Beyond Imagination – Chandra Schaffter’s Life of Service

Ravi RUDRA has composed an extensive web-item describing Chandra Schaffter’s services to Sri Lanka,  S. Thomas College, cricket, hockey, the Tamil Union CC’, insurance services in the island and humakind in general. The account includes photographs and is so extensive that it is best presented in segments. THIS is the first instalment. As this segment includes heaps of photographs, it will take me time to insert all of them…. so the present version is incomplete .…. Editor, TPS 

Compilation by Ravi RUDRA …. with this title ‘The Phenomenal Journey of Mr. CHANDRA SCHAFFTER 94* Story of Vision, Resilience, Disappointments and Success” …. 1 December 2024 

Mr. Chandra Thomas Adolphus Schaffter (born 3 April 1930) ‘The Father of Sri Lanka Insurance & Much, Much More’

“If you cannot do something for those who work for you, but you seek to get the best out of them and not worry about them, then, I don’t think life is worth living. What I am today, I owe it first to God and then to my School”– Chandra Schaffter

 Legendary Thomian (Jan 1937–March 1950)

“I was very fortunate to attend S. Thomas’ College because I had a good education and a good foundation. I lost my mother when I was only 3 and my father when I was 11, so I never had real parental guidance in that sense.But my school masters, especially in my early years, and some of my relatives were very helpful in making me find my way around.

S. Thomas’ was a great place to be in, as you learnt a lot of good values which you don’t see in the outside world. This up-bringing has stood me and many Thomians in good stead.”– Chandra Schaffter

 “CTA Schaffter’s record shows that he took an active and leading part in all activities of the School. He was one of the best Head Prefects we ever had with a great sense of responsibility, entirely fearless in the carrying out of his duties combined with the necessary tact. I have a very high opinion of his character and would unreservedly recommend him for any post requiring thoroughness and trustworthiness”– Warden (The Rev. Canon R.S. De Saram)

Humble Beginnings

“Calm, Courteous, Mild-mannered, Soft-spoken, Gracious, Simple, Understated, Centred, Strong, Athletic, Tenacious. The Father of All Father figures. Quiet Charismatic. Unconditionally loving to all he considers friends, and unfailingly sympathetic and generous to any underdog with a cause. Quite able and willing to do without the luxuries that money can buy – but luxuriously comfortable for his own skin.”    – The Island, 05 December 2015

Chandra Schaffter was born on 3rd April 1930 to Adolphus Jeshuran Schaffter, a school teacher, and his wife Alice Schaffter.

His name originates from the family Schaffter in the Swiss Village of Moutier. Rev. Schaffter was a Christian missionary from Moutier who worked in India during the mid eighteen-hundreds. The Reverand and his  wife adopted and cared for two orphaned girls, one of whom grew up and married an Indian catechist (a teacher of the principles of Christian religion) at the missionary, by the name of Isaiah Adolphus. In the late  1870s, Isaiah was sent out to Ceylon to work among the plantation workers. Later he and his wife decided to settle in the Island.

Their son Adolphus Schaffter, grew up in Ceylon, became a school teacher, married, and had seven children. The youngest, born in 1930  was a son whom he named Chandra Thomas Adolphus Schaffter.

Chandra’s mother died when he was only three and his father when he was eleven. Literally orphaned at the age of 11, young Chandra continued his schooling at S. Thomas’ College, My Lavinia, living with relatives.

“When my mother died, I was just three, and from then on motherly care was provided by my elder sisters – the eldest being thirty years my senior and the youngest, twelve years older than me. My father was fifty when I, his only son was born & showered me with affection. He looked after me like nothing else in the world mattered and tried to give me everything I needed, even though he was not a rich man. But more than anything else, he wanted me to play cricket and grow to love the game. He was everything to me.”

When his father died of a sudden illness, Chandra’s world collapsed around him. “Fortunately, my eldest brother-in-law, a manager of a hardware store in Old Moor Street, undertook to look after me financially, even though he had seven children of his own and a host of other dependants to look after….I spent my holidays at various places with whoever was willing to accommodate me.

The war had already broken out in 1939, but the danger to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) was aggravated with Japan’s entry into the war, and the bombing of Pearl Harbour. There was a danger that Singapore and Burma were be taken over and so all schools in Colombo were closed and families evacuated out of Colombo. In fact, some of the fears were realised when a few months later the Japanese bombed Colombo on Easter Sunday of 1942.

I did not attend S. Thomas’ from mid-1942 to mid-1944 and went to a school near where I was living at that time. I then went to St. Pauls Milagiriya in mid-1944 and returned to STC, Mt Lavinia in 1946.

I entered the College hostel in 1947 and that made a quantum change in my life – I had not been able to attend the hostel as I could not afford the fees, but I was awarded the Gregory Scholarship for three years in 1947, which helped me considerably in my sporting career.

I won my 1st XI Cricket Colours when I was 17 and played for three more years, captaining the side for the 1949-50 season. I was a regular member of the Hockey team from the age of 16, even before I joined the hostel” – Chandra Schaffter.

Chandra Schaffter was an outstanding sportsman – a double international in Hockey and Cricket for Ceylon. He played 1st XI Cricket for STC from 1947 – 50, as a fine opening  bowler and an useful batsman, captaining his team in 1950. He represented STC at Senior Hockey for four years, from 1946-49, being Vice Captain in both 1948 & 49.

He won College Colours for Cricket, Hockey, Soccer & Fives. He was also Vice-Captain of Soccer & Fives, in addition to Hockey. Represented his House in Nine Sports – Athletics, Boxing, Cricket,  Fives, Hockey, PT, Soccer, Swimming & Tennis.

President of the Union Society.

College Prefect from 1948 49 and Head Prefect in 1950.  Victoria Jubilee Gold Medalist in 1949 for the Best All Round Student.

“It is fair to say that during the 4 ½ years of my chaplaincy at this College, there is no boy in whom I have placed more complete confidence. His conduct as a Prefect and later as Head Prefect was an example and an inspiration to others. He was appointed at a difficult time, when there was still some laxity of discipline and general behaviour, largely as a result of the war years, and it was in great measure due to his untiring efforts that the whole tone of the boarding-house and the body of prefects was raised to a high standard…not surpassed since.Beneath a quiet and unassuming manner, he has the highest qualities of leadership, and without fear or favour has the ability to get others to work with him for him.” R.H. Bowyer Yin – M.A. Cambridge, Chaplain S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia.

Chandra Schaffter made his cricket debut for Ceylon under F.C. de  Saram in 1954 against the visiting England Cricket team led by Sir  Leonard Hutton.

Schaffter also represented Sri Lanka at Hockey under the captaincy of A. Mylvaganam against Pakistan in 1955.

Seven times Mercantile Association, Senior National Hockey Championships of Ceylon Titles – 1956, 58, 59, 60, 61,62 & 63. Captain of Colombo Hockey Association, winning the Senior National Hockey Championships of Ceylon in 1957.

His best first class cricket performance for Ceylon came in the Gopalan Trophy match against Madras in 1953–54, when he opened the bowling taking 3 for 28 and 3 for 71 helping the Ceylon team win by an innings.

As a Sports Administrator, his contribution to Tamil Union (the cradle of Sri Lankan cricket) and Sri Lanka has been immense. He has been Manager of Sri Lanka’s National Cricket Teams, National Selector in both Cricket and Hockey (including Chairman of Selectors).

Vice Patron, Vice President & Secretary of Ceylon / Sri Lanka Hockey Federation.

Vice Patron & Vice President of Mercantile Hockey Association.

Vice Patron of the Ceylon Olympic Association.

Patron, former President & Honorary Life Member of the Tamil Union Cricket & Athletics Club, contributing over 70 years of service to the Club.

Chandra Schaffter’s phenomenal journey—from the cricket field to entrepreneurship—reflects resilience, passion, and a commitment to excellence.

Mr. Schaffter, at 95 years, is currently the oldest Thomian & Sri Lankan cricketer alive living in Sri Lanka. He was one of 49 former  Sri Lankan cricketers felicitated by Sri Lanka Cricket.

“The pinnacle of Schaffter’s success was due to his perseverance in life, encouragement from his wife, Lilani and laudable loyalty from his experienced staff. The saga of his 65 years in the insurance industry is a beautiful story of a gentleman and sportsman” – Upali K. Salgado, former College mate.

CHANDRA SCHAFFTER – THE MODEL OF RESILIENCE ….. Business Career

“The biggest achievement in my professional life was when Janashakthi acquired the majority stake in the National Insurance Corporation, especially in the light of Janashakthi’s very entry into the Sri Lankan Insurance Market being stiffly resisted by the then existing players.” – Mr Chandra Schaffter

Young Chandra entered University and spent an enjoyable freshman year  earning Colours in both cricket and hockey. He was less successful in the lecture halls and failed his entrance exam to Medical College. So he decided to start working to support himself, rather than continuing to  depend on his relatives. His confidence however turned out to be misplaced, as he had grossly underestimated how much weight the elite clubs placed on family connections. After a frustrating year of rejection, and having exhausted all his options for a better position, he took a job as a clerk with Ceylon Insurance Co. Ltd.

“I entered the Colombo University in 1950, to what was called the pre medical class or the first MB, but I did not pass the exams. So I left the university and looked for a job. I was not successful for almost a year. Eventually, after walking the streets of Colombo job hunting and one year of trying, I got employment as a clerk.”

Chandra Schaffter began work in the insurance business in 1952 as a  clerk with the Ceylon Insurance Company. A year later he joined ‘Manulife’ – Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. Ltd (the fifth largest insurance company in the country, and the second largest in Canada) – and worked there for five ‘exhilarating’ years, including two years as Branch Secretary.

“My career at Manufacturers Life came to an abrupt end in 1956, when the company’s head office decided that it was too much of a business risk to continue to operate in Ceylon.”

Schaffter joined Carson Cumberbatch & Co in 1957, a typical agency  house, as a Junior Executive, where he worked for 14 years in  insurance and eventually became Manager of the insurance department.

“Manulife permitted me to offer Carsons their agency, which also meant that all the Canadian company’s staff was taken over by Carsons. I had extremely good training at Carsons, who were hard task masters. The downside was that they were not interested in sports and to that extent my cricket and hockey suffered a great deal. Despite all the restrictions while at Carsons, such as going for practice and playing regular matches, I represented for Sri Lanka in both cricket and hockey.”

At the age of 36, Chandra married Lilani, a distant cousin, fifteen years younger than himself. By the time Chandra decided in 1972 to leave his well-paid and comfortable job as Senior Executive at Carsons, the couple  had four children – the eldest Prakash (6), Manjula (5), Ramesh (3) and Dinesh (2).

In 1972 he resigned from what was then a very attractive job in the Mercantile sector, to get on his run as an Insurance Agent. “I was not happy anymore at Carsons so I left them and became what I would call an ‘ordinary agent’ who worked only on commissions. By going out on my own I took a big risk, as I had a wife and four children – three sons and a daughter. Giving up one of the best paid jobs in the mercantile sector to become an insurance agent meant I had to go round canvassing business. I had to because the business had no money and for a long time life was quite difficult. But little by little, through patience and perseverance, I managed to find some clients, earn a commission and keep going. That’s how I got to stage one of my life outside of my regular job. Then I did a little work for James Finlays and they were pleased with what I did and they gave me insurance surveys to do and then they asked me to look after their insurance department. I had a small staff and that staff grew.”

In 1973 he and his wife Lilani moved to Chennai (formerly Madras), where their three sons and daughter completed their schooling, while he worked as an Insurance Consultant and a Loss Adjuster, shuttling between Colombo and Chennai every fortnight with his services being  sought after by many leading individuals, and mercantile establishments.

“A year after becoming self-employed I decided to take my family to India for my children’s education and also to find work. Obtaining work in India was very tough. No one did anything for nothing, and it took me quite some time to prove myself as an insurance consultant working on fees based jobs.”

