat Lever Brothers in the Mercantile A Division cricket Final in 1976, PI was really happy. I still carry happy memories of this match having captained the Arpico team that year. The whole team ended up at my home that night for drinks and to share a simple meal of bread, butter and meat curry.

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August 30, 2020 · 5:50 pm

A Love Affair with the Colombo Oval

S. Skandakumar, in The Sunday Island, 30 August 2020 where his chosen title is “The Colombo Oval and I”

The majestic Oval scoreboard clock showed ten minutes to three on a Sunday afternoon when our final wicket fell. We had conceded first innings points by a small margin to Moors in a P. Sara Trophy encounter. The year was 1973 and it was my first game for the club. The many Moors supporters hugged each other and left the venue to return to Braybrook Place to celebrate. With just half an hour left to tea, and two hours thereafter to the end of the game, their optimism was justified.

In our dressing room our skipper Benedictine Tony Appathurai had other ideas. “I want five by tea,” he thundered as he briskly led us back on to the field for that half an hour. I admired his arrogance!

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Filed under Australian cricket, cricket and life, cricketing icons, memorable moments, performance, player selections, politics and cricket, sportsmanship, The Oval in Colombo, tower of strength, unusual people, work ethic

August 18, 2020 · 12:22 pm

“A Sri Lankan XI To Die For in My Time” — THILAN

Mohamed Isam with Thilan Samaraweera, in ESPNcricinfo and its CRICKET MONTHLY, August 2020, where the title is “My Best XI: The Lords of Sri Lanka’s Golden Age”

Thilan SamarawThe lords of Sri Lanka’s golden age”eera, who played 81 Tests with 12 centuries and two double-hundreds, was one of Sri Lanka’s middle-order mainstays. In a career spanning 12 years, he played alongside two generations of his country’s finest cricketers in five-day cricket – from among whom he picks an all-time XI.

Jayawardene, Sangakarra, Atapattu: that’s just short of 30,000 Test runs right there

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July 28, 2020 · 6:30 pm

Dhanasiri Weerasinghe passes away in Melbourne

ONE: Elmo Rodrigopulle in Daily News, 15 July 2020

The death of any outstanding personality in any form of life saddens many as was the passing away of Dhanasiri Weerasinghe a cricketer who in his own unique way and style contributed to make cricket what it is in the country today.

DHANASIRI WEERASINGHE passed away last week in Melbourne, Australia after an illness bravely borne. Cricketers of an era gone by – the 1950s and the 1960s – will mourn Weerasinghe who made his bat talk and his intelligent captaincy brain tick with great efficiency.

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July 13, 2020 · 5:19 pm

Jermaine Blackwood stands up for the Windies

Nagraj Gollaupadi, in ESPNcricinfo, 12 July 2020, where the title reads “Jermaine Blackwood writes history in his own way”

Dom Bess mocked him in the first innings. Jermaine Blackwood had charged England’s offspinner on Friday to hit hard into the hands of James Anderson at mid-off. Bess imitated swinging a golf club, as if out of a bunker in the golf course adjacent to Ageas Bowl. Blackwood’s audacity was not to the Englishman’s liking.

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July 10, 2020 · 4:54 pm

Partnership Kings in Test Matches: Sanga among the Elite

Bharath Seervi, in ESPNcricinfo, 10 July 2020, where the title is “Which batsman has been involved in the most partnerships in Test history?”

32,039 The total number of partnership runs Rahul Dravid was part of in his 286 innings, the most by a batsman. Sachin Tendulkar is next with 31,245 runs in 329 innings. Steven Smith has the highest average partnership runs per innings – 115.90 (15,185 runs in 131 innings). Partnerships involving Ricky Ponting have had the highest average runs – 52.83 (27,105 runs in 513 partnerships).

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July 4, 2020 · 3:27 am

Remembering Everton Weekes: Cozier and Chappell Speak

ONE: Tony Cozier in 2015: “Ninety years of Everton Weekes,” 26 Feb 2015

Of all the numbers stacked against the name Everton de Courcy Weekes in scorebooks the world over, 90 carries an unfortunate significance.

It was his score in West Indies’ first innings of the fourth Testagainst India in Chepauk, Madras, now Chennai, in January 1949. Ten more runs would have extended his overall record of five successive Test hundreds that has never been surpassed; he was cut short by a run-out decision by the square-leg umpire that Weekes now euphemistically describes as “rather doubtful”.

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June 30, 2020 · 4:34 am