Clive Inman’s Death, Obituary – Clive Inman has sadly passed away unexpectedly with loved ones, family and the entire community left heartbroken and in grievance, according to an online publication. Clive Clay Inman, a left-handed batsman who was born on January 29, 1936, played with great distinction for St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya. He ended his school cricket career by striking a splendid double century (204) in the ‘Big Match’ against St. Joseph’s College, Colombo.
He was a member of the school’s First XI cricket team for a total of five seasons, and during his final year with the team, in 1954-55, he led them to victory in the “Battle of the Saints,” which was played against St. Joseph’s College. In addition, he was a first-class cricket player for Ceylon between the years of 1956 and 1966 and for Leicestershire in the English county season between the years of 1956 and 1971. At the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium in 1956, Inman made his first-class debut while playing for Ceylon versus India.
This match took place. After that, Inman would go on to play another 254 matches in the first class. Inman, a batsman who batted in the middle order, made sporadic appearances for Ceylon during the remainder of the decade in the Gopalan Trophy Tournament against Madras. After moving to England, he first played for Penzance CC and then joined his countrymen Stanley Jayasinghe for Leicestershire CC. Inman was a part of the team that won the tournament. In his first match for the English club, which took place in 1961 against an Australian side that was touring England, he made contributions of 30 and 45 not out.
It wasn’t until 1963 that he made his debut in the official County Championship, and just a few days after that, he hit his first century in first-class competition, which was a match against Cambridge University. Inman was chosen to go on tour with the Ceylon team to England in 1968, but the trip was called off shortly before it was scheduled to begin. In 1968, he had his most productive season, scoring 1,735 runs and had a batting average of 36.91. In spite of the large number of runs he scored, he only had one century during that season.
1971 was his final year playing for the county, and it was the only year in which he scored four hundreds in a single year. One of those came in his very last first-class match, which was a match at Grace Road that was contested against Northamptonshire. When Inman was representing Derbyshire in 1973, he also participated in some games of List A cricket. In September 2018, he was one of the 49 former Sri Lankan players who were honored by Sri Lanka Cricket for their efforts prior to Sri Lanka becoming a Full Member of the International Cricket Council.
This honor was given in recognition of their contributions to the sport (ICC). At the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium in 1956, Inman made his first-class debut while playing for Ceylon versus India. This match took place. Inman’s career consisted of 254 matches at the first class level, although he didn’t make much of an impact as a bowler. However, the lone international wicket he took was that of the Indian opener Nari Contractor.