by Sanduni Kulatunga
“The most impressive of the Ceylonese batsman with a wide and delightful range of strokes” was what I.M.Mansukhani, an Indian journalist, tongued about a tan young man who was scorching Indian pitches with both bat and ball. Sargo was his name and he was the glorious first-class cricketer.
Sagaradaththa Sudirikku Jayawickreme, commonly called Sargo Jayawickreme in the fields, was born on the 10th of January,1911 during the British-Ceylonese days in Galle.
Just like the upswing of every cricketer to the centerstage,Sargo’s prestigious career too began from the grounds of Royal College, Colombo.As a fine schoolboy cricketer who took the bat and ball both in the right, marked a fourfold attendance in the Royal-Thomian encounter, the oldest big-match in the country and in 1930,his final year-Sargo as the skipper took the trophy home along with his kith, beating S.Thomas, which was captained by R.Senanayake.
Having bid farewell to his alma mater, he began to work at the Rubber control department. Very soon SSC opened gates to this avid cricketer to further his career, where he recorded the highest score of 238 against Bloomfield.
Sargo’s debut first-class match was against the Sinds in 1932. He began the tour by taking 5 for 58 and 2 for 30 and it was beautiful.
In 1932-33 the Ceylonese team toured India under the captaincy of Churchill Gunasekara and this was the very first abroad tour for Ceylon.Sargo was one of the youngest players. In all first-class matches of the series Sargo as a determined batsman and an artful bowler secured 421 runs and smashed 15 wickets.
The next decade was a fortune to Jayawickreme. Under his privileged captaincy the Ceylonese team took two tours. The first tour was to India(1940=1941). This is considered as the second tour abroad by the Ceylonese team and Sargo had the honour to captain it. The tour initiated with an easy win for Ceylon over Madras team and in the first two matches Jayawickreme’s scintillating performance led him to score his career highest, a brilliant 138 runs.
The second tour was to Pakistan(1949-1950). This team included one of the finest players of the era such as Mahadevan Sathasivam,Gamini Goonesena,Stanley Jayasinghe,Ben Navaratne and even Bertie Wijesinha and it was indeed a powerful empire of cricketers. Ceylon played against multiple Pakistan teams apart from the main team which included Commander-in-Chief’s XI,Karachi and Sind and Pakistan Universities teams.
Jayawickreme is more than just a first-class all-rounder.He was considered a role model by FC De Saram,one of the most successful players of the era. Sargo even flaunted his skills in the sub-continent having played for “The Rest” in the Bombay pentangular.
He was awarded an MBE for his pre-eminent service rendered to the field of cricket and can be considered as one of the greatest who contributed immensely to his motherland.
He had a wonderful cricket career. Settling from 1932 to 1950, he astonished crowds in 28 prestigious matches both home and Overseas.As a vigilant all-rounder he scored a total of 1254 runs including 2 blazing tons and 6 scintillating 50’s and capturing 27 wickets.
This legend bid his final farewell on the 15th of February 1983, but his name will always remain on the top of every record book of the First-Class era of Ceylon.
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