Mahadevan Sathasivam

Mahadevan "Satha" Sathasivam (18 October 1915, Ceylon – 9 July 1977 in Colombo, Sri Lanka), or Satha as he was known, was the Sri Lankan cricketer whom Garry Sobers called "the greatest batsman ever on earth," and Frank Worrell called him "the best batsman he had ever seen".[1] Sathasivam played cricket in the 1940s through the 1960s. Sathasivam was the first, and probably the only, man to captain three national teams.[2] He was captain of the Ceylon team in 1948, and then captain of the Singapore team, and finally captain of the Malaysian team. He was accused and acquitted of murdering his wife, which gained much attention in Ceylon.[3]

Mahadevan Sathasivam
Personal information
Born(1915-10-18)18 October 1915
Ceylon
Died9 July 1977(1977-07-09) (aged 61)
Colombo
BattingRight-handed
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 11
Runs scored 753
Batting average 41.83
100s/50s 3/3
Top score 215
Balls bowled 84
Wickets 1
Bowling average 41.00
5 wickets in innings 0
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 1/8
Catches/stumpings 2/0
Source: Cricinfo, 16 April 2015

Early life and family

Sathasivam was educated at St. Joseph's College and at Wesley College, Colombo. With the on set of World War II in the Far East, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Ceylon Light Infantry as part of the war time expansion in 1940.[4]

Sathasivam married Paripoornam Anandam Rajendra, younger daughter of Mr and Mrs Ramanathan Rajendra, a granddaughter of Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan in 1941. Anandam Rajendra inherited substantial assets including half share of the family home "Sukhasthan" at Horton Place, Colombo 7. They had four daughters. The marriage turned out to be a unhappy one with, Anandam Rajendra filling for divorce in 1944 and again in 1951, after he had started an affair with Yvonne Stevenson.[3]

Cricketing career

Sathasivam started his cricketing career in his school days, playing for St. Joseph's and later for Wesley College until 1937. He then played in the club level matches, playing for the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club and later captained its team.[5] He first played for Ceylon in 1945, when international matches started with visiting teams after the end of the war. In 1948, in a controversial decision of the Ceylon Cricket Association selected Mahadeva Sathasivam of the Tamil Union to lead the All-Ceylon XI team.[6]

Sathasivam murder case

In 1951, Sathasivam was arrested and accused of murdering his wife Anandam Rajendra, who was found dead at her home on 9 October 1951. He was acquitted after a twenty-month sensational trial, having spent twenty-months in remand prison. He stood trial before a special jury at the Assizes Court of the Western Province, presided over by Justice Noel Gratiaen. He was acquitted by a unanimous verdict and three prosecution witnesses were sentenced to jail for perjury. His defense team was lead by Dr Colvin R de Silva. The defense flew in Sir Sydney Smith, a forensic scientist from the United Kingdom, to aid in its case. Nonetheless, he left Ceylon because of the negative publicity and Colvin R de Silva lost the Wellawatte-Galkissa seat in the 1952 general elections.[3][7]

Later life

He later married Yvonne Stevenson in London, they had three children. Sathasivam settled in Singapore where he captained its cricket team, and then later, after that island's merger with its northern neighbour, Sathasivam led the Malaysian team as well.[8][9][10]

References & notes
  1. Gunasekara, C.H. (1996) The Willow Quartette, Colombo: Sumathi Publishers, p. 57
  2. "The story of De Saram and Satha: batting geniuses who went to jail". The Cricket Monthly. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  3. Famous cricketer acquitted of murdering wife after long ordeal 60th anniversary of Sathasivam murder trial
  4. "Ceylon Light Infantry". Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  5. Epasinghe, Premasara. "Mahadevan Sathasivam Cricket Legend of Sri Lanka". The Island. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  6. "Mahadeva Sathasivam, playboy cricketers & the book of Guinness" by Michael Roberts Cricket Online 12 Oct. 2004 Archived October 18, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Perera. "Famous cricketer acquitted of murdering wife after long ordeal 60th anniversary of Sathasivam murder trial". Island. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  8. Sathasivam the batting maestro by Edmund Dissanayake; M.Sathasivam by Christie Seneviratne; M.Sathasivam - 'Not Guilty' from the Sunday Island 11/4/04 Wesley College Colombo
  9. "A Sri Lankan master" by Sriram Veera December 3, 2005 in CricInfo SriLanka; reprinted at uk.sports.yahoo.com
  10. "The Finest at Chepauk" by S. Muthiah Archived 2006-09-05 at the Wayback Machine The Hindu 7 Nov. 2005;
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