Mr. Schaffter practically pioneered the concept of insurance consultancy in India. As his reputation grew he attracted clients of the calibre of Finlays and Ceylon Tobacco as well as large plantation  companies, the TVS Group of India and the Oberoi Group of Hotels.

“I earned a very good reputation, particularly, in the insurance of tea factories where I proved to be quite successful. I worked both in India and Sri Lanka, shuttling between these two countries every fortnight.” His work earned such respect in the industry that when the fire tariff was being re-written in South India in the late seventies, the management of the National Insurance Corporation of India asked Chandra Schaffter to draft the section relating to tea factories.

After being in India for over 12 years, Mr. Schaffter returned to Sri Lanka permanently in the 1980s and continued to work in insurance. In 1980 Schaffter incorporated ‘Protection & Indemnity Company Ltd’ as Principal Agent for National Insurance Corporation.

In 1994 he single handedly set up the Janashakthi Life company. In 2001 Janashakthi bought out the National Insurance Corporation. He worked to improve road safety in Colombo, and after the 2004 tsunami he spearheaded the highest claim payout of any insurer in Sri Lanka, going beyond the payment of legitimate claims paying considerably in excess of the company’s liabilities to alleviate mass suffering as a result of the tsunami.

Janashakthi handled many things other life insurance companies would not cover at the time. Janashakthi General was also the first private company to accept insurance against terrorism and against AIDS.

A Catalyst for Reform

The year 1977 brought with it sweeping changes in Sri Lanka. The general election was a landslide victory for the United National Party, which won 140 of the 168 seats in the National State Assembly.

In 1979, Minister of Trade and Commerce, Mr Lalith Athulathmudali, decided than an active competitor with some private sector involvement was needed to push the industry towards providing customers with a better service. Chandra Schaffter was approached to work on a proposal  that would address this need. He provided a blueprint for the setting up  of a subsidiary/independent corporation that catalysed the liberalisation of the insurance industry in Sri Lanka. On the back of this blueprint, the Government set up the National Insurance Corporation (NIC).

In 1980, when the National Insurance Corporation started, he was appointment as Principal Agent for National Insurance Corporation, the only individual/standalone company (Protection & Indemnity Co. Ltd).

Schaffter opened a small office on the ground floor of the Moors Sports Club, on Muttiah Road, Colombo. In addition he managed two more of the eight approved players viz – Acland Finance and Investments Ltd and James Finlays and Co.

“After the UNP came into power in 1979, Mr. Lalith Athulathmudali sent me a message to formulate a plan for an alternate government insurance company to compete with Sri Lanka Insurance which had become very lackadaisical. I gave him a proposal in which this company would have principal agents, all in the private sector and I suggested that the old agency houses be given principal agencies. Based on my proposal the National Insurance Cooperation was established. It had several principal agents – all the big companies who would all issue policies, settle claims on behalf of the National Insurance Corporation to whom all the premiums would go and out of these funds, claims would be settled. It turned out to be an excellent suggestion The ownership was totally with the State, but the management was private sector.

I too got a principal agency and was reasonably successful. I had to get large bank guarantees and surprisingly a government bank gave me a huge guarantee, without any security from me at all. I had nothing at all to offer, but I was lucky.

Within a few years I made a success of that and so I was able to pay them off and to get on with it. The Principal Agency system was very good and the National Insurance Corporation too did extremely well.”

In 1986, Mr Schaffter presented another landmark paper on the invitation of the then Finance Minister, which was successfully presented to Parliament, to bring about the breaking of an 18-year State monopoly and the allowance of private ownership in insurance. Mr. Schaffter was the architect of the proposals for this reform.

Playmaker in Eagle Stars’ entry to Sri Lanka

“A few years later Mr. Ronnie de Mel, the Finance Minister at the time, asked me for a plan for the privatisation of insurance in Sri Lanka. I prepared what was eventually to be a white paper on the subject and I must say that the paper I produced was accepted without single alteration.”

Mr. Schaffter was subsequently instrumental in persuading Eagle Star to form CTC Eagle (via Ceylon Tobacco Co.), the first multinational insurer post nationalisation. He also provided the entire management services for five years. He structured their life products that stood and held sway some two decades (through subsequent ownerships by Zurich and Aviva). Mr. Schaffter also formed P&I Insurance Brokers in Sri Lanka – the largest brokerage company at that time (and subsequently acquired Acland Finance and Investments Limited,  a Government owned principal agent) in 1993.

“In 1988, the insurance field was liberalized by permitting private companies to enter the industry. The Ceylon Insurance Group set up Ceylinco Insurance, 3-4 principal agents formed Union Assurance, and I persuaded Ceylon Tobacco Co, a subsidiary of BAT (British American Tobacco), to set up CTC Eagle.

I gave CTC Eagle a good part of my staff and I managed their Life Department for 3-4 years. I then went back to my main function as an insurance broker which was a very successful business. During this time I also continued to work in India as well.”

Founder of Janashakthi Insurance

In 1994, Mr Schaffter single handedly set up, the first specialist Sri Lankan  Life insurance company, Janashakthi Life, with just 32 staff, and the next  year he opened up the first specialist General insurance company.

“We had done extremely well as brokers. In 1992, my family suggested that I set up my own insurance company. Initially I was very diffident because I did not have any capital and wondered as to how I could compete with the big boys – the likes of Carsons, John Keels, Ceylinco and of course the National Insurance Corporation!

Anyway I made a start. With some trepidation, I laid out plans for a company called Janashakthi Life Insurance Company with the clay lamp as its logo.”

“We needed to have a capital of about 25 million rupees and I had none. However, I was fortunate as we had others who invested and we started Janashakthi Life in 1994, 30 years ago. That’s how I began my own insurance company. Despite some initial opposition Janashakthi started operation in September 1994.

A year later we decided to start General Insurance just on a five-minute decision! But that was not easy as the established companies were afraid that they would lose business to me.

Everybody turned against us. I lost good friends in the process because they thought I was a threat to them.

They were so desperate that they tried every measure to thwart my application for a licence. Some even went to the extent of publishing scurrilous articles about the intended company, but I obtained a licence for Janashakthi General as well. Janashakthi was a pioneer in many areas of insurance practice, both in Life and Non-life insurance.”

Astoundingly, apart from actuarial assistance in calculating life premiums, Schaffter did all the work in setting up the companies, formulating and  drafting all the policies – both Life and Non-Life and in recruiting the senior staff.

Five years on, in 2000, he merged the two companies to form Janashakthi Insurance Company. He built up 70 branches based on a novel concept of franchised agents.

“As time went on, the Life and General companies were amalgamated. This was not a major problem because a good part of the shareholding was within the family.”

In 2001, the company bought the controlling shares in National Insurance Corporation (which he had helped set up), as it went up for sale. “In some ways this was our biggest achievement! This acquisition made the insurance world sit up and take notice of us as we were among the top rung of the insurance companies….in the course of my career, we acquired First Capital and Orient Finance which now are all part of the Janashakthi Group.”

Mr. Schaffter the Innovator …. Always keeping people at the heart of his product strategy

Mr Schaffter’s innovation peaked with Life Unlimited – the only insurance policy in Sri Lanka and perhaps in the world to offer Life and Hospitalisation benefits for the entire lifetime of the policyholder, even after premium payments ceased.

He was the President of the Sri Lanka Insurance Association in 2001/02.  He has served in the Insurance Legislation Committee, the Government  Pension Fund, and the Financial Reform Committee, and was for several years the representative for insurance at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

Today the Janashakthi Group of Companies founded by Mr Chandra Schaffter, is run by his sons Prakash and Ramesh Schaffter who in turn carry the torch of insurance from the solid foundations set in place by their father. The Group is today a leading conglomerate in the country with a presence in the Life insurance, NBFI sector and Capital markets.  The Janashakthi brand is a well-recognized brand across the country.

He championed the highest payout by any insurer in Sri Lanka, which was  considerably in excess of the company’s legitimate claims.

GOPIO International Renown Entrepreneur Excellence Award 2010 – Sri Lanka

“I continued to work until 2010, when I turned 80. I still went to the office – however, slowed down – and handed over the bulk of my work to my sons. By 2015 (at age 85) I moved out completely. The company is now run by my two sons Prakash and Ramesh.

I have always regarded Janashakthi as a Family and not as a Company. Our concern for our staff has always been of importance to us and we have always dealt fairly with each and every one of them, and they have more than appreciated it.

Even when we had over 2,000 employees, we never had a Union. We inherited a Union when we purchased the National Insurance Corporation, but it soon withered away on its own. We for our part, never made any attempt to smother it.’

Service to Cricket Administration

Sri Lanka Cricket Manager – Mr. Chandra Schaffter “Let me begin with my time with the Tamil Union where the ground originally was a marsh. Mr. P. Saravanamuttu filled up the marsh and built a beautiful ground and a stadium. The first proper international match against India was played there in 1946 when Vijay Merchant brought his team.

The next the really big one was when (Sir) Don Bradman played in 1948. It was only the second time Bradman had played in Asia. There was a huge crowd and thereafter the Tamil Union – popularly known as the Colombo Oval – was the venue for most International matches for a long time.

Subsequently, there was a break but Sri Lanka Cricket came back. It has been sporadic but the Colombo Oval, renamed P. Sara Oval in later years, has been the home of International Cricket for Sri Lanka.”

Left: The legendary P. Sara – Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu

“I played both Cricket and Hockey for the Tamil Union Club – cricket for almost 20 years and hockey for 25 years, from my school days. However, my contribution to the club has been more in the administration including as its Secretary and President. I helped the club to expand the stadium. My children are now doing what I wanted done. They have helped the club to go forward in many ways.”

Happiest Times

“I was also a National Cricket Selector for some time and later managed the Sri Lanka cricket team on several occasions. That was in some ways my happiest years. Managing the Sri Lanka cricket team was very enjoyable, particularly the 1982 team to India and my stint as Manager in 1999 when I took over a shattered team who had been routed at the 1999 World Cup, after having won in 1996.

The 1999 tour by Australia was most fulfilling as Sri Lanka beat Australia in the Test and we also thrashed Australia in the Final of the 50-over ODI Triangular tournament that included India.

Man of Great Compassion

“I regard my staff as a part of my family. People who come to us want a job and it is our duty, a God-given duty, to look after them. In fact, in Janashakthi we call ourselves family rather than a company. It’s also a family-owned company run by my family. We are always concerned about the welfare of our staff, who are part of the extended family. As I used to say, we don’t look at the rule book when you have to do something for a member of the staff. We try to do whatever we can to make life a little easier for them. In that way we have accomplished a fair amount as employers over the last 35 years. I think that’s very important.

If you cannot do something for those who work for you, but you seek to get the best out of them and not worry about them, then, I don’t think life is worth living.”

Philanthropist

“I have been involved in a few projects. We did what we could while I was Chairman of the Deaf and Blind School. Later I helped an organization called ‘Tea Leaf Vision’ which helps to teach children English in the plantation areas. They do a wonderful job. They produce about 250 to 300 English speaking students after a nine month course and I would say 80 percent of them get jobs fairly quickly. That shows the excellence of the training program they have. They take all those children free.

Some of the children come long distances to attend the classes. Sometimes when they stop coming the teachers go to their houses to find out why and they say they have no bus fare. That’s the only thing they have to pay for and so the school helps them even with their bus fare and it has paid a lot of dividends. It’s a wonderful thing that they are doing. The program was started by an Englishman now resident in New Zealand, Tim Pare and his wife (Yasmene Shah). They started it on their own and now it’s a fairly active vibrant organization.”

Vision for Sri Lanka

Prashan De Visser: “Mr. Schaffter, you were in this country (Sri Lanka) through various conflicts so much of cycles of violence. You would have experienced the 1983 ethnic violence. You saw all those things happen and you could have always said, “I’m done, I’m out of here, this country is not my home!” But you’re here and you continue to invest. You continue to dream for this country why was that?”

