They say “no gain without pain” likewise I had to wend my way through the city traffic with my friendly tuk tuk driver to meet Chamara Silva at the Moors Sports Club at Braybrooke Place Colombo 2 sharp on time at 9 am. It was one heck of a ride which must have taken about 10 years of my life span. At the time the love for the profession took pride of place and financial benefits had to take a back seat which was a pain in the elbow at the best of times.
Wimalasiri Silva was an artist by profession who lived close to Royal College Panadura and as a result Chamara Silva his son attended Royal College Panadura. Chamara stuck to his roots and stayed loyal to his school in spite of many tempting offers from the big schools. He had talent in abundance even at the tender age of 15. When one reminisced lots of experts drew comparisons between the great Aravinda de Silva and Chamara.
Chamara himself admitted that he was no match to Aravinda aiyya, however there was a stark resemblance between the two. Both were slightly bowlegged and had a penchant to dance down the wicket and just caress the ball over midwicket with consummate ease. Aravinda blazed a trail in world cricket but Chamara was stuck mid stream due to the fact that there was a layer of brilliant batsmen like Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara etc at the top.
Chamara even at the age of 39 was fit as a fiddle, due to the fact that he does not drink or smoke and he was totally committed to his family. He was a perfect example of a cricketer who has maintained his balance both as a cricketer and a human being.
Although there were set backs in his career he relentlessly pursued his club career and played for clubs such as Panadura, SSC, Sebastianites, Bloomfield, CCC and Moors. He amassed 38 hundreds and 82 fifties and he was five hundred short of achieving the milestone of 15,000 runs - a major portion of those 14,500 runs were not grafted but were perfectly executed.
Chamara pointed out that he owed a debt to cricket and it was because of cricket that he now leads a comfortable life even after coming from a humble background.
He was never tempted by quick fix money and played an honest game and just rewards naturally came to him with time. Chamara also mentioned that some of his contemporaries unfortunately fell by the wayside by indulging in side attractions.
He also thanked Mas Unichella for employing him and supporting his cricket career.
CARDBOARD COACHES
Chamara observed that the so called academies had sprung like mushrooms and kids of the ages of 12 to 13 and even less in some instances had barely reached the height of a bat had joined the band wagon.
Chamara specified that the so called coaches holding coaching camps after getting hold of 6 or 7 boys of their choice was a useless exercise. He pointed out that instead of honing the talent of those youngsters they blunt it.
Even the school coaches were heading in the wrong direction lamented Chamara as they were hellbent on winning matches, filling their trophy cabinets and they don’t give a damn how they win stated a frustrated Chamara. He even insisted that schoolboys, some of them “chuck” and the umpires are also turning a blind eye to this pathetic situation.
Chamara too had a bad experience with his own school once when he walked into observe a practice session he was cold shouldered by their present coach which was pathetic to say the least he recalled.
COACHING CABAL
Chamara also gave a classic example of how the coaching “cabal” operates in clubs. He stated that if he tried to coach a club and if he did well there would be 7 out of 10 coaches who would try to sideline him and as a result his efforts would be in vain, and on the other hand if 7 joined hands with him then the rest of the 3 would either step in line or get out.
On the flip side there are some coaching schools including the CCC School of Cricket under the guidance of Nelson Mendis and ably supported by Shanthi Peiris (ex Nalanda College captain of 1965) was performing well.
Chamara’s wife’s name is Shashika and he has a 12 year old son and a 4 year old daughter both attending Lyceum International School. Chamara concluded by stating that he would take up a coaching stint only under his terms and conditions.
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