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Lionel Fernando
The ball with which Lionel took all 10 wickets in an innings including a hat-trick
The Benedictine and cricketing fraternity of Sri Lanka was at a loss following the death of one of their versatile and outstanding cricketers Lionel Fernando in Melbourne yesterday at the age of 86.
Lionel who went onto captain St Benedict’s College at cricket and then represent his country Ceylon (as it was then known) with honour, is renowned for a unique feat which he achieved while still a schoolboy. He played for his alma mater from 1956-59 and in his final year as captain, he produced an exceptional all-round performance which in the annals of cricket still remains a unique feat.
On 13 February 1959 at the age of 19 he took all 10 wickets in an innings and also scored a double century all in one day against his former school St Anne’s College, Kurunegala who were bowled out for 50. Lionel bowling right-arm slow medium took 10/24 which included a hat-trick. He followed this performance by scoring a hundred in 92 minutes and double hundred (204*) in 157 minutes which included 33 fours, one six and one five.
Lionel was the eldest of four boys in the family who played cricket for St Benedict’s. Mervyn, Benildus and Damien were the others. Lionel represented his country at cricket, and Benildus and Damien at soccer.
While his bowling fell away Lionel went onto represent Ceylon in the sixties as an outstanding batsman and slip fielder of repute. He made his international debut for Ceylon against Mike Smith’s MCC team in 1965 and subsequently was selected to tour Pakistan in 1966. But his best effort with the bat came against the West Indies side captained by Sir Garry Sobers in 1967 at the P Sara Oval. Against a bowling attack comprising Wes Hall, Lester King, Sobers, Corey Collymore and Lance Gibbs, Lionel displayed his impressive batting skills to score 48 in 100 minutes with five fours in the first innings and followed it up with an unbeaten 72 in the second.
Lionel played two seasons of league cricket in England in the seventies before returning to Sri Lanka to undertake the position of manager of the indoor cricket nets and as a coach at the Sri Lanka Cricket Foundation. He migrated to Australia with his family in 1984 and played a few seasons of club cricket in Melbourne. He was one of 49 former Sri Lankan cricketers felicitated by Sri Lanka Cricket honouring them for their services to the country in the pre-Test era.
Last year, Lionel’s alma mater felicitated him at a function held at St Benedict’s College in acknowledgement of his monumental feat of scoring a double century and taking all 10 wickets in a day’s play when he came to Sri Lanka on a short holiday.
Referring to his unique batting and bowling performance Lionel said, “I don’t think it will be broken.”
Lionel is survived by his wife Stella, sons Tyrone and Dilshan and daughter Shanil. – [ST]