Mr. Schaffter: “Well, I was there during all those violent conflicts in 1956, 1958, 1977 and then in 1983…but I still think this is a wonderful country to live in. The majority community are some of the nicest people. You go into a village, your car breaks down, they’ll surround your car and say what can we do for you. They don’t worry about who or what you are.

It’s the politicians who are to blame because they cater to the worst instincts of human beings in order to gather their votes, and that is the ruination of this country, absolutely nothing else. When I say politicians I don’t mean only the politicians of the majority community. They are politicians from all communities who appeal to our basest instincts to get our votes. That is the sad thing in this country. And until that changes and particularly the majority community realize that there is no danger to them from the minorities, the danger which is spoken of shall exist. The flames of ethnic conflicts are fanned only by narrow-minded parties with political interests for their own selfish gains.

As a country Sri Lanka should be one where there is no want. There is a lot of want in this country. I am particularly interested in the plantations. If you go to the plantations you will find a lot of them who don’t have adequate food. They live in tiny little 15 by 12 (feet) houses. You will find 10 people living in that, in one small room. Some of them don’t have even toilets – they have to go to the fields. The schools don’t have toilets… even the girls schools don’t have toilets. I leave you to imagine how they manage in schools!

The schools are also inadequate in the type of teaching they do. Health is poorly attended to. Their mortality rates are high and they are really nobody’s children. You also find that more than half the plantation population is working outside. The fault is entirely that of the owners or the managers. The state of the country has not made it worthwhile for them to remain on the estate. They now have a way out, so they go out.

The view of the country has to change towards both minorities and also the poor people in the majority community. All of them need help and I think that is what they should do first before they think of anything else.”

The infamous mass violence and ethnic riots of 1983 shook the country  and permanently scarred thousands of its minority Tamil civilians.

“My father has always been the patriarch of the family. The extended family numbers something like hundred and sixty. His sisters were much older than him and some of their children were older than my father. Yet he was still their Uncle, and he was respected as a ‘Mama’. From the time we were children, he was very much the head of the family, which was quite a responsibility. But nothing fazes him. In 1983, he had over a hundred family members looking to him for help and protection. He helped some of them move to India…He even set up industries, such as milk collection, yoghurt making, brick making and handloom weaving, to sustain themselves.” – Ramesh Schaffter

1947 – STC 1st XI Cricket Team

 

Seated (L-R): W. Dharmadas, R.I.P. Weerakoon, U.E. Katugaha (Capt.),S.J. Thambiah, P.A. Toussaint.

Standing (L-R): Mr. R.B. Wijesinghe (Coach), C.T.A. Schaffter, P.T. Shanthi Kumar, Chellaraj, W.J. May, R.A.H. Gooneratne, P.S. Arasakumar, The Warden (Rev. Canon de Saram).

“ During the war my education was somewhat disrupted and I did not handle a bat for four years. When I rejoined College in 1946, aged 16, I was fortunate to be called for 1 st XI practice. Miraculously, although I had not played any cricket at all, I had not lost what little talent I had and the coach Bertie Wijesinghe recognised me. He had me play as the opening bat.

Unfortunately, my circumstances prevented me from attending practices during the holidays in December 1946. When I went back in to College in January 1947, coach Bertie Wijesinghe who was a strict disciplinarian told me that if I wanted to enjoy Christmas, I could continue to do that and need not come for practices. He dropped me from the team throughout January and February. Unfortunately for the school, but maybe fortunately for me, S. Thomas’ was very badly defeated in most matches, and were having a miserable year. I was still outside the boundary line, not even a reserve.

The Trinity match was to be played on turf in Kandy. The team’s practices were held at SSC, in preparation for the Asgiriya turf wicket. I was asked to come as a net bowler. The famous Thomian captain A.C. Ahamath, was also there to watch us practice. He was also an outstanding umpire. He noticed that I was somewhat better on turf than most of the others and recommended me, and perhaps partly in desperation, Bertie Wijesinghe included me in the team for the match against Trinity. I did nothing exceptional but all the other bowlers were soundly thrashed by Trinity. I was the only one who came out with some respectability. On the strength of that one performance, and the one wicket I took, I was awarded my cricket colours, virtually unknown in Thomian history. This was nothing short of a miracle, as I had no godfathers either in the team or at S. Thomas’, to promote my cause. I played in the 1947 Royal-Thomian and again did nothing spectacular, taking just one wicket for the match.”

1948 – STC 1st XI Cricket Team

“In 1948, I was recognised as a good bowler and had a good season.”

Seated (L-R): C.T.A. Schaffter, W.J. May, S.J. ‘Stanley’ Thambiah (Capt.), P.A. Toussaint (Vice Capt.), P.T. Shanthi Kumar, P.S. Arasakumar. Standing (L-R): Mr. R.B. Wijesinghe (Coach), T. Jayalingam, D.S. Jayawardena, C. Chellaraj, R.B. Weerakoon , R.C. Inman, The Warden (Rev. Canon de Saram).

1949 – STC 1st XI Cricket Team

Seated (L-R): R.C. Inman, C. Chellaraj, P.T. Shanti Kumar (Captain), The Warden (Rev. Canon de Saram), C.T.A. Schaffter (Vice Captain), R.B. Weerakoon, T. Jayalingam.

Standing (L-R): Mr. R.B. (Bertie) Wijesinghe (Coach), G.V. Tissera, C.A. Barrow, D.S. Jayawardena, C.M. Samarasinghe, K.C.E. Perera.

“In 1949 which was my third year in the team, I was considered an outstanding bowler and my performance in the Royal-Thomian encounter that year was exceptional.”

NAIL-BITING DRAW

The 70th ‘Battle of the Blues’ in 1949 took place at the Colombo Oval. Royal who won the toss and batted, made 242, with Gamini Goonesena top scoring with 58. S. Thomas’ innings began at 4.40 p.m. and were soon in trouble with three wickets down for 45 when opener Vernon Tissera (older brother of Michael Tissera) was dismissed for a well-compiled 30.

Thomian captain P. T. Shanti Kumar and C. Chellaraj, who had taken three wickets each in Royal’s first innings, combined well with the bat to produce a fourth wicket partnership of 81. The Thomian innings closed on Saturday at 225. For the Royalists, S. Wignarajah and Gamini Goonesena took five wickets and three wickets respectively.

The Royalists were bundled out for 101 in their second innings, with Thomian vice-captain and paceman Chandra Schaffter ripping the top order in a brilliant spell. Vairavanathan played a crucial knock of 41 and was the only batsman to look confident against the pace of Schaffter who finished with the superb figures of six wickets for 27 in 16 overs.

The Thomians had the challenging task of chasing 119 runs for victory in about 65 minutes. Although they lost an early wicket when Tissera was run out, the Thomians played positively as they took on the Royal attack. Opener K.C.E. Perera (47) and R.B. Weerakoon (36) were batting  confidently for the 2nd wicket and a Thomian win looked certain.

However, both of them got out going for quick runs and when Chellaraj too fell cheaply, Schaffter, who had scored an useful 18 in the first innings, was promoted to number six in the batting order to join skipper Shanti  Kumar. They pushed the Thomian score to 113 for 4 wickets with 6 runs  to get, six balls to go and six wickets still intact, the match a nail-biter!

It was the last over of the match and Gamini Goonesena was bowling for Royal and it boiled down to 4 to get in the last ball. However, Shanti Kumar was able to get only a single and the match was drawn with the Thomian score at 116 for 4 wickets, three runs short of victory – what a finish to the match.

“It was-indicated the other day (Sunday, 1st of December, 2024) when we had our fellowship get together at SSC, that my dear friend Chandra Schaffter had faced the last three balls and could not make the three runs needed to win the 1949 Royal Thomian. It was not Schaffter who faced the last three balls but our captain Shanti Kumar Phillips who faced them and tried to late cut the last three balls. Shanti was a great fan of M. Satha‘s late cut and tried his best to imitate Satha that was our down fall.

Schaffter and our fantastic wicket-keeper Jayalingam had a great understanding. Jayalingam stood up to Schaffter at a given sign and many a stump was taken on the leg side and the batsmen nine out of 10 times was stumped. Of course they had an understanding and at a given sign, an almost yorker was bowled on the leg side which resulted in the batsmen over stepping and Jaya had the bails off in a flash. Shanti married my sister in later years and became my brother in law and never lived down the Satha late cut! I was one of the members of the team in 1949.” Vernon Tissera

Royal-Thomian 70th Encounter Date: 18th & 19th March 1949 (Colombo Oval)

Captains: C.H. Gunasekera (Royal) & P.T. Shanti Kumar (STC)

RC 1st Innings: 242 (C.H. Gunasekera 24, S.D.N. Hapugalle 42, T. Vairavanathan 39, G. Goonesena 58, V.K. Gunasekera 28, H.C. Perera  17; C. Chellaraj 3 for 60; P.T. Shanti Kumar 3 for 41).

STC 1st Innings: 225 (G.V. Tissera 30, P.T. Shanti Kumar 55, C. Chellaraj 43, R.C. Inman 21, C.T.A. Schaffter 18, C.A. Barrow 15*; G. Goonesena 3 for 64, S. Wignarajah 5 for 35).

RC 2nd Innings 101 (T. Vairavanathan 41, C.H. Gunasekera 15, F.S. Atapattu 16*; C.T.A. Schaffter 16-02-27-06, C. Chellaraj 3 for 45).

STC 2nd Innings: 116 for 4 (K.C.E. Perera 47, R.B. Weerakoon 36, P.T. Shanti Kumar 13*, C.T.A. Schaffter 13*; G. Goonesena 2 for 37).

1950 STC 1st XI Cricket Team

Seated (L-R): C.A. Barrow, T. Jayalingam, C.T.A. Schaffter (Captain), The Warden  (Rev. Canon de Saram), R.C. Inman, C.M. Samarasinghe.

Standing (L-R): Mr. Donald Fairweather (Coach), E.H. Titus, D.D. Keerthiratne, P.I. Pieris, B.A. Weinman, J.O. Yatawara, J.G.C. Peiris.

Seated (on ground): J.H. Koch

“1950, the year I captained the school, was a good one for me in both batting and bowling. However, as luck would have it, I twisted my ankle before the Royal-Thomian. Everybody did their best to get me back into condition.

Finally on the day of the match, the doctor said I was fit to play, but the coach, Donald Fairweather, was not satisfied and decided otherwise. Hence the Warden, very reluctantly, had no alternative but to leave me out of the Big Match.

The tragedy of my life was that on the day after the Royal-Thomian match, I was playing hockey on the college grounds. So I was one of the few captains who did not play in the Royal-Thomian.

But, those are the lessons one learns in cricket and in school. You do not question authority and accept it as it comes – the good and the bad!”

Deputy Mayor T. Rudra (left) had former All-Ceylon “Cap”, Donald Fairweather as partner when he opened the innings of the Patron’s XI against the President’s XI – a match which marked the opening of the Municipal Sports Clubs’s new pavilion and grounds at Victoria Park. – Times of Ceylon (25 Feb 1955).

“Donald Fairweather then was more than a legend. I think Donald made his first XI debut when he was 14. He played five years (1932-36) and captained the team for three years (1934-

Donald was an exceptional batsman, and could also bowl quite well. But more than that, he was a natural sportsman, and got his colours in several games. He coached S. Thomas’ in 1949/50, the year I captained. Even at that time he could bat better than most of his peers and he was fit as ever. There is the story of how he hit a Six into a train. He was also an excellent fives player, perhaps school magazines of that time would carry his exploits in greater detail.” – Chandra Schaffter, 19.06.2024

*Given that the train kept going, this could be the longest six in the history of the game!! (RR).

