South Asian Heritage - Sri Lanka

As part of South Asian Heritage Month, Leicestershire County Cricket Club is taking a look back at some of the club's past players.

The final edition looks at previous players from Sri Lanka who have donned the running fox.

Stanley Jayasinghe

Stan Jayasinghe came to Leicestershire a very experienced cricketer. He was not officially a ‘Test Match’ cricketer but played many times in matches between Ceylon (as it was then called) and Indian and Pakistan representative teams. He spent four years playing for Colne in the Lancashire League before qualifying by residence for Leicestershire in 1961 scoring an impressive 1,485 runs at 57 and playing competitive cricket for the county between 1962 and 1965, scoring a thousand runs in each season. His final century for Leicestershire helped secure a six-wicket victory over Nottinghamshire. His batting was best summed up by a remark in ‘The Cricketer’ magazine following the Ceylon tour of India in 1964/65, where Stan excelled with bat and ball. “Jayasinghe showed how to bat in a crisis without getting bogged down”. He had plenty of opportunity to do that during his time with the county.

When he arrived at Leicestershire, Mike Turner, who was Secretary at the time, was keen to find him some suitable off-season employment. When asked his occupation, Stan replied ‘Tea Taster’. That rather floored Mike as then as now there is not much tea grown in Leicestershire, but he was able to find him employment selling it!

Clive Inman

Clive came to Leicestershire around the same time as Stan, spending 1961 and 1962 qualifying. He had been playing as a professional with Penzance in Devon. He was a dashing left-handed batsman and in his earlier days a fine cover fieldsman.

He was very much an unknown in 1963, and he was remarkably consistent, scoring over 1700 runs (he scored a few more in 1968 at a slightly lower average). He never scored the runs you would have expected in one day cricket, maybe it came too late for him to change his style, perversely 1971 was his best year. That year he scored well over 400 runs, and then retired from full time cricket. He scored the fastest 50 of all time at Trent Bridge in 1965, though probably not one that he is proud of. He scored his runs in 8 minutes off Norman Hill, who was more Friar Tuck than Richard Hadlee, and who was actively encouraging a declaration at the time.

Better to remember the time when in 1964 after losing 11 matches in a row, he steered Leicestershire home with an unbeaten 75 against Glamorgan. How we cheered, how the cars in the Hawkesbury Road car park sounded their horns. We might have won the championship.

Richard Holdridge - Club Historian