Thaiyar – a wonderful journey through cricket

Thaiyar Mohammed is known to most Antonians as an outstanding cricketer and their captain of 1977, but what he has achieved since leaving college is news to only a few. Let us look at the journey that Thaiyar has taken in his life through cricket, especially in the post-college period.

At college, Thaiyar was recognized for his consistent performances as an all-rounder. A failure with the bat was often equalised by his tidy off-spin bowling, and conversely a lack of wickets meant that he was scoring tons of runs. He captained college in 1977, which turned out to be his last and most productive year crowning in national limelight. Thaiyar went on to win the All Island Best All-Rounder award and the Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year (outstation schools) at the annual schoolboy cricket awards. With his affable personality, Thaiyar also took home the most popular schoolboy cricketer award (adjudged by umpires) and played for combined schools in the same year.

Unfortunately, it was during 1977 that the government took over the reins of the school. The tumultuous nature of this year meant that Thaiyar’s achievements went somewhat unnoticed. After playing first class and district cricket regularly for Kandy for a few years, he moved to Singapore in 1989 where his cricketing prowess was reinvigorated.

Thaiyar represented the Singapore national team for nine long years from 1990 to 1999, captaining the side in his last five years during this time. His captaincy record included games at ICC world cup qualifying tournaments, and against teams that have played in the major World Cups like Ireland, Scotland, UAE etc.

Thaiyar opened a new chapter in his cricket journey after he finished his playing career by assisting in the development of Singapore cricket. His involvement led to the recruitment of Marvan Atapattu to coach Singapore in 2010. Thaiyar worked closely with Marvan for a year, and we wonder whether this stint played any part in Marvan’s rise as an accomplished coach, so much so that he is now in charge of the Sri Lankan national team.

Whilst acknowledging his successful cricketing stint in Singapore, Thaiyar’s memorable moments were not confined to just cricket. He became a citizen in 1993, and all his three daughters were born in Singapore. In his professional capacity as a chief financial officer, he worked in Dubai for many years before ending up in Australia.

Thaiyar’s cricket journey reached new heights in 2013 when he was appointed as a match referee in an Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Under-23 tournament involving test playing nations. He now lives in Perth and continues to be involved in the game, being recently appointed by Cricket Australia as a community ambassador to promote the game among the Sri Lankan community in WA.

In 2014, Thaiyar made a special trip to Melbourne from Perth to participate at the College Day celebrations.