Chandra Schaffter at Hockey: for School, University & Ceylon …. Mr. Schaffter in correspondence with Prof. Michael Roberts

*photos from STC College Magazines

1947 – STC Senior Hockey Team

Standing (L-R): Mr. D.F. David, N. Illangakoon, P.S. Duleepkumar, C.H. Mendis, O.E.J. de Soysa, R.J.T. Casinader, L.G. Gunawardena. Seated (L-R): C.E.H. de Saram, E.R.B. Tissera, I.L. Dassenaike (Capt.), C.T.A. Schaffter, G.A.W. de Alwis. On the Ground (L-R): A.L. Virasinghe.

“I was a better hockey player at national level, than at cricket. I started playing hockey at the age of 8 or 9, on the road with my father’s walking stick. We could not afford to buy a hockey stick at that time.

However, when I got a bit older, we had access to hockey sticks in school. Then war intervened and for five years, from 1941 until 1946, I had no hockey at all, never touching a hockey stick. In 1946 when I went back to S. Thomas’, I started playing hockey again and somehow, even though I had little or no hockey for about five years, I was taken into the 1st XI team. I played regularly for College. I progressed rapidly and we had one of the best teams, in the late 1940’s, beating several clubs as well.”

1948 – STC Senior Hockey Team

Standing (L-R): Mr. C.S. Weerasinghe, S. Kanagarajah, V.L. Blaze, The Warden (Rev. Canon de Saram), D.E. Weerasinghe, N. Illangakoon,Mr. L.W. Abeywardena.

Seated (L-R): A. Mahadevan, J.O. Yatawara, I.L. Dassenaike (Capt.), C.T.A. Schaffter (Vice. Capt.), R.J.T. Casinader.

On the Ground (L-R): T. Maartensz (Reserve), M.W. de Jong, A.J.  Virasinghe, K.I. de Silva.

“In 1948, we had the Madras Presidency side visiting us and we were the only side to beat them. So one of us said “Why don’t we go to India” and so we did. We got together a team – not everybody in the 1st eleven, as some dropped out. Mr. Lassie Abeywardene came with us and so did our hockey master Mr. C.S. Weerasinghe.

In 1948, passports or visas were not required. We just bought our tickets from the Fort station, went by train to Talaimannar, by boat to Dhanushkodi and then by train to Madras, where we played a few matches.

We then came back to Trichy, played another match and returned to Colombo – all by train. It was a wonderful trip and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, especially in the Moore Market, where there were several Sri Lankans having shops.”

1949 – STC Senior Hockey Team

Standing (L-R): Mr. L.W. Abeywardena (Referee), G.V. Tissera, K.S. Thangaiah, H.R. Wickramasinghe, A.M. Jayasekera, C. Vaithianathan,

1. Siriwardene, C.S. Weerasinghe (Coach).

Seated (L-R): C.T. Jansz, J.O. Yatawara, I.L. Dassenaike (Capt.), The Warden (Rev. Canon de Saram), C.T.A. Schaffter (Vice Capt.), N.  Illangakoon, S.R. Swami.

“As time went on, by the time I was 21 or 22, I was playing for the Tamil Union, as one of their frontline players and by the time I was 23, I was playing for Sri Lanka, and went on tour to Bangalore and Chennai. I also played against the Pakistani National team.

Such visits were few and far between, and my work at Carson Cumberbatch, which was a hard taskmaster in regard to employment, made it difficult for me to practice or represent Sri Lanka in hockey.

I was Secretary of the Hockey Federation from 1959-63, and was responsible for revising their constitution. I was also a National Selector in the 1960s and was Chairman in 1967. In ’73 and ’74 I was chairman and then resigned over the National Sports Act.”

“I represented the Mercantile Hockey Association in the Nationals for several years. I was Vice President of the Mercantile Hockey Association during 1968–71, and from 1972 –76 I was the Vice Patron. I was a National Selector in ’60–’62 and in 1966, when I was appointed as chairman. Then again from ’72–’73 and before I resigned, in 1974.

I managed Sri Lankan Hockey team’s tour of South and North India in 1971 and that was in itself an epic event. I should really not have gone as Manager, as the convention was for the Secretary to go. But William Molligoda, the President, forced it upon me and so I took the team. None of us were well off and the Hockey Federation hardly had any money to give us. I think we got some assistance from the organisers of the Nehru Tournament for which we were going.

We went by train to India, played some matches in Madras and then went to Delhi again by train, which was crowded and some of our players spread newspapers on the floor of the train and slept. I was quite willing to do that myself but the players would not hear of it. We were well treated in Delhi, to the best of their ability. We were put up in a school but we had been used to hardships.

In fact when we landed in Madras, the Madras Hockey Association put us up at the Nehru Stadium where we had to sleep on the cement terraces, with no sheets or pillows, and water/toilets were nearly 200 yards away. The Nehru Stadium was next to the Moore Market at that time. We did well in the tournament although we did not end up as winners. But we had done so well that we were asked to stay back and play a few more matches in Delhi and then the Rajasthan Hockey Association invited us.

Again we went by train another few hundred miles to Rajasthan and played some hockey there. We then came back to Chennai for a few more matches before returning back to Colombo. This was a great tour because we did it on a shoestring budget – in fact, the shoe-string itself was very short. But those were the great things about the games we played in those days when we did not have the luxuries of today. Sadly hockey is not played as much as it should. It is a game we [Sri Lankans] are good at but unfortunately, unscrupulous officials thought more of themselves than of the game and we are now in the doldrums.

I played for the University as well in the year I was there. We beat practically every club and just missed winning the championship.

S. Thomas’ had had an excellent hockey team and every member of the University was a Thomian except for the goal keeper Bandu Weeraratne, and the Captain Brian. As I said, we did very well beating every club.” – Chandra Schaffter

** A NOTE below from Prof. Michael Roberts, 31 March 2023 “Chandra has penned this account at my request and I am well-pleased  because the place of hockey in our sporting calendar has been eclipsed in recent decades.”

1949 – STC, VICTORIA GOLD MEDALIST

Seated (L-R): Chandra Schaffter, C.I. Gunasekera, Vernon Prins (Captain),  Channa Gunasekera, H.I.K. Fernando.

Standing (L-R): Anton Sethupathy, Malcom Francke, Tony Buhar, Clive Inman, Michael Tissera, A.C.M. Lafir.

“In mid-1950, I entered the Colombo University but perhaps played more cricket and hockey, than study. We went at the end of that year to Hyderabad to play in the Rohinton Baria tournament. We had a good side and all the members were either Royalists or Thomians except for Andrew Nanayakara who was from Nalanda. We played against Nagpur University, a strong side who got over 300 runs against us. We batted and got about 200. When Nagpur batted again, Andrew and I got all ten wickets between us – I got seven and he three, as we shot out the Nagpur for just 70 runs. Unfortunately, we could not make the remaining runs and had to return to Sri Lanka.”

“I left the University in the middle of 1951 and began looking for work and of course the Tamil Union for whom I played a few matches in 1949, wanted me back. Thereafter, I played for the Tamil Union until 1969, and opened their bowling in every single match. I was never dropped and nobody else replaced me as an opening bowler.”

CEYLON & MCC TEAMS of 1958

Standing (L-R): D.S. de Soysa (umpire), Anton Sethupathy, ?, Michael Tissera, Arthur Milton, A.C.M. Lafir, Raman Subba Row, Clive Inman,  Tom Graveney, Malcom Francke, Peter Loader, Tony Buhar, Peter Richardson, C.D. Mayo (umpire).

Seated (L-R): Channa Gunasekera, Brian Statham, H.I.K. Fernando, Jim Laker, Vernon Prins (captain), R.P. Senanayake (President, B.C.C.C.), Colin Cowdrey, C.I. Gunasekera, Trevor Bailey, Chandra Schaffter, Godfrey Evans.

*The 1958 MCC team was captained by Peter May, who is not in the team photo above which was taken before the first game (played on 05.08.1958) captained by Colin Cowdrey. Ceylon were 47-6, on a damp pitch, when rain stopped play. Peter May was to play the next day but the second game was rained off.

“In 1954, I played against Len Hutton’s MCC team to Australia, as the opening bowler. I got several encomiums from visiting journalists when I took two wickets in the game. I was also selected to play against the visiting MCC team in 1958 but the match was called off due to rain.”

MCC v All Ceylon – Colombo Oval,30th September 1954

“The Ceylon cricketers fielded better than the MCC in their match”, said Arthur Gilligan, former English captain, author and commentator, when interviewed by the Daily News immediately after the match.

Vic Wilson, the MCC left hander, turns a ball to the square leg boundary.

MCC opening pair, Reg Simpson and Bill Edrich, walking out to bat. The pair were separated after forty minutes, when only 26 runs were scored.

Cowdrey braced up MCC

Colin Cowdrey (left) and Vic Wilson figured in the only real partnership of the MCC innings.

A GALLANT unbeaten innings of 66 in 80 minutes that contained 11 fours  by England’s bright young batting star, Colin Cowdrey, highlighted the  one-day cricket match between the MCC and All-Ceylon, played in front of a packed crowd of 10,000, which ended in a draw. Cowdrey timed his  shots beautifully and scored many of his runs off powerful drives and  square cuts. He helped MCC to declare at 178 for 8 wickets. Ceylon had  just over two hours of batting and against a steady MCC attack, totalled 101 for the loss of four wickets, when stumps were drawn.

The Ceylon bowlers never faltered in length and every one of them met with success. Pace bowler Chandra Schaffter kept a steady length and attacked the stumps all the time. He was ably supported by Vernon Prins who shared the opening attack. Leg spinner Brian Claessen was most impressive. After beating Peter May time again, he met with success when May skied the ball to Stanley Jayasinghe, who held a good catch at deep fine leg. Claessen’s final figures were 04-02-06-02.

In Ceylon’s innings, Brian Statham bowled exceptionally well and had the  batman guessing with his controlled pace and swing. He bowled C.H.  Gunasekera with a beauty and got Prins out in a similar style with another sharp in-swinger.

Schoolboy, A.C.M. Lafir of St. Anthony’s College, Kandy, made a good debut in representative cricket. He fielded well, took an excellent catch and capped his performance with a good innings, playing the MCC pacemen – Frank Tyson in particular – with much confidence.

Skipper, F.C. de Saram, at the age of 42, played a grand innings of 43 that included seven fours. Visiting pressmen who watched F.C. de Saram bat yesterday found it difficult to believe that 20 years had elapsed since this samebatsman caned an Australian attack which included Grimmett at the Parks in Oxford. De Saram surprised the fans by having a crack at the bowling and was particularly severe on left arm leg spinner, Wardle, who failed to keep a steady length.

Young Stanley Jayasinghe lived up to his reputation as a hard-hitting batsman with an attractive unbeaten 26. He began cautiously but then turned on the heat with some crashing drives off the back foot.

Bruce Harris, a famous name among cricket writers, said that he liked H.I.K. Fernando’s wicket keeping, Claessen’s leg spin, Schaffter’s pace bowling and F.C. de Saram’s batting.

Reg Simpson square cuts Schaffter for a single. Others in the picture (left to right) are Brian Claessen (gully), Vernon Prins (2nd slip), F.C de Saram  (1st slip) & H.I.K. Fernando (wicket-keeper).

Bill Edrich caught by Vernon Prins at second slip off the bowling of Schaffter.

Brian Statham is bowled by paceman, C.T.A. Schaffter.

“The Colombo Oval looked very fast, said Alex Bannister who is covering the tour for the ‘Daily Mail’. Speaking of Ceylon cricket he said that the pace man Schaffter could turn to be a really top-class medium pace bowler in time.

George Duckworth who brought out a Commonwealth team to Ceylon and is now scorer of the MCC Team said, “What a pity Schaffter could not go to England”. He too added that Schaffter is a top class medium pace bowler.

“Ian Peebles, the former Middlesex and England leg spinner, who writes for the Sunday Times was very impressed with C.T.A. Schaffter’s bowling.

MCC Captain Len Hutton (right), who sat out the game against All Ceylon, Johnny Wardle (centre) & Jim McConnon (left) watching play from the pavilion.

Len Hutton, the MCC Team Captain, gives F.C. de Saram his autograph on a miniature bat. Looking on is Bill Edrich.

