On the surface I found Nihal to be a gentle and amiable person but beneath that soft exterior he was a hard task master who brooked no nonsense especially when he came to administration matters be it in the Mercantile sector or at the cricket board. In both these spheres, he was held in high esteem and held very responsible positions.
I can still recall the headlines in one English newspaper in the early sixties, Nihal was opening batting for All Ceylon, “David vs Goliath” pint sized Nihal Kodituwakku at 4 feet 11 inches facing David Larter of Northampton and England who stood at 6 feet 7 inches, this surely could be a world record of some sorts, which Mahinda Wijesinghe could sort out for us. To be fair by Nihal, he put the record straight by informing me that he stood at 5 feet 2 inches full stretch, when I interviewed him at his Mirihana residence. Harry Pilling also of Northamptonshire stood at 5 feet 3 inches the shortest first class cricketer in England then, piping Nihal by a mere inch.
At the very end of the interview when I broached that subject he quite humbly said that it was a tall order. However luck was on Nihal’s side and that day at the Oval due to overnight rain the run up was somewhat slippery and Larter after bowling with his long run up fell after the first two deliveries like a ton of bricks and as a result he had to cut down his run up and bowl at medium pace, Nihal breathed a sigh of relief, and was plucky enough to score 30 odd runs in that game.
Nihal and Michael Tissera could be put in the same bracket as far as the good looks were concerned. Nihal used to be a magnificent player off the back foot with a rock solid defence, who opened for Ceylon with many different partners but more of that later.
Nihal played all three grades of junior cricket at Royal, his father who was a Trinitian encouraged him. He played for Royal in1958 and 59, as a middle order bat.
After school cricket Maurice Wanigaratne a cousin of his a Peterite who also opened batting for SSC introduced him to the club. Nihal was a middle order batsman and played well which caught the eye of late R.B. Wijesinghe who wanted him to open and took him straight to the Sara side. This was a surprise elevation from Daily News Trophy. Nihal recalled that he opened with Sarath Silva, who was a very attacking player and never bowed down to any bowler. In his 10 year tenure in club cricket he played with the likes of CI, CH, PI, Polonowita, Crozier et al. Nihal was highly impressed by T.B. Kehelgamuwa’s pace - he stated Kehel was faster than the rest by a country mile.
In Ceylon’s second tour to Pakistan, the team was captained by Michael Tissera, in the first Test Nihal went out to open with Sarath Wimalaratne where Nihal had a bad experience, in a hurry he went to bat without a proper thigh pad. Salim Altaf was bowling to a leg trap at full tilt, and he was hit on the hip. He was in considerable pain. In that era Nihal was the best opening bat Ceylon had and the reason being he had so many opening partners who could not hold a permanent place.
Nihal was equally adept at showing his efficiency in the corporate field as well when at J Walter Thomson he managed to climb to the top. At one time when he was at JWT, his boss was none other than speaker of the house of parliament late Anandatissa de Alwis who himself was an ardent cricket fan who used to give ample time off to Nihal to attend cricket practice. During Nihal’s tenure there, he was in charge of the product portfolio of the Upali Group.
Nihal noted that it was not an easy task to work with late Upali Wijewardene but still he was equal to the task.
Thereafter he focused on his estate at Wariyapola and spent 15 years there. In spite of been far away from Colombo the affinity to cricket never deserted him.
Due to the second JVP insurrection, he came back to Colombo and through the good offices of Kumar Boralessa, he coached S Thomas’ ML for five years. They beat Royal and his friends got mad with him and he was offered the coaching job at Royal. Nihal stated that he coached Royal for another 5 year stint and then ended up at the Cricket Foundation on the invitation of Mahinda Wijesinghe.
Whilst coaching at Tissamaharamaya, Nihal was impressed by a tall boy who bowled line and length tirelessly, this farmer’s son was none other than Suranga Lakmal. Lakmal is the spearhead of our pace attack now. Nihal wondered how and why Suranga was not spotted earlier when many district coaches were there!
Nihal insisted that pumping technique in coaching will not do for the youngsters. Among the present set of young players he was impressed by Dhananjaya de Silva and Niroshan Dickwella. He insisted that they should put country before self when representing the country.
Nihal is of the opinion that Angelo Mathews should retire. He questioned why Angelo continues to play and he was annoyed when he saw his innings of 90 pushing singles and giving dot balls at that crucial stage of the match. Nihal questioned Mathews’ captaincy as well and was puzzled as to why nobody is doing anything to get rid of him those were the very words of Nihal. The constitution of SLC has to be changed, he said. There are clubs with voting rights and they play without a ground of their own. There is something wrong somewhere stressed Nihal and he further added that this is going on for the benefit of one man. The Minister is responsible for the change. Arjuna is strong and straight but may be vindictive, that also is not good stressed Nihal.
When Nihal was the CEO of the Foundation the lighting of the indoor nets tenders were called and one guy came and handed his tender and as he went out he said not to worry that there is 10% for Nihal in that. Nihal said that in a disgusted manner. The cheeky guy later told his peon “oyage bossa 10% ganne ne”. He further added that 10%, is normal to take and everyone takes but this man was adamant not to give in.
Nihal stated that after Michael Tissera left everything has gone haywire. Nihal further noted that if they sorted the constitution right surely people like Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Sidath Wettimuny and Roshan Mahanama would be stepping in for the games sake and cricket is the only sport Sri Lanka should be proud of, it would be a calamity if cricket too should go down the drain.
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