By Sanduni Kulatunga /sidelines
“The greatest batsman ever on earth”, acclaimed once the 11 fingered all-rounder Sir Garfield sobers seeing young Sathasivam scorching the pitch with his cuts. Those decades have now passed but the Cricket gaffers, drunken butlers and Lovelies from past inamoratas still sing his praise.
Mahadevan Sathasivam or “Satha” was born on the 18th of October 1915. Having played 11 first-class matches with 753 runs in 18 innings with 3 centuries and 3 fifties, he rose to fame as the greatest cricketer of the pre-test era.
I was never fortunate to witness the greatness of this man, but strolling around my imagination, I could picture how gloriously he stood among a dozen batters and Bowlers, dazzling in stripes of blue, as an ardent schoolboy cricketer,the pride of “The Double blues”.
Blooming from the grounds of St. Joseph’s College Colombo, Sathasivam flourished during his high school years at Wesley College where he was recognized for his enthralling love-affair with the bat which was indeed a romantic thriller. In 1935, having beaten down notable schools in the island with his scintillating performance, he was proclaimed the best bowler for Wesley college, though he was renowned as a batsman.
Having played his last match for Wesley in 1936, Sathasivam began to play for the Tamil union cricket and athletic club in 1940, where he eventually ended up as captain for his blazing performance.
Satha finally made his debut first class match for rest team in the Bombay pentangular tournament against the Bombay Mohammedans. He scored a thrilling 101 in style.
In 5 years, he found himself frolicking at the P Sara oval stadium, Colombo where he scored 111 runs against India.That was the first time he played for Ceylon as a national player. Right after the cheers of 1945, in 1947 he stole the spotlight with 215 victorious runs against south India at Chepauk.
In 1948, he was made the captain of the national team. Subsequently, he became the one and only cricketer to lead 3 countries, having captained Singapore and Malaysia.
His cricketing talent was beyond vision and imagination, like Tamil union notated
“The bat was a magic wand in his hands”.
By Sanduni Kulatunga
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