ACM LAFIR BIDS FAREWELL – by AFZAL LAPHIR Antonian legend ACM Lafir passed away peacefully yesterday in Colombo. He was 86. “Verily we belong to God, and verily to Him do we return”. The name ACM Lafir is synonymous with Antonian cricket and has remained so through many generations. His record-breaking innings of 176 against Trinity and the opening partnership of 266 with Ronnie Steven have achieved legendary status in our history. Let us now reminisce about his cricketing career at college and how he burst into the national scene as a schoolboy. Lafir made his first XI debut for St Anthony’s College (Kandy) in 1950 under Stanley Jayasinghe at the age of 14 and made an immediate impression by scoring 321 runs in 13 innings with a top score of 82 against Ananda. Other notable knocks include 65 vs Trinity, 41 vs Zahira and 38 vs St Joseph’s. He ...

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More on Lorenz and Daya Sahabandu Source:Island On one of those boring lockdown days of early June, Lorenz Pereira lit up The Sunday Island with a highly entertaining piece in which he recalled what he termed as one of his most satisfying sporting achievements. That was the making of Daya Sahabandu the cricketer. Several generations have rolled by since Lorenz Pereira’s heyday in sport, and for the benefit of today’s man about town, a few paragraphs on Lorenz Pereira would not be out of place, before we begin discussing the enigma that was Daya Sahabandu. Eustace Lorenz Pereira was a born sport; both as a player and a person. Cricket came to him naturally. Blessed with a fine cricketing brain while still in school, he was an excellent left-hand bat, a very useful off spinner and an outstanding fielder in the gully or in the covers in particular. Given the ...

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    “CRICKET, LOVELY CRICKET” – By Des Kelly & The Wit of Cricket  With all the cricket going on, at the moment, there seems to be many “stories” in & around the wickets, that tend to entertain not only the lovers of the game, but also those who enjoy a bit of humour about it. This particular “series”, sent to me, for inclusion in eLanka, makes for light, enjoyable reading, something that will cause a smile, or an occasional chuckle, to cheer us up, even though the World Cup for 2019 will probably have to “sit tight” until 2023, by the look of it, for Sri Lanka, right now.       It doesn’t really matter. As I’ve always said, you win some and you lose some games.  Our Sri Lankan Cricketers always try their best, which is naturally expected of them. Provided that there is no political interference ...

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