I encountered Mahinda Halangoda at the SSC as soon as he completed his breakfast at the cafeteria. He was gracious and was somewhat flustered when I informed him that I came to interview him regarding his cricketing career. He vaguely suggested that there were bigger fish for me to go after.
We all knew Mahinda Halangoda as a true blue Thomian but he reminded me that he has a strong tinge of maroon in him as well in the sense that he had played cricket at Ananda at junior level with the likes of Charith Senanayake, Rohita Perera etc.
Mahinda started his cricket at Diyatalawa, his father was a keen sportsman who was a higher up in the Army, the first Commander of the Gemunu Watch to be precise. In his formative years Mahinda played softball cricket at Diyatalawa with his three brothers who were keen as well in cricket and they played at weekends. His father taught them the rudiments of cricket
With his father changing stations due to official duties, Mahinda was compelled to be at St. Thomas’ Matale for a brief period of six months. He finally settled at S Thomas’ Mount Lavinia and finished his school cricket career there. During his tenure he started playing 2nd eleven cricket and then graduated to the first eleven team and captained from 1978 to 1981.
His 70 n.o. at the Centenary Royal-Thomian was the highlight of his school career and he also mentioned that it was the first 3-day school match. Mahinda recalled that whilst playing for school Michael de Zoysa, a stalwart then at the SSC was interested in getting Thomian cricketers to play for SSC. For starters they were to play in Division 3, this was in order to get them the exposure with seniors.
Although the veterans were well past their prime the thought of playing with them gave Mahinda a great delight. One such “Golden Oldie” was Mahinda Wijesinghe.
Whilst playing for SSC, Halangoda captained all 3 divisions of the club and won all three division championships as well. He also had the privilege of captaining the Sara team for four seasons. He played under Arjuna Ranatunga and stated that Arjuna was a tough task master on the field. Mahinda noted that Arjuna gave 100 %. I gauged that Mahinda had a high regard to our
“World Cup” winning captain Arjuna’s commitment to the game. It was such that even after an overseas tour the following day if a Sara match was on he would gladly play, commented Mahinda. Arjuna was also instrumental in breaking the shackles of the “stiff upperlipped” brigade which prevailed at the SSC.
Mahinda had a high regard for Marvan Atapattu. He reminisced that Marvan and Roy Dias were a treat to watch and both were similar in style. Mahinda was also of the opinion that Mahela Jayawardene was a touch player and a highly gifted one at that.
Kumar Sangakkara the darling of Sri Lankan high society was highly effective as a batsman Mahinda observed. Although he was
not inborn with natural gifts, like for instance Roy Dias, Mahela Jayawardene or even Marvan Atapattu, Kumar worked hard at his game, so hard that when Sanga got out early his friends use to curse because they had to bowl to him at the nets for “hours on end”. Muralitharan was another who was keen to sharpen his skills at any hour of the day.
These observations came from Mahinda one of the keenest observers of the game. In the not so distant past Mahinda managed the under 19 team with Roy Dias as coach. He has earmarked Chaminda Mendis, Shammu Ashan, Charith Asalanka as future Sri Lanka material provided they keep their feet on the ground. *
Mahinda’s main grouse was that they were sacrificing quantity over quality and stated that there are so many first class teams and it was so easy to walk into any of them, there were 80 to 100 then and now it is over 300, Mahinda is of the view that there should be a way of coming up from
division 3, 2 and 1 in a systematic way and not to throw talented youngsters to the deep end for them to fend for themselves
Mahinda insisted that we should have a mentor on the mental side and also a financial advisor to cope up with the financial aspect, since most players come from various background and they will earn lucratively only for a small period of time and they should spend wisely rather than buy expensive vehicles and try to spend lavishly on “women, wine and song.
Another pertinent question was raised by Mahinda, the recognition of small time coaches who have shown the rudiments of the game to players in their formative years, and also to give good exposure to our coaches and curators. The latter is a curious bunch if guided in the wrong way can decided the outcome of a match even before a ball is bowled.
Mahinda was spot on that the curators should be sent overseas specially England so that
they can obtain a knowhow on how to prepare strips akin to the ones you get there. These were words of wisdom by Mahinda since the next World Cup is around the corner and to be held in England.
It was a pleasure meeting Mahinda Halangoda in spite of the various noises coming from the surroundings of the SSC cafeteria which was of course beyond his control.
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