Wesley College cricket stalwart, the late Ansar Fuard, who captained a 1954 cricket team teeming with talent, was posthumously felicitated for his immense contribution on the field, during a special ceremony which celebrated the school’s120-year cricket history. Honoured with him were eight other Wesley cricket legends: batting maestro Mahadevan Sathasivam, spin wizards Sridharan Jeganathan and [...]

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Ansar honoured at Wesley cricket celebration

By David Stephens
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Ansar Fuard introduces his team to the school principal.

Wesley College cricket stalwart, the late Ansar Fuard, who captained a 1954 cricket team teeming with talent, was posthumously felicitated for his immense contribution on the field, during a special ceremony which celebrated the school’s120-year cricket history.
Honoured with him were eight other Wesley cricket legends: batting maestro Mahadevan Sathasivam, spin wizards Sridharan Jeganathan and Abu Fuard, Bryan Claessen, Lou Adihetty, Nalendra Abeysuriya, Hilary de Vos and Robin Reimers.

A genuine allrounder capable of inflicting equal devastation on opposing bowling and batting lineups, Ansar led a unit which boasted players such as Lou and Vince Adihetty, Herman Claessen, M. Samsudeen, Ananda Batuwitage, N. Fernando, B. Jurangpathy, Neil Gallaher, A. Chapman and his brother Abu. His uncompromising and intelligent leadership influenced the team to employ a flamboyant brand of cricket that was both exquisite and effective, and which yielded a stellar cricket season for Wesley.

The late Ansar Fuard’s son, Asif, collects a plaque honoring his father. Pic by Amila Gamage.

By captaining Wesley, Ansar had also followed in the footsteps of his father, A. M Fuard- who led the school’s first XI team in 1915- forever engraving the name ‘Fuard’ in the annals of Wesley cricket. Furthermore, his skills as a captain were recognized by school administrators at the time and he was appointed the skipper of a combined college team for the Colombo district.

Upon leaving school, where he also excelled in Athletics, Hockey and Table Tennis, Ansar captained Moors SC, and continued his club cricket at  the  NCC, sharing the dressing room with cricketing doyens like Michael Tissera and Vernon Prins. The special celebration, at which Ansar was honoured, took place in the college hall on Thursday, and was graced by a raft of distinguished past Wesley cricketers, who had assembled from all around the world.




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