The first proud Tamil to play Test cricket for Sri Lanka-by Revatha S. Silva

Source:Themorning

Born: 27 May, 1960

Current Age: 60

Height: Six feet

PERSONAL

Father: Leo John (former St. Peter’s and St. Joseph’s College, Colombo off-spin bowler)

Mother: Rita Ranga

Younger Sister: Nirmala

Wife: Everista

Son: Viventhra

Daughter: Shannon

Granddaughter: Viviana

PLAYING CAREER

Teams: Sri Lanka, NCC, Bloomfield, SSC, and Moratuwa SC

Schools: St. Cecilia’s Convent – Batticaloa, St. Anthony’s College – Colpetty, Carey College – Colombo, and St. Peter’s College – Colombo

Coaches: H.I.K. Fernando and Tony Opatha

Playing Role: Fast bowler

Batting Style: Right-handed

Bowling Style: Right arm medium fast

CAREER STATS

Test Span: March 1983 to August 1984

ODI Span: September 1982 to October 1987

First-class Span: 1981/82 to 1986/87

Bowling:

In Tests: Six matches; 28 wickets at a strike-rate of 21.92; Best in innings 5/60 in his third match against New Zealand in Kandy in March 1984; Best in a match 8/159 in the same match; Two five-wicket hauls

In ODIs: 45 matches; 34 wickets at a strike-rate of 48.67; Best 3/28 vs. New Zealand in his fourth ODI in Dunedin in March 1983

In First Class: 21 matches; 74 wickets at 25.33; Six five-wicket hauls

Other Professions: Referee of two internationals and 57 first-class matches. Also worked as a National Selector on many terms

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Golden era of St. Peter’s cricket

Vinothen John, also known as Vinothen John Bede Jeyarajasingham, is one of the key strike bowlers of Sri Lanka cricket during the mid 1980s, especially in the ODI format. We bring you today excerpts of a chat with John, as we promised last week, which was resonance of some personal anecdotes of perhaps some of the most historic events and moments of Sri Lanka’s cricket.

Emerging from a remarkable period of school cricket at St. Peter’s, Bambalapitiya, John was one of the four Peterites playing simultaneously for Sri Lanka: Roy Dias, Rumesh Ratnayake, Amal Silva, and John.

1884 historic first Test

Five of his six Test matches were against New Zealand, two three-match series both home and away, yet his memorable moment came in August 1984 at Lord’s when the Lions roared for the first time at the international stage with that classic 190 by Wettimuny and the dashing display of batting by Duleep, Dias, Amal Silva, Arjuna and co.

“When I bowled first, I was giving a lot of fuller deliveries and England opener (Graeme) Fowler was picking me very easily. Then our Coach Sir Gary Sobers explained to me that the Lord’s wicket has a slope and I was bowling down the hill. He asked me to start my run-up from one step away for a remedy. The moment I did that, Fowler got out edging one to Madda (Madugalle) at slips. The left-handers more or less became my easy pickings as I used to swing away from them, and they always nicked,” he said with rejoice.

That day in Lord’s, he got the wickets of Fowler, top-scorer Allan Lamb, Ian Botham, and Pat Pocock. Sri Lanka were able to get a 127-run first-innings lead after making that famous 497/7 to show the Englishmen, the forefathers of the game, that “we are equal, or sometimes better” even at your own backyard.

Taking five-for in Wellington

“Yet the most cherished moment in my career was taking five wickets at Wellington New Zealand,” John recounts. He took 5/60 in the first innings of that match and Sri Lanka bowled out the home team for 201 to get a 39-run first-innings lead in that match.

“Sridharan Jeganathan dropped a catch off Lance Cairns from my bowling and he went on to score 45. If we got that wicket then, it would have been five wickets for me for about 25,” he says.

Ratmalana “hotbed” and from athletics to fast bowling

Ratmalana, his hometown, had been a hotbed of enormous young talent then. Among the little “rascals” who played soft-ball cricket together at the same St. Mary’s ground off Sirimal Uyana, during late 1970s, were Dewaka Mahanama, Roshan Mahanama, Roy Dias, and “that naïve lad” Aravida de Silva.

“It was our school coach at St. Peter’s, Mr. H.I.K. Fernando, who brought me for cricket. In 1978, I was a discus, javelin, shot put man at school. He watched me practising my throwing one day at school and invited me to the cricket team. With my built, he wanted me to bowl fast for the College team. That’s how it all started,” he recalled.

“I used to thrash some of the famed teams that time with my pace. Once Ananda got all out for 30 odd runs and Royal were bowled out for a fifty. Peter’s beat them after 34 years even against big named such as Ajith Devasurendra, Sudat Pasqual, and Ranjan Madugalle.”

Getting picked for SL

“Pack your bags John!” John still recalls that Sun newspapers sports page headline in 1982. He had bought the paper near Ratmalana “Maliban Junction” paper stall. The fellow has scalped six wickets in the trials for the India tour the previous day at the Oval.

“I have been picked to play for Sri Lanka. Then I was walked back home with my head held high. The neighbours waving their hands and congratulated,” he remembered. John was 22 then and was often troubling leading national batsmen in the first-class domestic circuit.

With wife Everista now

 

John was part of the Sri Lanka team that first won an ODI overseas, beating Australia at MCG on 19 January 1985. The four-wicket loss against the upcoming islanders had unsettled Allan Border’s men and they in return thrashed the Lankans in the series-decider by 232 runs, skittling them out for 91.

After taking 4/98 at Lord’s, John was never to be seen in the Tests. His services were rendered to Sri Lanka only in the ODIs. John retired in October 1987 after the game against England in the 1987 World Cup in Pune, India.

“I have no regrets. I was in fact the first Tamil to play Test cricket for Sri Lanka. (Sridharan) Jeganathan and (Muttiah) Muralitharan followed later. I am also proud to get the first five-wicket haul for Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka (5/86 vs. New Zealand at Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy on  9 March 1984) too.”