He had talents that few others had. Above all he was a gentleman cricketer. And with a striking hair style to boot he stood out in any crowd. That was and is CHANDRA THOMAS ADOLPHUS SCHAFFTER.
He would have turned out to be one of the best all rounder’s the game of cricket in the country would have produced: penetrative medium pace bowler, brilliant fielder and a solid batsman. In all an all rounder of class. If only we had all rounders like him for the 50 over World Cup we would be unbeatable.
SCHAFFTER could not give momentum to his wonderful talent, because he shone in the local scene long before the country attained Test status.
SCHAFFTER was a soft spoken, like able and a blue blooded S.Thomas College, Mount Lavinia sportsman who was not only excellent with the bat and ball but was also a wonderful player with the curved wand, the hockey stick which earned him accolades as he became a double international.
Love for cricket
SCHAFTER at a very tender age showed his love for cricket and his extraordinary talent was spotted early and in that era it was not easy getting into the first side of S. Thomas College because there was so much talent available.
But he broke through all barriers and was picked for the first side as a 17 year old and sported school colours from 1947 to 1950 for four years which was commendable.
In the Thomian teams that he played he was in the exalted company of the brilliant Weerakoon brothers Bradman and Ronnie, T. Jayalingam, Ian Pieris, Shanthikumar, S.J Thambiah and Roger Inman to name a few.
Much sought after
From the names mentioned Bradman served under many Prime Ministers of the country and was much sought after and had a very noteworthy public life. Thambiah later became a distinguished Harvard Professor.
Peiris is best remembered for his last wicket stand of over 100 runs against the West Indies with another excellent Thomian all rounder Neil Chanmugam at the Colombo Oval.
SCHAFFTER is better remembered for his excellent effort in the 1949 ‘Battle of the Blues’ against Royal where with his masterly seam and swing he rocked the Royal batting taking 6 for 26 and nearly won the match for his school almost single-handedly.
Missed winning
That the Thomians just missed winning by three runs was one of those things which SCHAFFTER may still find it unable to explain. His greatest disappointment was having to miss captaining the Thomians in the ‘Big match’ against Royal which is the greatest desire of any Thomian, suffering an ankle injury.
After leaving school SCHAFFTER joined the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club and played with great distinction, respect and success from 1949 to 1967 amidst a galaxy of Tamil Union stalwarts.
In his time his heroes were Mahadevan Sathasivam, Sathi Coomaraswamy, A.J.D.N Selvadurai, Anton Sethupathy, T. Jayalingam, M.Kasipillai, T. Parathalingam, T. Nirmalingam, T.Jothilingam, Francis Casiechetty, Eugene Chanumugam. The writer had the privilege of playing among that galaxy and earning encomiums from SCHAFFTER.
Best Bowler’s prize
While this may be self-serving, the writer would add that as a schoolboy at St. Benedict’s College I played under the captaincy of T.Parathalingam, later under Rex Breckenbridge when TU won the ’Daily News’ Trophy in 1962 and I was awarded the Best Bowler’s prize.
My greatest honour was when I played under that greatest batsman that the country has produced Mahadevan Sathasivam whose magical deeds with the bat needs no elaboration. He captained Sri Lanka when Sir Donald Bradman’s team played at the Colombo Oval in 1948.
The writer played under SCHAFFTER in 1962 when the Tamil Union was demoted from playing in the P.Sara Trophy to the S.Sara Trophy. Under SCHAFFTER’S astute captaincy TU were promoted to play in the top grade again after performing well in the S.Sara Trophy.
An example
With first hand experience this writer can vouch that SCHAFFTER had a run up and action that was an example and a model for fast bowlers. He bowled medium pace but had the rare ability to swing the ball both ways and packed a toe crushing Yorker and a vicious bouncer. As a right hand batsman he excelled when using the long handle.
When Tamil Union won the ‘Daily News’ Trophy in 1951, SCHAFFTER was unavailable because he was in the University that year. He was a regular in the Ceylon team that played in the Gopalan Trophy from 1954 to 1956.
Opening the bowling his best figures in the Gopalan Games were when he took 3 for 28 and 3 for 71 which helped the Ceylon team to win by an innings and 108 runs in Madras.
He also faced the MCC in 1954 and was in the Ceylon team to play MCC led by Peter May in 1958, but the game had to abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain.
National selector
After his playing days were over SCHAFFTER was a national selector for many years and managed Sri Lanka teams to India in 1982 to England in 1991 and again in 2002 and before that to Dubai in 1999.
I recall SCHAFFTER rating Mahadevan Sathasivam and Sathi Coomarasway as the two greatest cricketers he had the honour of playing with. They had no peers. Coomaraswamy was a Royalist and Sathasivam a Wesleyite. The Sara stadium has stands in honour of these two great cricketers
SCHAFFTER also played hockey for the Tamil Union and the country from 1954. Tamil Union won many trophies during his time. Some of the outstanding players in the TU hockey teams were - A.Mylvaganam who he rates as the Sathasivam of hockey, Chandi Chanmugam, Leslie Sellayah, A.Nadaraja, M. Anthony, Lovellyn Rayen and Don Bosco.
Selection Committee
He also served as Chairman of the Selection Committee for hockey and managed teams from 1971 on its trips to India and was hockey secretary for several years.
SCHAFFTER would speak highly of the late A.A.Virasinghe who in the 1930s did much for the game and whose contribution is unmatched. Virasinghe even brought down players from India to play for the Tamil Union in local tournaments which gave a fillip to the game, because they were able to copy India’s style of play who at that time ruled the hockey world.
SCHAFFTER is one of the most loyal and dedicated members of the Tamil Union and during his reign as President did wonders for the improvement of the members, the cricketers, the club, the grounds and other achievements which he fights shy of mentioning.
Best in the world
From my bat I must say that the scoreboard at the ground is one if not the best in the world. How it has remained that way for decades is unbelievable. The club now has a swimming pool, new bar, new dressing rooms for teams, new Boxes for the media and several other amenities.
But what is sad is that this ground that served the game in its early years and on which ground almost all outstanding players in the world played to mention Sir Donald Bradman the terrible Ws –Weekes, Walcott, Worrell, Wesley Hall, Sir Garfield Sobers, Brian Lara, Peter May, Colin Cowdrey, Tom Graveney, Richie Benaud and several other names too numerous to mention is given the step motherly treatment where international matches are concerned.
When this ground is being spoken about what it did for the game as the one and only ground that had the facilities when foreign teams played here must be given more international games. Cricketing giants like SCHAFFTER strove tirelessly to bring class to the grounds. [email protected]
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