Former Sri Lanka cricketing star Daya Sahabandu dies-by Dhammika Ratnaweera

One of the best left arm bowlers produced by Sri Lanka Daya Sahabandu passed away yesterday and his funeral will take place today (12) at Jawatte Cemetery, at 6 pm .

Daya Sahabandu the 83 year old former medium paceman and left-arm leg spinner played for Royal College , Colombo first X1 from 1957 to 1960 he was the best leg spinner on that era who also bowled a little faster and opened the bowling .He started playing senior club cricket in Ceylon in the early 1960’s and mostly playing for Nomads SC. He took more than 1000 wickets with his left arm bowling at an average of just over 14.

He was selected to tour England with the Ceylon team in 1968 but the tour was cancelled just before it was due to begin. Later in a drawn Gopalan Trophy match Sahabandu opened the bowling for Ceylon and took 5 for 54 and 6 for 83. He also toured India in 1975-76 and took 8 for 37 ( his best figures ) and 4 for 46 against East Zone. He played for Ceylon against Colin Cowdrey’s visiting England team in 1969 where he bowled a marathon spell of 44 overs taking 2 wickets for 90 runs in a mammoth England total of 406 for 4 declared. In the same year, playing in the unofficial Test against Australia, he took the wickets of Australian batting stars Keith Stackpole, Ian Chappell, Ian Redpath and Jock Irvine. He will also be remembered for his marathon knock of 32 not out in five and a half hours in a Test match against India in 1975 as a night watchman defying the deadly Indian spin trio of Bedi, Prasanna, and Chandrasekhar.

Sahabandu played 18 first class matches and took 87 wickets while he was a occasionally a useful defensive tail – end batsman .He later served as a National selector for a short period and worked for Sri Lanka Cricket .

In 2018 he was one of 49 former Sri Lankan cricketers felicitated by Sri Lanka Cricket to honour them for their services before Sri Lanka became a full member of the ICC.

Daya Sahabandu was employed for 14 years as a physical education instructor by the Colombo Municipal Council and then for 30 years as an executive at the Maharajah Organization. He lived with his wife Swarna and loving son Janaka.

Daya Sahabandu’s remains are lying at Jayaratne Funeral Parlour from 7 pm to 10 pm yesterday (11) and today from 2 pm to 5 pm and funeral will take place at Jawatte Cemetery at 6pm.