A MAN I CALLED MY HERO – Some of Ranjit’s memoirs and his hero Ben Navaratne
Life in Kotahena was a great joy, and during the cricket season every bare patch of ground that could accommodate a game of softball cricket in the area, was occupied by hundreds of young players of all ages and
sizes. My love for the game thrived in that vibrant sporting environment. There was no supervision and we managed our own little test matches working our way through, in the best way we could. Before long, around the age of 12 or 13, I was playing hard ball cricket and started representing my school at the under 14 age group
and making some progress as a batsman in the top order, however except for my rather defensive technique which I had developed on my own, there wasn’t much to show.
Then things started to happen in the last match of the season, when the junior coach started running out of options to fill the slot of wicket keeper after some rather disastrous choices where the extras contributed very heavily to the opposition total. The wicket keeping gloves were offered to me and it stayed in my possession thereafter. It was the turning point in my cricket story.
St.Benedict’s College has had a long line of brilliant or very competent wicket keepers over the years and the incumbent first eleven WK was Allan Gunasekera who excelled both with the gloves and bat. For some strange reason there was no understudy for this vital position. The master in charge of cricket, walked towards the group that had gathered together to form the second eleven squad and requested those who were wicket keepers to raise their hands. The only one that went up was mine.
The renowned Past Srilankan Cricketer Bertie Wijesinghe the Senior Coach, and the rest of the coaches got into a huddle and fairly quickly came to the conclusion, very wisely, that they would manage with a stop gap, out of those already in the senior squad. I stayed in the second team and worked on my skills and enjoyed my new role with a degree of success.
In the next year, I was Allen’s understudy, but my batting may have impressed Mr. Bertie Wijesinghe, that I was soon opening the batting at 15 years old in the 1st X1. Cricket was in my genes, but things had moved so fast that my life now revolved around the game and I gavebarely minimum attention to my books.
I was enamored with the gloves and spent hours on my own and also with Allen’s help in refining my skills. It was around this time that I took a keen interest in learning about International and Srilankan cricket greats and following test cricket, particularly the Ashes Series’.
The name Ben Navaratne was by now quite familiar to me and I had heard some of his amazing deeds behind the stumps, but not realized that he and his wife and 8 children had come to reside on the same street as we lived, just about 400 yards away. It also happened that BENO his eldest son was in my Grade in school. What’s more Mr. Ben Navaratna was an old Benedictine too. I however never dared to get near him, let alone attempting to make conversation. I just admired this tall, smart, well structured, self confident human being from a far. Despite his stature, there was something that was always sincere and likeable about him. Without even meeting him my admiration for the man was absolute.
Ben had got into the Ceylon/Srilanka National team in 1940/41 touring India under Sago Jayawickrama and had been chosen initially for his outstanding skills as a wicket keeper and also as a batsman in the top order. However his skills with the gloves behind the stumps for the Sinhalese Sports Club was already a topic of conversation even before he had obtained his country’s cap. His regular inclusion in Ceylon’s International games built Ben’s confidence behind the stumps so much, that he was almost indispensable, when it came to Wicket Keeping.
After S.S. Jayawickrema his first National captain, he played under F.C.De Saram for the country and was left out only on very rare occasions. However as time went on he was considered as a specialist behind the stumps and was confined to the lower order and his batting suffered. He held his position in the Ceylon side until 1952 and retired from the International scene after England visited us, that year.
Ben Navaratne was a genius, he was an artiste with the gloves and usedhis hands with lightning speed not only baffling the surprised batsmen but spectators too with his stumpings. He stood out on the field and led the way and was the catalyst to the others, providing the energy.
There were times he stood just behind the stumps even to the quickest during that time, D.S. Jayasundara.
Ben’s sharp guttural voice boomed when he went up, on an appeal and in those days unlike now, the unsuspecting man in the white coat could have been vulnerable without any technology to assist.