Alan Ross who is covering the tour for ‘Sunday Observer’ picked the following team to play for England in their forthcoming Ashes Tests against Australia:–Len Hutton (Capt.), Bill Edrich, Peter May, Denis Compton, Tom Graveney orColin Cowdrey, Trevor Bailey, Godfrey Evans, Alec Bedser, Brian Statham, Frank Tyson and Bob Appleyard.

Chandra Schaffter played three first-class and two one-day matches for Ceylon between 1953 and 1958. His best performance came in the Gopalan Trophy match against Madras, in Madras, in 1953–54, when he opened the bowling and took 3 for 28 and 3 for 71 and the Ceylon team won by an innings and 108 runs.

“In 1953-54, I played in the Gopalan Trophy matches and did exceptionally well…Apart from being a player, I was also a Selector for Sri Lanka Cricket for several years.

At the request of Mr Robert Senanayake I redid the Constitution of the Board of Control for Cricket and endeavoured to tighten up some of the weak areas.

In 1972, the SLFP Government of Mrs Srimavo Bandaranayake, introduced a Sports Act which virtually meant the nationalisation of all sports. In protest I resigned from all offices which I held in the Cricket Board, the Vice Presidency of the Olympic Council, Chairmanship of Hockey Selectors. As one of its senior officers I did not want to have anything to do with sports thereafter.

However, once again, fate intervened! In 1981, Sri Lanka gained full member status of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and shortly thereafter (Feb 1982) played the inaugural Test against England at the Colombo Oval (the headquarters of the Tamil Union, by this time renamed Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium). The Tamil Union got me to run the match, which I did almost entirely on my own, with the help from a select few.

We were highly praised for our efforts in ensuring the occasion was a resounding success and Mr Gamini Dissanayake, who was the President of the Cricket Board, who was very pleased with my contribution and sent a message asking me to see him.

I told him that I had isolated myself from national sport, but he insisted that I accept the post of Sri Lanka’s Representative for Cricket in both India and Pakistan. My main objective was to arrange matches between the two counties. This I succeeded in doing and India visited Sri Lanka shortly thereafter when my friend Sriraman was the President. I visited Pakistan too and persuaded them to visit us.

In 1982, I was asked to manage the Sri Lankan Cricket Team to India, captained by Bandula Warnapura. It was a good team with brilliant cricketers like Roy Dias and Duleep Mendis, while D.S. de Silva, Ashantha de Mel, Ajit de Silva were all outstanding bowlers of their time.

In 1986, the Asian Cricket Council was formed and I was the first Treasurer. I used my influence with Ceylon Tobacco Company, along with my good friend Vijay Malalasekera who joined me, and we persuaded them to sponsor the first Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. The two of us ran the matches and Sri Lanka was the ultimate winner.

Selection Dilemma! Arjuna or Anura?

“An incident that I cannot help but relate is about the Selection Committee (1982 tour to India) comprising of the Team Manager, Captain and Vice-Captain. When we sat down to select the team, there were two names in contention – Arjuna Ranatunga who was an SSC member and Anura Ranasinghe who was a Bloomfield member. Bandula Warnapura, the captain was a prominent member of Bloomfield and we had to choose between these two.

The greatness of our selection committee was that Bandula was fighting for Arjuna Ranatunga who was from the opposing Club, and ignoring Anura Ranasinghe for whom I was pressing as I felt Anura was a good all rounder. Ultimately I gave in and Arjuna was selected. In the end Sidath Wettimuny dropped out and Anura played, and if I remember both Arjuna and Anura did well in that game. Duleep Mendis excelled with twin centuries, scoring 105 in both innings.

My role as Manager of this 1982 team was probably one of the best managerial tasks undertaken by me. It was a great team and I had no problem at all with discipline.

Unfortunately, Bandula was not a favourite of some of the more powerful members of the Cricket Board. They were always trying to keep him out or take the captaincy away from him, particularly given that Bandula was an independent man who did not allow himself to be pushed around. I think it is for this reason that my Tour report which was very complimentary of Bandula was never placed before the Board after the tour.

After the 1982 tour of India, my next assignment was as Manager of a fairly young team, captained by Aravinda de Silva, on a full tour to England in 1991. The tour was about three months and we played several counties and had one Test at Lord’s. We fared reasonably well, but not well enough overall.

17th Feb 1982: Bandula Warnapura and Keith Fletcher go out to toss ahead of Sri Lanka’s first Test; by the end of the year the international careers of both men were over (Photo: David Frith)

1999 – Major Clean Up!

“While I was away on that 1991 tour, the Board elections were fiercely contested and Tyronne Fernando, an MP at that time, became the President, displacing P.I. Peiris who had played for Cambridge and also for Sri Lanka for several years with distinction. As a result I did not have much to do with national cricket until 1999, when again I was requested to manage the team, which had returned from the UK in disgrace, after the 1999 Cricket World Cup.

There was a major clean up! Sanath Jayasuriya was appointed as Captain in place of Arjuna Ranatunga. Seniors like Asanka Gurusinghe, Roshan Mahanama and a few others were initially dropped. Young Mahela Jayawardena at just 22 was made Vice captain. All these were good moves carried out by a fearless set of selectors, which included Michael Tissera and Sidath Wettimuny.

Pride Restored

“I started off with a baptism of fire. We had to play a triangular against India and world champions, Australia. We performed extremely well and were fortunate to get into the final against Australia. We soundly thrashed Australia by 8 wickets with 10 overs to spare to win the one dayer.”

We then went onto a Test series with Australia – again, Australia had a narrow shave in Galle and in Colombo due to bad weather, but we beat them soundly in Kandy. All in all, we restored our lost glory. The Minister of Sports, Mr. S.B. Dissanayake sent me a congratulatory letter.

Terrible False Accusations!

“However, during this time, there were some rumblings. Cricket was being looked after by an Interim Committee, and the Official Committee had been dissolved. I believe that some of those who were removed from office were determined to sabotage the work of the Interim. Committee and they thought that the best way was to hit me.

They started an utterly baseless and false rumour that I was a member of the LTTE and that I had been in contact with them in Dubai, when I took the Sri Lankan Team for a tournament. They also said that I had contacts with the LTTE in other parts of the world. The pressure was put on the Minister who finally wanted me removed.

The Board had no alternative as I refused to resign. The press who had been very supportive of me were not happy and asked the Minister as to why he had removed me. He said he had done that as I had troops in South Africa and I could not guarantee the safety of my team that was to tour Zimbabwe. It was as ridiculous as it could ever get but I had no recourse because under the PTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act), anything could have been done to me. So, the day before the team was to leave to Zimbabwe, I was removed and Stanley Jayasinghe who was already in South Africa with the Team was asked to take over.

Final Assignment

“However, that was not my last effort as Manager. Again in 2002, I was requested by the Interim Committee to come back and manage the team to the UK on a three month tour, where we played three Test matches. This was a fully-fledged team led by Sanath Jayasuriya. Preparation for the 2003 Cricket World Cup due to be held in South Africa, was to be held shortly after that tour.

The tour was good and bad in patches. We did not win any games on the tour and England won the Test series – winning two and one drawn. The first Test at Lord’s was a game we surrounded ourselves with glory. Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardena both scored centuries, and we made England struggle. I felt we should have enforced the follow-on and sent England in to bat again. However, the decision was made that we should bat, I think more out of caution than anything else. A decision I was not happy with, but I was not the decision maker. The latter part of the match was more England’s than ours, but the game ended ultimately in a draw.

That was my last stint as the Manager of the Sri Lankan Cricket Team, and I have not had any interaction with the Cricket Board or teams thereafter”.

Celebrating Marvan Atapattu’s Brilliant Century – Lords 2002

Lords Balcony – Applauding Marvan Atapattu as he gets to 150.

In year 2002, Mr. Chandra Schaffter led a Janashakthi cricket team to war-torn Jaffna with star bowler Muralitharan, in front of 15,000 fans, to promote peace and harmony among the sport loving public.

Principles To Pursue In Selecting Lanka’s Cricket Selection Committee ….  Addressed to Prof. Michael Roberts – [Courtesy: Prakash Schaffter]

Dear Michael,  They say great minds agree but I really think that great minds often disagree. Anyway, let me reply to your email entitled “Your thoughts and my thoughts”.

1. I think exceptional cricketers are bad selectors and even worse as coaches. You need those who are good but not exceptional. Neither do you need the average ones.
2. Recently retired players should have a break of about five years before they are considered to be …
3.  The reason is that they carry with them some of the baggage of having been players and they may have had either good or bad relations with some of those still playing. They may try to help their friends or take it out on their enemies. So, for this reason I think the recently retired player  is not the best thing.
4.  I also think that a 10-year gap would be reasonable.
5.  I totally agree that they should have a good cricketing brain and absolute integrity – not easy to find but can be found.
6.  I do not really agree that you need a batsman, a bowler, a wicket keeper etc.; then you will also need a leg spin, off spin bowlers, etc. I think a good mature cricketer who has a fair knowledge of the game across the board can do a good job.
7.  I also feel that statistics are the worst indicator for selection.
8. As I often tell my friends, 30–40 years ago, the English cricket averages were regularly published in the Observer, and you would find that not  one of those among the top six made the English team.

 

1. When I was a selector, we had D.D. Jayasinghe, who was an average  batsman, K.M.T. Perera, a bowler, Bobby Schoorman, an allrounder and myself perhaps a mediocre allrounder.
2.  I think the basic criteria for a selector are integrity, experience not necessarily at the highest level of the game, but preferably so. However, even a very good club cricketer can be a good selector.

The more serious drawback in what is happening today is that no player  is sure of his place as he knows he can be a victim of interference from the wrong quarters. That is why our cricket is failing. Cricketers are not confident of being selected even if they do well.

I am afraid my views are controversial, but I feel strongly about these matters and I cannot see a way out for Sri Lanka cricket until these are  put right. Selectors should be completely independent and the administrators should honour that requirement – not sully it.

……. Yours sincerely,  Chandra Schaffter (09th Aug 2024)

“It was the friendliest rivalry that one could see”

Chandra Schaffter talks about the early days of international cricket in the country, the changing face of club cricket in Sri Lanka and the potential of the game to bring communities together.

“When you have matches at such long intervals, after the match is over you have a big break and then you go to sleep in some ways. So really it’s not easy to keep fit and keep yourself in tune for a big match because they were so few and far between. Those days they were all one day games and what they call whistle stop matches. The ship berthed in the port of Colombo at night. They came over and played a game during the day and then caught the ship back the next night.

Oh, you feel very, very nervous to start with…but you are also very excited because the ground is full of people, overflowing with crowds, and usually all of them can’t get in with tickets. Some of them climb the trees and watch and some of them jump over the walls if they can. So it’s a great atmosphere to play cricket in.

I think I bowled quite well because I was mentioned by a number of the British newspapers at the time. Some of them were quite impressed with what I did because they went back and recommended me to one of the counties. Sussex offered me a contract to play for them. It was a great honour to be asked, particularly in those days, because counties didn’ take people, shall I say, with dark skins very easily at that time. So I was very fortunate.

Going back to the early 1900s, nearly all clubs of any worth were purely on ethnic grounds. You had the Sinhalese Sports Club, the Burgher Recreation Club. the Moors Sports Club. the Tamil Union, the Malays… the Parsis…you had the Bohras… who were all different communities that lived in Sri Lanka. But apart from the fact that they had these clubs, which was really a place where people of a particular culture could meet, there was no other rivalry. There was no hatred.

No bitterness at all. It was the friendliest rivalry that one could see.

But all the clubs were built on these friendly lines and it was those five or six clubs which I mentioned, which made Sri Lanka cricket come into being. Sri Lanka cricket is what it is today because of the clubs.

And even today it is so because of the clubs. It’s the clubs which have built Sri Lanka cricket. It is the clubs which sustain Sri Lanka cricket.

