Abu Fuard

Mohamed Abdal Hassain "Abu" Fuard (6 December 1936 – 28 July 2012) was a Sri Lankan cricketer who played first-class cricket for Ceylon from 1957 to 1970 and served for many years as a national cricket administrator.

Abu Fuard
Personal information
Full nameMohamed Abdal Hassain Fuard
Born(1936-12-06)6 December 1936
Ceylon
Died28 July 2012(2012-07-28) (aged 75)
Colombo, Sri Lanka
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm off-spin
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 19
Runs scored 406
Batting average 14.00
100s/50s 0/1
Top score 68
Balls bowled 3128
Wickets 51
Bowling average 26.17
5 wickets in innings 1
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 6/31
Catches/stumpings 12/0
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 18 October 2015

Playing career

He was educated at Wesley College, Colombo, and played in turn for Moors Sports Club, Colts Cricket Club and Colombo Cricket Club.[1] An off-spinner who sometimes opened the batting, he made his first-class debut in the Gopalan Trophy in 1956-57, taking two wickets and two catches and making 15 runs in a low-scoring victory for Ceylon.[2] In the 1960-61 Gopalan Trophy match he top-scored in Ceylon's first innings with 68 batting at number 10, then took 3 for 44 and 2 for 75 in a 169-run victory for Ceylon.[3]

He toured India with Ceylon in 1964-65 and played in all three matches against India but had little success with the ball, taking only two wickets. In the third match, however, when Ceylon needed 112 to win and the regular opener was injured, Fuard opened the batting on a difficult pitch and top-scored with 40 and Ceylon won by four wickets.[4][1]

Against the International XI in 1967-68 he took 6 for 31 in the first innings, but Derek Underwood responded with 15 wickets in the match for 43 runs and the International XI won easily.[5] In single-innings matches against touring sides Fuard took the wickets of many prominent Test batsmen: Bill Lawry and Bob Simpson when the Australians visited in April 1961, Tom Graveney, Peter Parfitt, Ray Illingworth and Fred Titmus against MCC in October 1962, Norman O'Neill and Bob Cowper against the Australians in April 1964, Parfitt again, Mike Smith, John Murray and Jim Parks against MCC in October 1966, John Edrich against MCC in January 1969, and Doug Walters against the Australians in October that year.[6] His last first-class wicket, in February 1970, was of Geoff Boycott.[7]

Administrative career

He served as a cricket administrator, manager, curator, coach and national selector. He was manager and coach for Sri Lanka in the 1975 World Cup and assistant manager when Sri Lanka recorded their first win over a Test-playing nation during the 1979 World Cup.[8] He also managed the team that won Sri Lanka's first Test victory, over India in September 1985,[9] as well as the touring team to England in 1988.[10]

A forceful man, he was one of the principal administrators behind the successful push for Sri Lanka's admission to Test status. However, he could be difficult, and he made enemies as well as admirers.[1] He was behind the appointment of two of the selectors for Ceylon's first-ever tour of England in 1968. The government was already reluctant to come up with the money to support the two-month tour, and when Fuard's two selectors chose themselves and Fuard in the touring team and omitted some prominent players, the resultant uproar among the cricket fraternity led the government to cancel the tour.[11]

In his last years he suffered from kidney failure and eventually blindness.[1]

References
  1. Fernando, Ranjit (27 January 2013). "Abu, the man who dared for Sri Lankan cricket". The Sunday Times. Colombo: Wijeya Newspapers. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  2. "Ceylon Cricket Association v Madras 1956-57". CricketArchive. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  3. "Ceylon Cricket Association v Madras 1960-61". CricketArchive. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  4. "India v Ceylon, Ahmedabad 1964-65". CricketArchive. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  5. "Ceylon Board President's XI v International XI 1967-68". CricketArchive. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  6. "Miscellaneous matches played by Abu Fuard". CricketArchive. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  7. "Ceylon v MCC 1969-70". CricketArchive. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  8. "Former administrator Abu Fuard dies". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  9. "Wisden Obituaries - 2012". Wisden. 2013. p. 218 – via ESPNcricinfo.
  10. Wisden 1989, p. 314.
  11. Wagg, Stephen (2008). Cricket and National Identity in the Postcolonial Age. Routledge. pp. 145–46.
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