A. C. M. Lafir
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Abdul Cader Mohamed Lafir[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
27 October 1935 Kandy, Sri Lanka | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting style | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Opening batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1955/56-1961/62 | Ceylon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1956/57-1960/61 | Ceylon Cricket Association | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Source: Cricinfo, 29 September 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A. C. M. Lafir is a former opening batsman who played for Sri Lanka national cricket team from 1953 to 1970 before Test status was awarded in 1981.[2]
Early life
Abdul Cader Mohamed Lafir was born on 27 October 1935 at Katugastota near Kandy town. In 1948, he entered St. Anthony's College, Kandy[3] for studies and captained college Cricket team in the centenary year in 1954. Lafir got married in 1962 to Carmini(née Ratnam), who is an English Graduate and continues in a Teaching profession. They had three children, namely Aashiq, Nirala and Mehera.[4]
Cricket
School Cricket
Lafir holds the Sri Lanka record for Opening Stand of 266 runs scoring 176 runs by himself as the school team captain with Ronnie Stevens scoring 120 runs in the year 1954 annual Cricket encounter against Trinity College, Kandy[5] where he won four awards – Best Batsman, Best Bowler, Best all-rounder and Highest scorer. Lafir's school cricket batting average was 108.06 breaking the record of 92.6 set in 1918 by the former Antonian Jack Anderson; scoring five centuries and amassing 1,000 runs in a season. He scored the 'fastest 100' in 60 minutes against Ananda College Colombo, in 1954.He led St. Anthony's in 1954 to become the unbeaten Inter-school Champions and won the Sri Lanka schools Best Batsman Award. Also, he skippered the Kandy schools and led them to victory over the Colombo schools XI with a Captain's knock of 151 not out.[2]
Representing Sri Lanka
In 1958 he was selected to play for All-Ceylon (Sri Lanka) team against the MCC and he was the first schoolboy from St. Anthony's College, to play for Sri Lanka. It was captained by Colin Cowdrey and had great England players of the past, like Tom Graveney, R. Subba Row, Peter Richardson, Trevor Bailey, Peter May, Frank Tyson, Jim Laker, Brian Statham, C. A. Milton and 'fiery' Freddie Trueman. Sri Lanka was captained by Vernon Prins, with co-members C. H. Gunasekera, A. C. M. Lafir, Michael Tissera, C. I. Gunasekera, A. Sethupathy, Dr. H. I. K. Fernando, Clive Inman, C. T. Schafter, Tony Buhar, Malcolm Francke, 12th man Lasantha Rodrigo. Lafir scored 84 runs against MCC lead by England skipper Ted Dexter.[6]
In 1960 the Pakistan Eaglets visited Colombo and played a three-day match against the CCA led by C. I. Gunasekera which included Lafir and in the following year he played against India and scored a 55 runs. He also toured Malaca and Singapore in 1956 and 1957.[6]
In 1961 the first consignment of Norm O'Neill cricket bats "Hydromatic Driver" was manufactured in Australia and imported by Dr. Subash Chawla's Sports firm Chands Ltd. At a special function to launch these new bats, an award to the first batsman to score 500 runs was made to A. C. M. Lafir by the Australian Trade Commissioner in Sri Lanka Desmond Mc Sweeney. He was the first player on either side to make a century in the Gopalan Trophy between Madras and C.C.A. President's XI in 1961. Lafir played against the visiting Englishmen in 1962. Sir Len Hutton two of the world great fast bowlers in that era Frank Tyson and Brian Statham played in the match and Lafir scored 27 runs.[6]
Mercantile cricket
Lafir later played for Saracens Sports Club and Nomads Sports Club. His Mercantile record score of 236 against Rowlands. Lafir was the first batsman to win the Macan Markar Trophy awarded for the highest score of 256 not out, playing for Nomads vs University in 1966. He beat the previous best of 236 by Makin Salih.[6]
Later life
In 1957, he joined the Police Department as a sub-inspector and later served at Esso and worked in the Middle East for a couple of years.[4] In 1962 he joined Lever Bros. Ltd. and played some match winning innings for the company. He scored 121 runs, which included 14 fours and 5 sixes, enabling Levers to regain the Lister Challenge Trophy from BCC in the 'Battle of the Soaps'. In 1975 Lafir opened his Cricket Coaching School at the Nomads grounds for boys between the ages of 12 to 15 years where he trained Roshan Mahanama, Asanka Gurusinha, Nigel Fernando and many others who reached Sri Lanka levels. In 1981 he move to Melbourne Australia. While he was there he took the opportunity to attend Frank Tyson's Coaching School at Monash and was awarded an intermediate coaching certificate registered with the Victorian Cricket Association.Presently, Lafir is the Chairman of the Selection Committee of the Colombo District Cricket Association (CDCA), since June 2004.[4]
See also
- Trinity-Antonian Cricket Encounter
- Cricket in Sri Lanka
References
- ↑ "Abdul Lafir". espncricinfo.com. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Epasinghe, Premasara (21 February 2005). "A. C. M. Lafir – Sri Lanka's stylish opener". Dailynews.lk. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
- ↑ "St. Anthony’s display grit and determination". Island.lk. 22 March 2005. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "A. C. M. Lafir – One of Sri Lanka’s finest openers". Island.lk. 18 February 2010. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
- ↑ Jiffrey Abdeen, S. M. (4 March 2012). "Trinity with 10 outright wins this season holds advantage over St. Anthony's". Sundayobserver.lk. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "A. C. M. Lafir an incredibly brilliant batsman". Dailynews.lk. 25 November 2006. Retrieved 2012-09-19.