Cricket enthusiasts, we are told, thronged the grounds to see him perform and he was, In their eyes a great showman and an entertainer. When he played for the Commonwealth team against England, together with some the greats in the world of cricket at that time, some hailed him as one of the best. Others spoke in terms of Ben being a magician with the gloves. Folk lore had many interesting narratives about some of Ben’s antics, such as lifting the bail with his tongue on a stumping, just as the batsman missed the ball. Ben Navaratne’s masterly skills and big hands did not require him to do anything unbecoming of the game which he loved so much and he is still being spoken about as one of the finest gentleman the game had seen in every aspect.
My first real meeting with my hero was in April 1961 when I toured India with the Srilanka Schools Cricket team led by Anandian Yatagama Amaradasa and the team was hosted for a lavish dinner by Ben Navaratne and his very gracious wife Rose and some of his family, who had moved to Chennai, since Ben had been assigned as the English Stenographer at the Srilankan High Commissioner’s Office in Madras. He had a long spell at the Supreme Court in the same capacity and was said to be outstanding in his work place too. The tour party had a
fine time and I had the immense pleasure of having a close conversation with the person I greatly looked upto.
The family had settled down well and were extremely happy there, but they suffered a huge setback when Government policies were changed and their 4 year contract was annulled in 11 months. He had by then given
his Kotahena home on rent and went through the hardship of the children commuting to school from Thalangama a fair distance every day . Except for a few short hellos, I did not see much of him. However if
my memory serves me right, BENO his son who had by then, joined my class, kept feeding me on his doings. I am almost certain that he donned the gloves again for the SSC, at an age which only a rare few would have attempted.
‘’ My dad managed to strike a contract with the British to work in Borneo for five years from 1962 to 1968. This era would have been the most calmful years of my dad’s life,“ wrote Lakshman Navaratna, one of his sons who took after his father, as a wicket keeper at St. Benedict’s under Felix Dias but rather early made a decision to move permanently to Canada with his family and now resides there. Lucky further added “He was only able to take five of his children to Borneo. I was left behind for five years in Srilanka, my crucial years of growing up.’’ ‘’This period of my Dad’s life is a Major Void in my Life. I shall leave this period of my Dad’s life to be written by asibling who was with him in Borneo “
My School boy cricket tour to India in 1961 as the first wicket keeper had given me a huge boost to my cricketing prospects and the fact that I played an important role as stumper in a team that returned invincible also helped in a big way.
The Wicket Keeper talent in the country was growing and at a high ebb, with plenty of healthy competition which motivated me to work hard on my batting too. I managed to put in some very impressive batting performances in my remaining years at school, not forgetting to maintain high standards behind the stumps. Having Coach Bertie
Wijesinghe at St. Benedict’s was a huge bonus.
Dr Herbert I. K. Fernando, fondly called HIK, who took over the role of WK from Ben was maintaining those expected very high standards, as the Country’s first keeper and had by now, entrenched himself in the job. He was a very useful performer with the bat in the middle order too.
Harold Andrado whom I considered to be my mentor on cricket matters and a family friend, living in our very close neighborhood, had already spoken to my dad about both me and my brother Sunil joining the Nondescripts Cricket Club. I had while at school also played some lower division matches for them and to some extent made up my mind. However there were many other Division One teams wooing me to join them on the premise that, with HIK also turning out for the Nondescripts my opportunities would be restricted. Making the right decision was going to be critical for my cricketing future.I decided to put my trust on my parents and Harold and joined the NCC.
In August 1964 Pakistan sent a team to play Srilanka under the captaincy of the seasoned Imtiaz Ahmed and I was delighted to be picked as the wicket keeper in the first game against them, for the Board President’s X1 led by Michael Tissera who was also captaining the unofficial test against the visitors. This was my first experience
against an international opposition. We beat the Pakistanis convincingly in the 3 day game at the Colombo Oval. I was slotted into the pivotal number 3 position in the batting order and was clean bowled second ball, by a peach of a delivery from fast bowler Farouk Hameed, which I found unplayable. However behind the stumps I had already claimed one victim in the Pakistan first innings and grabbed three more in their second which was of tremendous personal satisfaction. This was the first ever win by any Srilankan team against an international test playing nation in our country’s cricket history and thus gave us immense joy.
