Benedict Navaratne (1916 – 9 June 1979) was a cricketer who kept wicket for Ceylon in first-class cricket from 1940 to 1952.
 Navaratne in 1947 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Benedict Navaratne | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 1916 Ceylon | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 15 February 1979 (aged 62 or 63) Kandy, Sri Lanka | ||||||||||||||
| Role | Wicketkeeper | ||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 25 September 2017 | |||||||||||||||
He toured with the Ceylon team to India in 1940-41 and Pakistan in 1949-50. He had a reputation for standing up to the stumps to all but the fastest bowlers.[1][2] His obituary in the 1980 Wisden, shortly before Sri Lanka achieved Test status, called him "Sri Lanka's greatest wicket-keeper".[3]
Playing in a one-day match against the touring Australian team in early 1948, Navaratne's keeping earned high praise from the visitors. Sir Donald Bradman is reported to have said that he would like to have Navaratne in his team.[4]
References
edit- ^ Thawfeeq, Sa’adi (8 March 2010). "Batsman-keeper or keeper-batsman?". Cricinfo. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
- ^ Rodrigopulle, Elmo (13 July 2017). "When 'BIG BEN' struck a chord on Sir Don". Daily News. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
- ^ Wisden 1980, p. 1151.
- ^ Krishnamohan, Theviyanthan. "Knights of the Dawn: Ben Navaratne, a keeper Bradman wanted in his team". Cricket Machan. Retrieved 11 January 2021.