‘Lord Ted’ Dexter’s association with Sri Lanka cricket

Ted Dexter (seated centre) was the Chief Guest of the first Under-19 Test between Sri Lanka and England at Leeds in 1992. Coach Bandula Warnapura is seated first left

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Former England captain and MCC President Ted Dexter who died at the age of 86 has been described without doubt as the most glamorous English cricketer of his generation.

Dexter played 62 Tests for England between 1958 and 1968 captaining in 30. As an attacking middle-order batsman who was renowned for the power with which he hit the ball, Dexter scored 4,502 runs at an average of 47.89 for England and took 66 wickets at 34.9 bowling medium-pace.

Sri Lanka has been associated with ‘Lord Ted’ as he came to be nicknamed both as a captain and as a mentor.

Dexter visited Sri Lanka on two occasions as captain in 1962 and stamped his class as a cricketer of the highest quality.

Leading the MCC team to India, Pakistan and Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was then known) in 1961-’62, Dexter’s side ended the tour with a 3-day match against Ceylon who were captained by C Ivers Gunasekara. Played at the P Sara Oval from 10-12 February 1962, MCC won the contest by 8 wickets. 

Ceylon’s batting was destroyed by the pace and swing of Dexter who went onto take a match bag of 9 wickets for 115 runs on a fast track. Dexter dismissed the top three batsmen in the Ceylon batting Abu Fuard (9), Lasantha Rodrigo (8) and Abdul Lafir (84) and later came back to wrap up the innings for 210 by dismissing last man LR Goonetilleke (1) to end with figures of 4/64 off 24.1 overs. 

After MCC had replied with 284 (Dexter 31), Dexter’s bowling once again troubled the Ceylon batsmen who succumbed to him for 144, leaving MCC the formality of scoring 71 in 70 minutes before lunch on the final day which they achieved losing two wickets. Dexter dismissed Fuard (15), Rodrigo (7), Stanley Jayasinghe (9), Michael Tissera (4) and Gamini Goonesena (44) to finish with 5 wickets for 51 off 22.3 overs in the second innings.

Dexter praised the Oval pitch and said: “We enjoyed playing on your wickets and against such cricket talent as yours. All who made runs against us made them well. The wicket for the Ceylon match was the best wicket for fast bowlers that we have experienced on our tour of India and Pakistan. The wicket was so lively in fact that it would have tested any batting side against any decent fast attack.” Later that year on their way to Australia for the Ashes Test series, the MCC team led by Dexter stopped over in Ceylon for a one-day match played at the P Sara Oval on 3 October, 1962 which ended in a draw. MCC batting first declared at 181-8 with Dexter being bowled by LR Goonetilleke for 10. 

Ceylon in reply were 152-8 when stumps were drawn. Dexter on this occasion did not bowl but it was the MCC spinners Ray Illingworth (5/59) and Fred Titmus (2/42) who took the wickets. Ceylon captain CI Gunasekara stood tall with a splendid knock of 76 in 70 minutes that included 11 fours and 2 sixes.

Dexter’s next association with Sri Lanka cricket was during the country’s maiden Test match in England played at Lord’s in August 1984 where his presence as a former England captain and mentor immensely helped Sri Lanka to come up with a performance worthy of their status as a Test playing nation.

Sidath Wettimuny who scored a monumental 190 for Sri Lanka in the first innings of that Test recalled: “Killi (the late Raja Mahendran) got Dexter to talk to us and he is the one who recommended Don Smith to be our coach on the tour. Dexter gave us a pep talk before the Test and spoke to us off and on and encouraged us. He supported us from behind the scenes.”

Former Sri Lanka Cricket Board Secretary Nuski Mohamed confirmed that it was the late ‘Killi’ Raja Mahendran who was Vice-President of the Cricket Board at the time who was instrumental in sponsoring ‘Lord Ted’ to be with the Sri Lanka team during the Lord’s Test. 

The Lankans as the minnows of Test cricket came up with a batting performance that justified Dexter’s presence rattling off impressive totals of 491-7 declared and 294-7 and, dismissing England for 370. England reeling from a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of West Indies were further humiliated by the inexperienced Lankans for whom Wettimumy, skipper Duleep Mendis and wicket-keeper Amal Silva all scored centuries.

Eight years later Dexter was the chief guest at the first 4-day Under 19 unofficial test between Sri Lanka and England played at Leeds. The team captained by Suchitra Alexander and coached by former Sri Lanka Test captain Bandula Warnapura comprised Chaminda Vaas, Russel Arnold, Naveed Nawaz, Jayantha Silva and Pulasthi Gunaratne all of whom later went onto gain a national Test and ODI caps, and also the late Zulkifli Hamid who was the wicket-keeper of the side.   A talented golfer and a fanatical devotee of horse racing Dexter was one time chairman of England cricket selectors, a pioneer of one-day cricket and has been credited with developing a ranking system for Test cricketers which is being used by the ICC today. 

In an article in ‘The Cricketer’ magazine in 2005, Dexter was quoted as saying: “The rankings idea was my biggest contribution to cricket. Much better than being known for hitting a couple of extra-cover drives.”