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Tita has trod the high road
By Bernie Wijesekera
I caught Edward Basil [Tita] Nathanielsz at the Capri. It was an appropriate place for an encounter with a sporting, social and marketing legend.
Tita was a founder member of the Capri in 1958, President twice and now an honorary life member. The Capri is still one of his favourite watering holes in Colombo. Tita was in fine fettle as he walked me down memory lane - a long rite of passage for a man who turned 86 in April this year.

Sharp of wit and endowed with a phenomenal capacity for recall, Tita's early and enduring passion was cricket. Along the way Tita tried his hand at bowling in the nets. He took three paces and hurled the ball down. The ball raced, reared and terrorized the hapless batsman. It was phenomenal.

Tita's secret weapon was dangerous and effective. He entered first class cricket in 1938, turning out for Notts Cricket and Athletic Club at Victoria Park under the captaincy of that elegant, brilliant Thomian left-hander, Robert Samarasekera. Tita's apprenticeship at Notts also benefited from the captaincy of E.A.G de Silva, the father of Romesh, the eminent Queen's Counsel, and A.A. Virasinghe, the distinguished hockey player.

In 1940, with World War II raging across Europe, Tita moved camp, joining the Colombo Colts Cricket Club. It is an association that endures to this day where he was captain, an honorary life member and patron, having served as President in 1973, the club's centenary year at which William Gopallawa, the Governor General was Chief Guest.

What have you got to say about cricket in the war years survived with matches organized on an ad hoc basis. Tita got to play with and against the likes of George Hubert, F.C de Saram, C.I. Gunasekera, B.R Heyn, R.L. de Krestser, M. Sathasivam, Pat McCarthy, Vernon Prins, Sargo Jayewickrema, Mahes Rodrigo and Stanley Jayasinghe.

By 1946-47 the game revived in all its glory. The P. Saravanamuthu Trophy was the premier tournament. It was the time Tita Nathanieslz arrived - three paces, slingshot and all. He took the tournament by storm, his secret weapon causing mayhem among the batsmen. Paired at various times with M. Samsudeen, Norman de la Harpe and Lolo da Silva, Tita and his fellow combatants at the Colts.

In 1948 following selection trials for the Ceylon national side, Tita was given the nod to play against Pakistan in 1950, the Commonwealth XI captained by the late Sir Frank Worrell and in 1951 against the MCC.

Tita capped his involvement in cricket as a national test selector and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket.
Tita's zest for life remained irrepressible after he hung up his cricket boots. He played golf with flair. He also served in several honorary capacities at the Royal Colombo Golf Club and became the Royal Colombo's President in 2004-2005, presiding over the Club's 125th anniversary celebrations. Not unexpectedly, he also founded the Hole -in-One Golfing Society as much in celebration of his own prowess as the many golfers who have achieved this distinction.

Tita Nathanielsz is also acknowledged as the great chronicler of the game of golf in Sri Lanka, producing a handsome book on the history of the Royal Colombo to mark the club's 125th anniversary, a tour de force in sports publishing.

His regular and extremely popular golf columns in national newspapers under the nom de plume ‘After All’ has over three decades generated and sustained interest in the game among followers of the sport.

Mention jazz and one name instantly lights up. Tita Nathanielsz was a founder of the Jazz Club and remains President of Jazz Unlimited, whose concerts on the first Sunday of every month at the CRFC are a lively, popular, fun happening in Colombo's entertainment scene.

Proving that there is a wise head on those still strong shoulders, Tita Nathanielsz also counts among his many pursuits involvement as a founder member and President of the Apex Clubs of Australia; a former President of the Sri Lanka America Society and now Joint Chairman of the Society's highly respected Forum; former President and now an honorary life member of the Ceylon-Australia-New Zealand Association; founder member of the Colombo Toastmasters Club; and a former President of the Colombo Lions Host Club, and still a very active member and a founder member of the Sri Lanka-Australia-New Zealand Business Council.

That's not all folks, read this. Tita was around as a founder member of The Ceylon Amateur Dancing Association and a founder member of the Ceylon Motor Cycle Club and as its honorary secretary organised the inaugural Monsoon Reliability Trials. At 86 Tita Nathanielsz is not retired, just very laid back. He is looking forward to celebrating 50 years of marriage to his wife Jeanne in June next year. Till that big bash comes along he remains the great raconteur, the life and soul of social gatherings, a great friend, the custodian of many, many friendships and a dreamer. "If you don't dream, how can your dreams come true", he asks as he raises a glass to propose an eloquent, witty toast.

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