I found myself welcomed at the NCC with both alms and playing alongside HIK who kept wickets in the first innings, handing me the gloves in the second. This acknowledgment by the club, to a great extent openly projected the fact that I was HIK’s understudy. Srilanka was touring India soon after and I was selected as the 2nd Wicket Keeper on tour.
The tour of India was a dream and I gained a great deal out of it, mainly with my personality and confidence, considering myself, sort of an adult handling my own affairs. Although I didn’t expect to play in the Test matches, it was my goal to learn all I could about the international game and meet people and be sociable. Those were times when Srilanka National Teams, toured overseas with a minimum of support staff. A manager and a Masseur were about the most that were accommodated in the tour squad. A coach was a luxury and rarely or
never toured. The fitness aspects as a team were rather basic and mainly confined to a fair amount of jogging and some speed work. Any extra effort was left to the own devise of the individuals.
While I did have very high expectations of receiving advice and help from the experienced seniors considering the knowledge, talent and skills that were on hand, but the extremely tight schedule which included 3 tests, paying attention to a 2nd Wicket Keeper was understandably the least of their priorities. Seeing the groundsituation I did appreciate that I had overestimated my own importance.Having said that, it had to be admitted that despite a rather big squad, the playing opportunities I got were considerable and had to be appreciated. The fact that practice times were limited between important games, at the end of this great tour I realized that I could have done a lot more on my own initiative. A little too late and a good lesson learnt.
But just watching two skilled stumpers Herbert I. K. Fernando and Farouk Engineer in action hour after hour, in the three tests was an education. I was proud to see HIK being hailed as the BEST in ASIA. How thrilled was I to be called his understudy.
Srilanka not only salvaged its reputation by beating India led by the charismatic Pataudi (Mansur Ali Khan) and this victory in January 1965 remains as our only International Test (unofficial) victory on Indian soil. Being the youngest in squad, I did my share of carrying water and other errands onto the field and the entire squad took pride in this historic win, under the leadership of Michael Tissera.
With financial constraints, the the squad numbers going on overseas tours were restricted and the selectors solved the problem by using a make shift reserve Wicket Keeper out of one of them specialist batsmen. As a result I was sidelined and missed out on the tour to Pakistan in 1966.
When Ben Navaratne returned to Srilanka from Borneo, I had already won my Srilanka cap and playing as a batsman, with the incumbent nearing retirement. Ben was back at Kotahena and my friendship with him, more as senior mentor took root. He took on the role of coach at St. Benedict’s and we all had the opportunity of picking his vast cricket brain which he divulged with absolute generosity. I was intrigued, he was a freak but despite how difficult it was going to be, l diligently worked on the areas that appealed to my liking.
It was a rare honor for me to be H.I.K’s understudy and tutored by BEN almost around the same time. Two great Srilanka Cricket Legends. Ben’s outstanding humility and his unconditional faith in his maker always impressed me and struck a chord in my life. We all knew that he was a regular, if not a daily mass goer at St. Lucia’s Cathedral and was a prominent member of the church choir with his booming voice. It is also known that, he either walked or went by Bicycle, after mass on most days of the week, to milk his cows that grazed on the outside of the playing areas of the SSC grounds and returned home in the same manner displaying what a fit man he was.
Some years after, the great man sold up and moved to Colombo 5, when Ben and his wife Rose attended mass at St. Theresa’s church Thimbirgasyaya. Despite his failing health he led the congregation singing with gusto, in his powerful voice. I must admit that despite my nil talents in music, I found pleasure in following in the footsteps of my model BEN, by continuing to sing loud at services in church even to this day.
