Hamer – one of the finest glovesman of pre-Test era passes away

Even in the pre-Test era Sri Lanka had a habit of producing wicket-keepers of the highest quality. One of them was Russell Hamer who passed away yesterday in his eighties after a long ailment.

A product of Wesley College, Hamer played for Ceylon Schools in 1964 and then later made it to the Sri Lankan side in the annual Gopalan Trophy first-class fixture in 1967-8. Hamer was Sri Lanka’s main wicket-keeper of the early 1970s and toured India with the Sri Lanka team led by Anura Tennekoon in 1975-76 playing in two of the three unofficial tests. He also played in limited over matches for Sri Lanka against touring MCC teams in the 1970s.

A hard hitting left-hand bat and wicket-keeper, Hamer had to fight hard for a place in the Sri Lanka side with another rival wicket-keeper Ranjit Fernando and therefore could not hold onto a permanent position. But there was no enmity between them.

“Russell and I were competing for the wicket-keeper’s berth but we were very good friends,” said Fernando. “When I finished cricket and started coaching at NCC, Russell came to me and entrusted his son Peter and wanted me to look after his cricket. That was Russell. He was a very good soul. He loved his cricket and he played it the way he wanted.”

Two former Sri Lanka Captains Michael Tissera and Anura Tennekoon under whom Hamer played also paid tributes.       

“He was a brilliant wicket keeper hard hitting left hand bat, all the time aggressive in his outlook,” said Tissera. “The opposition used to rile him and he used to give it back to them.”

“He was a superb wicket keeper and a fighter all the way. He counter-attacked and showed a lot of aggression in his batting,” said Tennekoon. “Hamer was always ready to bring something to the team. The only thing is he had a bad temper.”

There was this story about Hamer and Tony Greig. When the England cricketer was batting Hamer is alleged to have made a remark to the effect like ‘Is your mother a dog?’ Greig was too stunned to answer or he didn’t understand what it was all about.

Hamer was a loyal servant at Maharaja Organisation and later became a curator at the SSC in the nineties. In 2017 he was one of the first players to receive financial assistance under a new scheme to help former national cricketers with medical expenses. In September 2018 he was one of 49 former Sri Lankan cricketers to be felicitated by Sri Lanka Cricket who honoured them for their services in the pre-Test era. – (ST)