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Karnain out to put Tamil Union back on track
By S. R. Pathiravithana
Uvaisul Shahul Hameed Karnain was naturally a naughty child and always was on the lookout to drop what ever the given assignment and start a new game. What else could you expect when one is born into a family which consists a ready made cricket or a hockey team - seven boys, two girls and the mother and the father.
The culmination of the episode is that Uvaisul who came to be known as S.H.U. Karnain represented the country in both Cricket and Hockey.

Born on 11th August 1962 at Wellawatte, Karnain had his primary education in a school which was famous for churning out ruggerites rather than cricketers and hockey players. Amidst this background he developed into one of the best all rounders of his day - a right hand middle order batsman a right arm medium fast bowler. Besides this Karnain who started his international hockey career while still in school was a regular for Sri Lanka and BRC as a full back or a centre-half.

When asked how did he become more famous in two sports which were alien to his school rather than rugby which an Isipatanian takes like a duck taking to water, he said "Both cricket and hockey are popular in my school, though is as not as prevelant as rugby, but, we certainly had good teams in both games which we could have contested any team in their own league".

Out of the seven boys in the family, Uvaisul's younger brother Mohommed Fiaz took only to the game of hockey and went on captain Sri Lanka. Ironacally, Faiz died young in the year 1999. Uvaisul described this tragic experience as a shattering one not only for him but to the entire family but was philosophical when he said " But, life has to go on ".

Coming back to the main topic, Uvaisul who joined BRC whilst in school for hockey then walked across the Havelock Park to join Colts to pursue his cricket career. After making his name as a dependable allrounder Uvaisul got his break against New Zealand on March 31, 1984 at the Moratuwa Stadium.

This became Uvaisul's most memorable day in his entire life. In Sri Lanka's innings Uvaisul going to bat late in the order made 28 not out with a six and three fours in 16 balls and then followed it up with figures of 5 for 26 and thus bowling Sri Lanka into a memorable 20 run win. At the end of the game he was crowned as the man-of-the-match. What one should remember in this performance is that it was not an era that Sri Lanka played International cricket so frequently and also were not in the habit of wining on such a regular basis like now.

This launched Uvaisul's international cricket career that lasted for six years under Duleep Mendis, Ranjan Madugalle and Arjuna Ranatunga. Uvaisul explained " In that era we hardly got an international game. May be three games a year or four the most. Anything more than that was very rare.I in my entire career I played in only 19 internationals. In comparison today a national cricketer play the same number of matches in a single year."

When asked about who were the cricketers who made the biggest impression in him while serving the game at that level, there was no hesitation, That prompt answer was, "Vivian Richards and Malcolm Marshall. When Richards was occuping the crease we felt his awsome presence, he made that art of striking the ball look so easy. He was one player who was in a different plane during my era. In bowling it was Marshall. To assist him he had Walsh, Winston Davis and a host of others, but like Richards he too was of a differant class".

During his 16 years of active club cricket in Sri Lanka , Karnain represented Colts, NCC and Moors before calling it a day in 1995. In spite of moving away from active cricket his love for the game kept him involved in it.

In 1999 he reached Level II in Cricket Coaching under famous Australian coach Terry Oliver and then joined BCCSL as its Colombo District Coach before taking over the Moors Junior team. This year Karnain got the challenge that he was looking for. He was invited by the Tamil Union to take over their Premier League side. Describing it Karnain said, "I like this challenge, this year we have literally an inexperienced side."

"During the last two years we lost eight seniors, and this year alone seven. But, I do not believe in just making up the numbers. So far we have lost a couple of games, but, each of those games we played well but, missed that little experience that converts a good game into a win. I know we have it in us. This is a side for the future, and the available talent is good and the club administration is backing us one hundred per cent. Give us two seasons we will prove our worth".

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