Nobody looked at it as being bad in any way. In those days clubs were quite strict about membership. They were primarily social clubs and they did not admit members who did not belong to their particular community. For instance, the Tamil Union had members only of Tamil origin. In later years, they relaxed the rule and allowed non Tamils to come in, but they had no vote. Then it was further relaxed and then they could play for the club.

Now, of course, those rules don’t exist anymore, among any clubs. As far as I know, they’ve all relaxed those rules. But some of the clubs were more rigid than the others. And I suppose the smaller they were, the more rigid they were because they wanted to preserve their identity a little more.

Later on of course, they found it worked the other way because if you wanted to win a cricket tournament for instance, if you confined yourself to the members of your own community, you’d never have a chance of winning a tournament or getting very far.

Now it’s the other way. For instance, at the Tamil Union, I think all but one or two are non-Tamils. Everybody accepts it and that’s part of life. I think the world has also changed, or the country has changed, attitudes have changed. And so with that, the clubs have changed too.

I was 19 years old when I joined the Tamil Union and I played for 20 years. I was their opening bowler, in every single match I played in. Even when I played for Sri Lanka against Tamil Nadu and England, it was a pride to the Club because only one or two members of the Tamil Union got into the Ceylon Team.

I was often asked to join another club but I did not even consider it. My loyalty was always to the Tamil Union. I played with cricketers like Sathasivam, Sathi Coomarasamy, Sethupathi, Nagendra – all of whom played for Sri Lanka. We always remembered that we were members of the Tamil Union. Because of that, we had the opportunity to play for Sri Lanka.

A Club belongs to its members and it depends on its members. If the members do well, the club does well. Similarly the team depends on the members of the squad. If they follow the instructions and do well, the Club does well and so does the player. You must always think of the side and not just of yourself. You must always remember when you are playing that your first duty is to the Club.

If you score 100 runs for the Tamil Union, it is not the same as scoring 100 runs for a smaller club. What you do has greater value and that is the value of playing for the Tamil Union. Similarly if you score 100 for the SSC or the NCC, it has a great value.

No team can do well unless the members of the team follow the rules. They must also follow the discipline of the team. This is not only on the field when you are playing, but also in your daily life.

Players must exercise regularly, look after their bodies and have enough sleep. Sleep is very important. They must have proper diet and not smoke or drink too much. All these are very important. Do not look at other people who drink/smoke and play cricket. You are not the same as they are.

We are a 125 year old Club. From 1946–1985, every test match was played at the Colombo Oval. Don Bradman did not play in India or Pakistan – he played in Sri Lanka once and that was at the Tamil Union grounds. The inaugural Test in 1982, was also played at the Oval.

Captain Warnapura, Gamini Dissanayake and SL President JR Jayewardene before  Sri Lanka’s First Test Match in 1982

 

It is very important that you accept decisions made by the selectors, your captain or umpires. You must always follow the captain’s instructions especially on the field. However good you are, you are not greater than the team or the game.

Cricket is a game where usually the unexpected happens. You know that in a recent international match, Sadeera Samarawickrema was a reserve, and he did not get a chance. When the wicket keeper got injured, he got a chance. What did he do? He took his chance and batted extremely well – better than all the others. That is the luck you have when you play this game.

Please remember that only 11 players can play in a match. 12 cannot get on the field. So the selectors can only select 11 players. 4 or 5 of team in the squad will have to wear the yellow jacket. Sometimes you will get a chance in another match, sometimes you will never get a chance. That is part of the game.

Help the team by finding promising school boys and young cricketers and persuade them to join the club. Always keep thinking of your club and your team. Sometimes we have had players in the team who are very good and if they do not like something, they say they are going to join some other club. I have told them that if they do not like the Tamil Union, they can go elsewhere, but the Tamil Union will carry on.

Discipline is Key

This is about yourself. When you get on the field, you must dress neatly, and create a good impression and only then will the opposition respect you. There are some very important things you must remember. The most important thing is punctuality. You must always come on time. You have to be disciplined.

There are two types of disciplines – one is self-discipline. You must keep proper hours, you must eat proper food – that you must do personally. That is your own discipline. The other discipline is that you must follow are the instructions of the captain, manager, coach, physio – each one will give you rules and you must learn to follow all those rules. Only then can the team do well. If each one goes here and there, we cannot win the match.

There are a few things I have mentioned – that is, the first run – you must run fast, never mind if the fielder is going to run fast. If he misses it, you can take a second run. Good example is Chamika Karunaratne. If you see him running, when he had run two runs, the other man is still running the first one.

Do not try to get the better of the umpire. Do not try to cheat the umpire. If you are out, walk. Cricket is a game for gentlemen. You must always remember that, and you must conduct yourself like gentlemen.

I think it is important especially to those who want to play higher grades of cricket, that you improve your English. If you are interested and if you tell Mr Dushan he will arrange for somebody to teach you English. When you play in big matches, you have to talk to other players – so it is good for all of you to improve your English and I am willing to get a teacher. Most important thing is that we want all of you to be with us.

You are very precious to us – you and all your team members are very precious to this Club.” – Chandra Schaffter January 2023

 ‘The Janashakthi Book on Cricket produced by Mr Schaffter’s company in 1999 brought to cricket lovers the compendium of data collected so assiduously by another talent – the late SS Perera.

Mr. Adolphus Jeshuran Schaffter 1913–1938 25 Years of Dedicated Service at STC

“My father was Mr. A.J. Schaffter who was a teacher at S. Thomas’ College for 25 years. Previously he served as Vice Principal of Ananda College followed by a short stint as Head Master of Zahira College. He was also a good cricketer and gave me great encouragement when I started playing cricket from the age of five.

Unfortunately, there are no photo available of my parents. All our family photos were destroyed in the riots of 1983.”– Chandra Schaffter

Sri Lanka’s oldest living cricketer – Chandra Schaffter By Rex Clementine– ….. 23/10/2018

Q: Who, in your opinion, is the Greatest Sri Lankan Batsman?

“I tend to agree with statements made by Frank Worrell and Gary Sobers. In their assessment Mahadevan Sathasivam was the best batsman that they had ever seen. Particularly in the case of Worrell, he played against Sathasivam when he scored 96 on a very bad wicket against top bowlers, who did extremely well on poor conditions.

In those days you played on wickets that were not covered. We had no helmets or guards – no chest guards or thigh pads or elbow guards, and in spite of all that Satha scored that brilliant 96 when everybody else around him failed. That is what made these people realise that M. Satha was a cut above the rest. If you look at Sathasivam’s skill, his ability to play against virtually any type of bowling, I certainly have not seen anybody else who’s able to do that.”

“Certainly Aravinda de Silva is a very great batsman and so are Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, but all of them played under totally different conditions, and the real test would be to see them batting in the same difficult conditions that Sathasivam batted and against similar high quality bowling.”

Sir Garfield Sobers (left) and Ceylon’s Legendary Batsman –Mahadevan Sathasivam.

“It’s also quite true that Sathasivam used to party till 3:00 – 4:00 in the morning and then go to the Tamil Union to rest for a while, take a bath, go out at 10 o’clock in the morning and score a hundred.”

My Proudest Moments in Cricket

Q: Let me come to the period where you managed the national cricket team. You had a couple of stints – but particularly the stint that you had in 1999 during a very tough time of Sri Lankan cricket where the national cricket team had failed to go beyond the first round of the World Cup. There were quite a few changes and you were appointed as the Manager  and in your very first assignment Sri Lanka were able to beat the world champions Australia in a tri-nation final and then went on to record Sri Lanka’s first ever test win against Australia. What did you do right to get these things fixed well?

“I would say those two were probably my proudest moments in the game of cricket. The team was shattered after their performance in England at the World Cup and as you say many changes were made. Arjuna Ranatunga was dropped as Captain, Aravind de Silva (vice captain) and some other senior players were also dropped. The selectors were all changed. The cricket committee was dissolved and an interim committee was brought in and it was they who really asked me to come in and take over the team.

I don’t know whether I did anything really special. I always feel it is my duty as a manager to look after the welfare of the team at the same time to make sure that they are properly disciplined. I made it pretty clear to them what I expect of them and I never had any problem with them. We played as a team, we worked as a team and we had the desired results.”

Q: A fabulous committee was formed to run cricket. Managing Director of HNB, Rienzie Wijetilleke, was brought in as the chairman of the Cricket Board and then you had others like Skandakumar, Kushil Gunasekera, Sidath Wettimuny and Michael Tissera. Some fine gentleman. What was it like working with these people?

“Absolutely no problem at all, because they were all gentlemen!

Q: Another high point during your tenure was the Lord’s match in 2002 where Sri Lanka made 555 for eight declared and then bundled England out for 275. But Sri Lanka did not insert the follow-on and the match ended in a tame draw. Sri Lanka missed the opportunity to create history by winning its first ever Test match at Lord’s.

“Well that’s a matter for conjecture. We thought about it and then decided to do what we did because we felt that that would be the best way forward. Maybe in hindsight we should have done it differently, but we did what we thought was the best decision at the time.”

Q: The Colombo Oval is a special place for all Sri Lankan cricket fans. Sri Lanka’s first ever Test match was played at the Oval. Our first ever test win too, came at the Oval. It’s also one of only two grounds in Asia where Sir Donald Bradman has played and you were a past president of the Tamil Union (Home of Colombo Oval). How proud are you about these achievements?

“We are certainly very proud about the contribution we made to Sri Lanka cricket because until the mid-80s there was no other test ground. There was no stadium and even we in order to stage the inaugural test had to put up additional buildings.

We had to improve our facilities considerably. All that we did for Sri Lanka cricket. Until then there was really no other ground to stage any representative international matches. Subsequently of course the SSC was improved and matches were shared with them. Then the Premadasa Stadium was constructed and matches went to them.

Sadly at the moment the Board and the Minister seem to have forgotten that the Tamil Union was the cradle of Sri Lanka’s international cricket and the Tamil Union seems to have been sidelined for reasons best known to the powers that be. One can only hope that the situation will be remedied.”

Q: Sir Donald Bradman was also highly impressed by the scoreboard at the Oval. What exactly did he have to say about the scoreboard?

“The scoreboard at the Oval was comprehensive. It‘s the same scoreboard you see today and it was copied from Australia. The English scoreboards were not like that.”

Q: You were a selector in 1968 and you had certain disagreements. I’m talking about the abandoned tour to England. Could you talk us through as to what was happening and what made you to resign from the post?

“The newspapers at that time had given enough publicity about it. I don’t believe that selectors should select themselves. That’s not cricket and when it first happened I was so taken aback. I was in shock and I didn’t know what to do, but I said that if it happened again I would leave the selection committee. Shortly after was the day we were selecting the team for the English tour. And the first thing the selectors did was to sack the incumbent captain Michael Tissera who had done so well until then and they appointed H.I.K. Fernando, who was one of the selectors, as captain.

Hence I voiced my disapproval and walked away. They (the other three selectors) of course continued to select the team. It later transpired that according to the rules of the Board, the selection is not valid unless there are four selectors. As a result the selection was invalid and they had to appoint another selector.

Then they had another selection meeting. While that was happening there were rumblings within the team. Players on the sidelines, who had been left out, were also very unhappy. They had been left out by people whom they had helped to put into power. It became quite an unpleasant situation with some players also going to court. So the Minister finally decided to cancel the tour.

We were supposed to play several first-class matches on a long tour. Gamini Goonesena was in England at that time. Both Mano Ponniah and Vijaya Malalasekera, who were doing very well in England at that time, were also included in the team.

But so much of ill-will and bad blood had been created within the team itself that it seemed as if though the tour was really not going to be a success.”

Q: Had that tour taken place do you think that Sri Lanka would have gained Test status much before 1981?

“Probably, much before 1981, but certainly not immediately. But they would have shown the world how good we were and what we were capable of.”

Q: The Colomo Oval has got one of the finest wickets in the world. It’s got everything for everyone – fast bowlers, spinners and the batsman. However, nowadays we tend to see the spinners coming into the equation in the first session of a Test match before lunch. How do you see this trend developing leading into the future?

