A. C. M. Lafir

A. C. M. Lafir (born 27 October 1935) is a former opening batsman who played for Ceylon from 1953 to 1970 before Test status was awarded in 1981.

Abdul Cader Mohamed Lafir was born on 27 October 1935 at Katugastota near Kandy. In 1948, he entered St. Anthony's College, Kandy, and he captained the First XI in the college's centenary year in 1954.

In 1962 Lafir married Carmini (née Ratnam), an English graduate and teacher. They had three children, Aashiq, Nirala and Mehera.

Lafir holds the Sri Lanka record for an opening stand of 266 runs, scoring 176 runs by himself as the school team captain, with Ronnie Stevens scoring 120 runs, in the 1954 annual match against Trinity College, Kandy. He won four awards – best batsman, best bowler, best all-rounder and highest scorer. Lafir's school cricket batting average was 108.06, breaking the record of 92.6 set in 1918 by Jack Anderson; scoring five centuries and amassing 1,000 runs in a season. He scored the 'fastest 100' in 60 minutes against Ananda College Colombo, in 1954. He led St. Anthony's in 1954 to become the unbeaten Inter-school Champions and won the Sri Lanka schools Best Batsman Award. He skippered the Kandy schools XI and led them to victory over the Colombo schools XI with a captain's knock of 151 not out.

He made his first-class debut in the annual Gopalan Trophy match against Madras in Madras in 1955-56. Opening the batting, he scored the only century in the match, 107, in a match that Ceylon won by an innings. He was the first schoolboy from St. Anthony's College to play for Ceylon.

In 1960 the Pakistan Eaglets visited Colombo and played a three-day match against the CCA led by C. I. Gunasekera which included Lafir and in the following year he played against India and scored 55. He also toured Malaya and Singapore in 1957.