Benedict Navaratne – the Prince of Wicket Keeprs – Zahira College & SSC – by Alston Mahadevan   Source: Alston Mahadevan FB  Ben Navaratne was the prince of wicket keepers. Benedict Navaratne (9 Jan 1915 – 9 June 1979) played for Zahira College before joining SSC. He made his international debut for Ceylon in 1940 when he was selected to tour India under the leadership of Sargo Jayawickrama. He made an unbeaten 23 on debut in the ‘unofficial’ Test match against India played at the Brabourne Stadium in Bombay from 31 December 1940. He was also selected to play against India in the three-day unofficial Test at the newly constructed Colombo Oval on 31 March, 1 and 2 April 1945. Navaratne like many young talented cricketers including Sathasivam and Bertie Wijesinha had very limited opportunities to play against Test playing nations for nearly 10 years due to the Second World ...

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