“In the old days the groundsmen prepared the wicket and nobody else had a say on how the wicket was prepared. Speaking for the Tamil Union, Mr. K.C Rasaih was the ground secretary. He prepared the wicket and he wouldn’t tolerate anyone telling him what to do.

But today things have changed, because the home side stipulates the type of a wicket they want, Someone from the board tells the groundsman and they prepare the wicket in that way.

So, when you know in that situation if they (the home team) are strong with spinners they will make a pitch that will suit the spinners and when they’re strong with fast bowlers, as they do in Australia in Perth, you will have very fast wickets. Therefore, the situation has changed now and we prepare wickets to suit conditions just for the home side.”

Q: There was a period where the Colombo Oval was completely neglected from hosting our Test matches. How tough was that periodband what did you have to do to get back those international games?

“Well it was tough for us because we depend on Test matches to survive. We are there only for cricket. We hardly play any other format of international cricket and it was very tough. But by gentle negotiation with the authorities we finally managed to get Test matches. It should never have been necessary because if anybody in the Cricket Board knew the history of cricket in Sri Lanka they will know what they owe to the Tamil Union and to the Oval.

Unfortunately cricket history is conveniently forgotten and so things like this happen… but occasionally you get a Cricket Board which is a little more considerate than others and as a result we got some matches back.

There’s a lot of development work that’s been going on. Plenty of money has been spent and all that money is to make available a good ground for Sri Lanka cricket.”

Q: You also named some of the stands after some of the greats of the  club?

“Yes! After Mr. Sathi Coomarasamy (above), Tryphon Mirando, Dr. Ranjan Chanmugam and M. Sathasivam of course.”

Q: What are your memories of the Gopalan trophy?

“The Gopalan trophy was invaluable to us in the 50s and the 60s because it was the only real international experience that our players had. International teams hardly visited Sri Lanka.

England occasionally played here when they were going on their way to Australia and Australians vice-versa. Nobody else was coming here and it was only the Gopalan trophy that we had, which gave us some exposure and helped to produce some good players.”

Colombo Oval –“We recall with sadness the events of 1983 and their impact on your stadium because I know that the ‘OVAL’ to Sri Lanka Cricket was in many ways what Lord‘s is to us today. I have no doubt that you will receive the fullest support in your efforts to restore the stadium to its former glory” – Tim Lamb, CEO of the England and Wales Cricket Board (source: ‘The Colombo Oval and I’ – by S. Skandakumar)

Q: Chepauk Stadium at Madras has been an historic ground for Sri Lankans over the years. Duleep Mendis got a twin hundred there. The Sri Lankans have always been warmly welcomed there. Is there a sense of  regret that the Sri Lankans do not play at Chepauk anymore?

“It is the Sri Lankan cricket board which does not think it is important enough now to send a team there – That’s all! It is in some ways a mark of ingratitude in my view because it was the Madras Cricket Association that helped us a great deal to keep our cricket afloat.

Now that we have got international status we think we are too good for them and so we don’t play them at all.”

[*M. J. Gopalan Trophy was a yearly first-class cricket competition played  between Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Tamil Nadu. It was named after the  famous Indian cricketer M. J. Gopalan. Ceylon won the first match which  was held during the1952 – 53 season. The match became a regular fixture in the calendar until Sri Lanka received Test status in the year 1981 and the competition was stopped].

Q: Tamil union has been an amazing place for some of the Sri Lankan outstation cricketers. Even Suranga Lakmal who captained the test series  against South Africa is a product of Tamil Union. Could you talk us  through about helping these underprivileged cricketers from places like down South and Kandy. How did the Tamil Union club manage to do it and how proud are you about it?

“We are certainly happy and proud that we were able to do that for our up-and-coming cricketers. We have a hostel at the club where these cricketers used to stay. They were well fed and looked after and they were able to virtually play full-time cricket. It helped them to progress quite a bit in their career. If those coming from the outstation were not provided these facilities they would have not been able to do any of the things that they eventually achieved.”

Q: You have a special bonding with Muttiah Muralitharan. You were the manager when he went on that first tour to England in 1991, his first ever tour with the Sri Lankan side. Also obviously is a Tamil Union boy. If you  can tell us about his early days?

“Murali came to us at Tamil Union virtually as a schoolboy…from there he was selected to go on this tour to England in 1991. He was very young at that time and his father and his uncle brought him to my hotel room in Colombo and virtually handed him over to me and said you’ll have to look after him because he’s just a school boy. And that’s how Murali’s cricketing career started. He played in County games but he didn’t play the Test match on that tour.”

Q: Murali has taken 800 Test wickets and what do you see as the greatest strength of Muralitharan? “I think it’s his strong determination! He doesn’t give in.”

Q: Another product of Tamil Union was Chandika Hathurusingha. He wasn’t even in the first eleven of his school team, but by being at the club  he was chosen to represent a Sri Lanka under 19. Now he is probably one of the top international coaches!

“ He was from one of the schools, in the Wanathamulla area. It was Mr. Dep who brought him to me and said this is a very poor boy, can you help him. He also brought one or two other boys and asked me to do what we can and we took them in. Hathurusingha then went to Ananda College. I am not sure if he made the team there but was selected for the Sri Lankan under 19 team. He came with me on the tour of 1991 to England and did reasonably well. He performed creditably in Test cricket. but really it is as a coach that he has been exceptionally successful in Bangladesh and I get the feeling he’s doing the same in Sri Lanka.”

Q: What’s your thoughts on T-20 cricket? Do you watch a lot of T-20?

“That’s a controversial thing. I don’t watch it, I don’t like it, I don’t think it’s cricket!”

Q: But does it help the game … it brings sponsorships and stuff like that?

“Well it helps the T-20 game but it doesn’t help Test cricket! It generates a lot of money but I think there is the downside to it. It produces match fixing and a lot of other negative things which don’t get spoken of…. however, I don’t think that type of cricket is Cricket, because if you want to play Test cricket you can’t be nurtured on T-20 cricket.”

Q: Is it one reason as to why we do not see these days a lot of Test matches lasting the distance of five days?

“Possibly! There is a tendency now to score much faster than they did before. In those days scores around 250 was a good score on the first day of a Test. Whereas nowadays, there’s so much more than that, and it is probably that diet of T-20 which spurs the batsmen to score faster.”

1991- Sri Lanka Cricket Team

The Sri Lanka touring party before the only Test match against England at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, 21st August 1991.

Back row, from 2nd left: Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kapila Wijegunawardene, Champaka Ramanayake, Ranjith Madurasinghe, Hashan Tillakaratne, Chandika Hathurusingha, Romesh Kaluwitharana and Muttiah Muralitharan;

Front row, left to right: Chandra Schaffter (manager), Saliya Ahangama, Roshan Mahanama, Rumesh Ratnayake, Aravinda de Silva (captain),  Asanka Gurusinha, Don Anurasiri, Brendon Kuruppu and Mumtaz Yusuf (coach)…..… Photo by Patrick Eagar/Popperfoto via Getty Images

Q: It’s always good to get the opinions of the old-timers about these new innovations in cricket. One of the things that has been discussed in cricket circles is about making Test cricket into four days. Already South Africa tried that out playing a game against Zimbabwe. Should that that be the  future for Test cricket?

“Whether you want to play four-day Test cricket or six-day test is a matter for discussion, but I don’t think there’s any compelling reason to reduce it to four days.

If you look at it statistically, a large number of Test matches have gone into five days and you had draws also after five days. You can also play test cricket in two days if you have a limited number of overs!

However, for me, Test cricket should remain as a five-day game.”

Q: There’s a lack of interest among spectators for test cricket these days. So one of the things they are trying is to play day/night Test matches with the pink ball. What are your thoughts on day/night tests and pink ball?

“That’s a different thing! Day/night test cricket probably is a good thing for the game, it’ll help working people to go and watch the match, probably that is the idea.”

Q: Can Tamil Union host the first-ever day/night Test match in Sri Lanka?

“We don’t have lights … probably if there is a guarantee of matches it’s possible. But when we run the gauntlet of some board official not liking the looks of the Tamil Union and not giving us any matches then we would have wasted our money.”

Q: The national team has struggled quite a bit in the last two and a half years or so. How do you see the status of the team and is there any way that they can come out of the current predicament?

“I have rather controversial views on that. I believe that there’s nothing wrong with our cricketers. But what is wrong is our administration and the Sports Ministry. I think there’s far too much interference in what players do.

Nowadays most of these players come from very poor backgrounds. They do not know what is right and what is wrong. They need counselling support and mentors. These young cricketers are at the mercy of unscrupulous officials who want them to do what they say. This is why our cricket is badly affected. I think we’ve got as good cricketers today as we had 10-15 years ago. That is my view. I’ve seen some of them – they’re brilliant, but we are trying hard to destroy them.”

Q: You’ve seen lot of cricket over the years. Is having 23 first-class cricket teams the way forward?

“I think it’s a joke! See, all these are done for the wrong reasons and naturally our cricket suffers. That’s why I say, nothing is wrong with our cricket but what is wrong is our administration.

When I started playing we had only eight clubs running cricket in Sri Lanka and they played in the first division and all the other clubs played in the second division. Then in order to buy votes and appease their supporters they increased the number in the premier tournament. Sometimes they have 16 teams and sometimes they’ll have 12 teams. They keep chopping and changing, which demonstrates the dishonesty of purpose.”

Q: Some people believe that the interprovincial tournament is the solution and some others tend to think that by having the inter-provincial tournament you’ll be diluting the inter-club tournament. What’s your view on that?

“I certainly think that the way forward for Sri Lanka cricket is the Provincial cricket. We are one of the few countries in the world which is controlled by clubs. England is controlled by counties, while Australia, South Africa and India are by states. I don’t know about Pakistan so I can’t say anything. West Indies is by their islands and New Zealand is by their provinces. Therefore, I think that is the way forward.

There is no problem at all about playing provincial tournaments and the clubs could play their tournaments within the provinces which they belong to. Of course you have to make some adjustments – in the sense Colombo could be treated as one separate unit while Gampaha and Kandy are treated as separate units. Some of the rest can combine, for instance, Central province and Uva can combine and become one Union. It won’t be necessarily provinces but it’d be more than one province in a Union.

If they do that then the clubs situated within those units can play in a tournament run by that unit and nothing is going to happen to them. This is the bogey which is being put forward without any substance.

Q: Also to a different topic. Mr. Schaffter in 1994 you started your own business Janashakthi Insurance has become a leading company in the country. Now your company support a lot of cricket. What’s your advice for young entrepreneurs?

“Well giving advice to entrepreneurs is a difficult thing. You have to have faith in yourself and have the confidence, that if you want to achieve something you can get to it as long as you set your mind to it.”

Rex Clementine: It always nice talking to you Mr. Schaffter and I thank you for joining us. We wish you all the very best thank you.

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, members of the Board of Governors, Teachers, my Thomian friends over there, respected guests, ladies and gentlemen.

Perhaps the greatest honour that the school can bestow on a Thomian is  to invite him to be the chief guest at the prize giving – that I have been  invited to be the chief guest on the centenary of our moving to Mount  Lavinia, our present home is an even greater honour, for which I am  most grateful.

I am very conscious of the fact that I am not as learned or as educated as many of those who have been chief guests before. There have been Prime  Ministers, Presidents, Principals of schools, Bishops, all of whom are far  superior to me in knowledge. So I was at a loss as to what I should say on an occasion such as this. I thought I would choose the easiest topic. I would talk about myself. I shall talk about my life at school and the game of cricket, but unfortunately even here the sub-warden has let me down very badly because he has already told you most of what I wanted to say.

The lessons I have learnt at STC and in the game of cricket, have been my greatest teachers. I may sometimes seem boastful in what I say but I do  not intend to be. It is only to emphasize to my young friends who are still in school how they should conduct themselves, and what they can achieve if they keep the honour of their school as the most important  thing in their lives.

