Blackham: Flower That Went Unbloomed
By Sharm de Alwis
Blackham Wijewardena showed early that he was a sportsman to reckon with but never applied himself to the maximum or else he would have been in the very top drawer as a cricketer and a ruggerite.
A boarder from his seventh year, he was a school prefect and was awarded the Trinity Rugger Lion in 1933 along with his captain Eddie Buultjens. Others he played with were O.L.Z.Abdeen, Rex Breckenridge, C.E.Jansz, B.C.Wijemanne, Willie Winter, Harry Geddes, M.B. Dissanayake and J. Rajasooriya.
He captained Trinity cricket in 1934 when Eddie Buultjens declined to equal the three year captaincy of Percy Maralanda, generally considered the Lion of Lions. Blackham was awarded the Cricket Lion in 1932, Batting Prize in 1933 and the Bowling Prize in 1931 and ‘33. His performance over four years makes astounding reading:-
1931: 5/44 v. SJC; 6/35 v. SACK;
6/28 v. Royal.
1932: 6/ 61 v. Wesley.
1933: 5/60 v. Royal; 6/15 v. SACK 4/ 23 v. Wesley
1934: 4/ 29 v. SJC
In batting, he had 50 Vs SACK in 1932 and in 1933 he had 77 and 41 against Wesley and 85 against SACK. He was considered the best left hand bowler in schools and would change from pace to spin with the old ball. He was also a whirlwind wielder of the willow. Blackham’s father had been one of the finest wicket keepers at the turn of the century and named the son after that Prince of Australian keeper, George Blackham.
His team mates included R.A.Tennekoon, A.G.Divitotawela, Rex Breckenridge, Eddie Buultjens, D. Kalenberg, L.N. Schoorman, Sidney Ratwatte (the only Triple Lion before Tusha Weerasuriya), Percy de Silva and J.V.P. de Silva. Blackham Wijewardena was the precursor to the Trinity sportsmen who kept a mark in the annals of the country’s sports and the names that spring to mind are of Sammy David, Duncan Reith, and C. Dharmalingam of the double hat tricks, O.L.Izadeen, Percy Madugalle, T.B.Marambe, G.P.Schoorman and John Halangoda [Jnr].
Like his predecessor the Burmese John Duncan who captained Trinity in 1930 and ‘31, Blackham also played for The Ceylonese at rugger whilst still a schoolboy. On leaving school, he toured Madras with the University Xl which comprised 5 Thomians and 4 Royalists. He snared the most number of wickets on the tour and his whirlwind 76 against Madras Combined Colleges when the Uni team was 45 for 6 wickets was the feature of the visitors’ combined effort. Success on the tour earned Blackham a place in the All-Ceylon team against Jack Ryder’s Australian Xl.
He opened bowling with D. S. Jayasundera and got 2 wickets for 27 in 10 overs. In the second Innings he had a bag of 5 wickets for fewer than 30. Even the great Cecil Horan’s best was 10 for 27 and W.T. Greswell had 10 for 22 for CCC Vs SSC. He has taken a hat trick with the first three balls of the opening over against Saracens, getting B.S. Perera, Bertram Henderling and I.H. Walbeoff with a bonus of C.V. Abeysekera’s wicket also to send the opposition reeling to 30 all out. Capturing over 5 wickets in an innings was a common feature of his performances and he has taken 9 wickets for 7 runs for SSC against Kalutara. He has captured all 10 wickets for 11 runs in 9.2 overs 5 of which were maidens. From about 1940 ill health dogged his frame and he took a rear seat, playing the occasional game.
Bobby Reith has said, “I was only a little brat at Trinity when Blackham played for College and there hasn’t been, in my opinion, a bowler of his class since.” Bertie Wijesinha has said of him, “A left hand bowler in a class by himself… brilliant and devastating. He never gave himself the opportunity to blossom into full realization. He finished with the game early… a world beater in potential.”
Those he played with were D.S. Jayasundera, F. R. de Saram, M. K. Albert, W. L. Mendis, M. S. Ahamath, B.J.H. Bahar, A.C. Amath, F. W. E. Porritt, Neil Joseph, H. E. W. de Zilwa, Bertie Wijesinha, A. H. Gooneratne, Pat McCarthy, Malcolm Spittel, S . Saravanamuttu, ex-pats Clover Brown, F. A. Waldock and C. E. Allen. His selection into teams has been at the expense of D. S. Jayasundera and D. W. L. Lieversz, the front line bowlers of the era.
