Lareef Idroos memories of a lifetime

Lareef Idroos , the schoolboy spin wizard, the cricketer who represented two nations ( Ceylon and USA), the reputed nephrologist, philanthropist and above all the cultured and generous gentleman, passed away a few days ago in Los Angeles California. It was a devastating blow to his wide circle of friends, some of whom were unaware of his terminal illness.

- 

Our friendship goes back a long way . He enrolled in the Lower Third form ( fourth standard ) S.Thomas’s Mount Lavinia in 1951. Our favourite sport before school and during the lunch interval was cricket. Usually played with a tennis ball and only occasionally with a hard ball.

While a model student of diminutive stature, there was no doubting Lareef’s cricketing prowess. When the South West monsoon rains pelted our playing fields our indoor pitch was the cement floored verandah outside the classroom. I painfully learned how hard a cork ball was when it avoided my bat and hit the inside of my right knee. The bowler was definitely not Lareef. He was a spinner even then. I may have been distracted by the aromas of rice, beef curry, pol sambol and parippu coming from the Boarder’s dining room, which was in the same long single storey building.

Lareef played in the under 12 and under 14 teams but really came of age in the under 16 team guided by the renowned coach Lassie Abeywardane whose domain was the Small Club ground. Those days it had a matting wicket and the field was more gravel than grass. Our mutual friend Bora ( Dr Harischandra Borelassa who was L’s desk mate for many years ) relates the apocryphal story that Lareef was the only one in the under 14 team who had a proper pair of cricket boots. All the others wore tennis shoes. However, L's shoes were oversized and a wag had asked did you wear tennis shoes also for the fit on.

L made his mark in the Junior team and was selected in 1957 to play in the first eleven under one of our most distinguished and successful captains, Michael Tissera.