I joined the kindergarten in 1936, when Ms. Bay was the head mistress and there were girls in our class at that time. One of them, Mrs. Dorothy Wijesingha, is seated in the front row. The Warden’s daughter Wendy was there and Mrs. Anthonisz’s daughter was also there, but after some time they stopped that very good practice and girls were no longer admitted.

The kindergarten was in Thalassa and we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit watching cricket matches through the windows. The chaplain lived upstairs. At first it was Father Foster and then Father Yin lived there.

St. Thomas had a swimming pool at the time I joined the school and we were the first school to have a swimming pool.

As I said we used to watch cricket matches from Thalassa, and it was not very easy to work from there, when the matches were in progress and the teachers too encouraged us to watch. One day, when the match was in progress and Donald Fairweather was batting, he hit a ball into a  moving train, and it was carried far away from the grounds.

Thomian Big Club Grounds 1935

My father was a master at S. Thomas’ College, where he taught for 25 years. He started at Mutwal and then moved to Mt. Lavinia. He was first recruited to teach Maths, but apparently there were no Tamil teachers, so the Warden asked him to teach Tamil. My father holds one of the records at S. Thomas’ College – he hit the biggest six ever over the  building, near the tennis court and De Saram Road, and the ball fell near what was then the Science Lab and is now the library. I believe he did it in a Masters vs Boys match.

Canon de Saram was the Warden at that time, and everybody was frightened of him. When I was a little boy walking towards my father’s class room, I saw him crossing the green. I was only six years at that time, but I was so frightened that I ran back home and my father spent a lot of  time looking for me thinking I was lost.

The book cupboard was in the same building as the dining hall and was behind what was then the Warden’s office. Mr. C.V. Perera was in charge of the book stall and later we had a master called Ratnayake. One day a boy thought of playing a joke on him and said, “Sir can I buy a second  hand exercise book?” Mr. Ratnayake promptly said “I will give you a  second hand slap”.

I started at S. Thomas at the kindergarten and then went 1B after the upper kindergarten. The teacher Mrs. Anthonisz was very kind, but in the next room was Mrs. Taylor who was a terror. Everybody was frightened of her. Then I went to 2B, and lower 3C where Mr. J.H.S. Peiris, who later became head master, was the teacher. He produced several distinguished sons, all of them Thomians. At that time Mr. O.P. Gooneratne was the head master. Mr. Gooneratne’s hearing was not very good, and when he came into the class, the boys used very naughty words at times. Unfortunately I cannot repeat these. When boys had to  be caned, the master gave a chit to the monitor and sent him to Mr. O.P. Gooneratne for caning. So one day a boy who was a monitor went to Mr. Gooneratne. He read the chit and caned the boy who was brought. He then told the monitor to face the wall – the Monitor tried his best to explain that he was the monitor and that he had brought the boy, but O.P. could not hear, and refused to listen and the boy had to face the wall and he too got three cuts.

In February 1942 when I was in the upper 4th, the college closed because of the war and I did not come back until May 1946, having studied elsewhere because I could not find a place to live in, and attend the various branches of the school which were opened in Kandy, Gurutalawa, Mt. Lavinia and Milagiriya.

It was a tremendous task on the part of Canon de Saram, and only he could have done it, to set up all these branches and see that they were well run. I came back to Milagiriya in 1944 – St. Paul’s Milagiriya, as you all know, is a girls school. The girls came to school until 12.00 and the boys started from 1.00 – 6.00. Those days, the war was on its height and there were black outs. We had to walk from St. Pauls Milagiriya to Wellawatta station in the dark. There were no lights on the trains and we had to go back home to Mt. Lavinia also walking in the dark. Finally the war ended in 1945, and we all came back to Mt. Lavinia but Gurutalawa remained as a branch.

Unfortunately when we came back to the school it was highly indisciplined. The war had tended to make boys lax in their behaviour and masters could not control the boys. The military were around St.

Thomas, and because of all this, discipline suffered. An organisation called the  Mount Crew were roaming around the place consisting of both Thomians and non-Thomians. They used to frighten everybody, and tried to get them to do whatever they wanted, and that upset discipline in the  School.

During the war, I was not able to play any games at all – in fact, I played absolutely no cricket or hockey but I was fortunate when I came back to Mount because I was just 16 years of age and was able to play in the first XI.

I was selected to play against Prince of Wales but just before the match started somebody told the master in charge that I had to be over 16 to play. Since I was still not 16, I had to stand down at the last minute.

That is one of the first things you learn in cricket. To accept decisions and not to protest or argue. That was my first lesson in disappointment.

I was fortunate to win the Gregory’s scholarship in 1946 and I joined the boarding in 1947, and stayed there for three years. Joining the boarding changed my entire life in school. I was able to participate in games more  fully and had a good chance of playing in the Royal Thomian match but during the third term holidays, I could not go for practices.

When I came back after the holidays, Mr. Bertie Wijesinghe our coach (left) said, “if you want to have a holiday, you can have a holiday but you cannot play cricket at the same time”. Naturally I was disappointed and heartbroken but there was no choice. I was not even a reserve and right through the first term, I was dropped from all the matches. St. Thomas’ were not doing well at that time, we were being beaten badly by everybody and when we were practicing on turf for the Trinity match, I was asked to bowl. Those who watched me bowl felt I was bowling well and so I was selected as a gamble for the Trinity match. It was great opportunity for me – I never expected it and could never understand why I was selected. I played in the Trinity match and I took only one wicket, but those who mattered thought I had bowled well and I got my colours with one wicket in the Trinity match.

It was a wonderful experience for me to come right from the bottom and win my colours with one match and one wicket. I would like to say to my young friends if you are trying for the cricket team, you sometimes wonder why a particular cricketer is chosen like that, it is because those who are in charge feel that that cricketer has promise.

For the next three years, I could perhaps say I was among the best bowlers in school. I did wonderfully well in the Royal Thomian match in 1949, when the captain was your Head Prefect’s grandfather. We nearly won the match and missed it by three runs.

The next year (1949-50 season) I was the Captain but just before the Royal Thomian I twisted my ankle. Everybody gave me plenty of attention and plenty of treatment and on the day of the match, the doctor said I was fit and could play. The Warden was very happy but then the coach said at the very last moment “I am sorry Schaffter cannot play I do not think he is fit”. But my Thomian upbringing told me that I had to learn to accept these disappointments and I did not question them. You have to learn to accept decisions as a Thomian and that is why I am telling you this story because you all will understand what a great disappointment it was.

The day after the Royal-Thomian, the Warden called Mr. Lassie Abeywardena and said “I know that Schaffter was kept out by the Coach. He could have played .” But that is life – why we play cricket is to learn to take the good with the bad”.

I had been a good student until I started playing cricket. Once I started playing, my studies suffered. There were students who played games at a very high level, but unlike me, they were also brilliant students.

Shanthikumar, as I mentioned, the grandfather of Sebastian, Bradman Weerakoon, S.J. Thambiah who captained the school and ended up as a distinguished Harvard professor whose photograph hangs on one of their  walls. They were all my colleagues and were brilliant students who played many games and did their studies as well.

I entered the college form in 1947. I was a House Prefect and a School Prefect and ended up as the Head Prefect in 1949. I was also the Cricket Captain in 1949. So I was really on top of the world. In 1945/46, as I told you, the school was in a very bad state – unbelievably bad, especially the hostel. The school was indisciplined and as a house prefect, I faced many  problems. In 1948, a very close friend of mine, Ranji Casinader who was  head prefect and I had a chat, and we decided that we would forget popularity and think of the school and we told all our friends who were seniors and prefects, that we would not tolerate indiscipline and take action to bring the school and especially the boarders, around. We would not tolerate breaking of rules.

Some of our friends had to leave the school for breaking rules, butwe  kept at it and little by little, when Casinader left in 1949, we had achieved quite a bit. It is important that you must do your job. You cannot think of friendship and look the other way.

There is a poem that says, “lives of great men all remind us we can make our hearts sublime and departing leave behind us footprints on the sands of time”. From the people who were outstanding Thomians, and who  subsequently had outstanding careers were Dudley Senanayake, George Mant, Bertie Wijesinghe, Donald Fairweather, they were all sportsmen. Mr. Cooke was my master in upper 3A – he was a Thomian cricketer and he spent a lot of time talking about cricket and the Royal Thomian match but he was all the time inculcating in us the great things about being a Thomian.

In 1949, just after the Royal Thomian match, where I had been a hero, a  boy Golieb committed suicide. I had taken over as head prefect. The school was facing bad publicity and I had to do a great deal as head prefect to organise the funeral. There was heavy rain during the funeral and I got sick and so, I did not go for my exams. Unfortunately for me one of the masters thought I had purposely avoided the exam. So the warden put me “on report”. This meant that as head prefect and cricket captain I had to take the report and go to all my masters every fortnight and get them to make remarks on my progress in my work. I think they were more embarrassed than I was and after about 6-8 weeks, the warden took me off report.

What was important was that the warden was not bothered who I was – the cricket captain and the head prefect. He decided that I must learn to respect school rules and he felt, quite wrongly, that I had purposely avoided my exam. Equally when I had problems with my fellow prefects, they used to irritate me by not observing the rules. I warned them I would tell the warden and finally I did that. He called all of them and gave them a good dressing down but the great thing was that none of them were angry with me. They knew their game was up, and mended their ways. That is how we learnt to be Thomians.

I left college in 1950, and was one year in the university. I did not pass my entrance to Medical College. I left the university and was without a job for one year. Finally I got a job and progressed gradually in my work and in 1994, I started my own insurance company. In the following year, I started another insurance company.

I had two great advantages in my life – one of them was that I got the opportunity of going to S. Thomas’ and playing cricket. The other is that after I left school, Learie Constantine the West Indian coach came to Sri Lanka, to coach. They selected about 20 boys, and I was one of them. But the powers that be found that some of those they wanted were not selected. So they cancelled the selection and selected another 20 and I was left out. I was really disappointed – I was hoping to play for Sri Lanka, particularly after being coached by Learie Constantine. He continued to coach in Colombo and Kandy and when he was in Kandy, he wanted the Board to send a team from Colombo to Kandy to play against his team. Fortunately the Secretary of the Board was short of players and he asked me to come along to play. I was given to open the bowling.

From the moment I started to bowl, Learie Constantine asked those around why I was not in his coaching camp in Colombo and they had no answers. As a result of this, I was immediately called to the coaching camp when Constantine came to Colombo. He coached me for a few days but not very much. So I told him he had not coached me at all and he said there was nothing for him to coach me.

He went back to England and recommended me to some of the counties and Sussex County offered me a contract to play cricket for them. I did not take it as I thought I was well established in my job. Why I am telling you this is because you can go right to the top and similarly you can come right down. Especially when you play cricket, this happens very often. I am telling you about myself so that you will all learn to take the good with the bad.

Sir Learie Constantine – One of the First Great Caribbean Cricketers

There are several lessons I have learnt from cricket. Rohit Sharma of India  scored 100 in one innings – in the next, he was caught for nought. Don Bradman had an average of 99.96 – he need only four runs in his final match to have an all-time test average of 100, but he was bowled second ball for nought. Look at it the other way. David Warner the Australian Vice Captain was 99 – everybody on the other side wanted him out, and he hit a ball and was caught. The umpire checked and found it was a no ball. So he came back after having walked halfway back and he scored 100 and more.

 

Three Cheers to Don Bradman (ESPNcricinfo.com)

Don Bradman’s Test Career ends in a duck – bowled Eric Hollies 0! (ESPNcricinfo.com)

The warden has great problems with selections. Selections can never be questioned. Never question a selector – whether colours or any other. If you don’t like it, change the selector at the next opportunity but never, ever question a selection. Selection is a sacred function and can never be questioned. Lots of parents, well-wishers, old boys failed students all have  something to say about selections. The system cannot work and