Gamini Goonesena will never be forgotten

by A.C. de Silva

A gathering of family friends of the past will no doubt look to great names of the past and will undoubtedly bid a grand farewell to a cricketer of the past - when the legendary Gamini Goonesena - that great cricketer came up for discussion in the good old days - say somewhere in early January in 2012. (He was born in Colombo on February 16 in 1931).

It was the occasion to bid farewell to Gamini Goonesena, one of the greatest achievers Sri Lanka cricket has ever known. (16.02.1931 to 01.08.2011).

Former Australian cricketer and all rounder Alan Davidson, spoke glowingly of the passage of time on cricket and no one had anything bad about Goonesena to declare to the vast audience present at the and though there were no religious obsequies on that final day when friends and all had to say! 'Goodbye' to the great cricketer Gamini Goonesena.

Gamini Goonesena was born in Colombo on 16th February 1931 and though he had a string of family acquaintances and kept to the game of cricket. Gamini spent his early childhood in Kenya where his father worked out, he returned to the land of his birth of the age of 9 years and attended Royal College, Colombo.

Cricket caught the fancy of Gamini Goonesena at the Royal-Thomian cricket match of 1947 when he was just over 16 years of age.

In a book published by him in 1959 titled Spin Bowling he recalled: "I was the smallest boy in my form at school and it wasn't much use trying to bowl fast- the bigger boys could do it so much better and more successfully.

Gamini Goonesena recalled in the early days that it was much easy to bowl spinners and he grasped it quickly. Royal College had a great coach in the good old days in Col. F.C. De Saram who had an excellent eye and an excellent talent in spotting cricket talent. He immediately recognised the potential in Gamini after watching him at a practice match almost at the end of the 1947 school cricket season.

Goonesena steers Royal to great win

De Saram, who Gamini Goonesena always acknowledged as his cricketing mentor insisted on his inclusion in the Royal team in their blue riband annual match against S. Thomas' despite the fact that he had not played in any of the run up matches up to that time.

De Saram's faith in the 16-year-old paid rich dividends with youngster taking four prized Thomian wickets and enabling Royal to score a great win over the fancied Thomians.

The diminutive Goonesena was described by sporting scribes as the 'mighty atom' from Royal. In the following year, Goonesena reaped a bag of 10 wickets at the Royal-Thomian which was described most aptly in the following day's Sunday Observer as "Goonesena's Match."

Goonesena left Royal early and joined the Royal Air Force in Cranwell in England as a trainee jet pilot, but abandoned that career to play regular county cricket with Nottinghamshire as a professional. In 1954, he reverted to amateur status on joining Cambridge University which he represented till 1957.

His final year at Cambridge was as captain of the team which included, among others, the in-coming England captain then Ted Dexter. His tenure as a cricketer for Cambridge was as captain of the team and there was unrivalled success.

For a long time, he had some what of a record as he remained the only player from either Oxford or Cambridge Universities to have scored 2,000 runs and taken over 200 wickets and at that stage was easily the best-all-rounder produced by either of the Universities.

Gamini Goonesena is one cricketer who would not stay in one place. With a law degree from Cambridge University under his belt, he was appointed to the Ceylon Tea Board and later to the Diplomatic Mission in Canberra and continued his cricket playing for NSW in the Sheffield. In 1966 he represented Sri Lanka on the International Cricket Council in London and in 1981. When Sri Lanka achieved Test status he represented the country in Australia.

Gamini Goonesena lived the last five decades of his life in Australia. It was a treat to listen to him especially when recounting his halcyon days in cricketing world where he was an unforgettable icon.

The Ceylon Society of Australia was privileged to have him address the Society in August 2000 when he spoke of "Cricketing Reminiscences."

On that occasion, he recounted several interesting incidents in his career including tips he received on how to play West Indian Sonny Bamadhin, regarded at the time as the world's best spin bowler. He spoke of the tour to the West Indies with E.W. Swanton's team of International Cricketers and his amusing experiences sharing a room with pukka Sahib Sikkander Singh, a reluctant carrier of drinks as 12th man!

West Indian cricketer Clyde Walcott later referred to Gamini as the most popular member of the very popular winning team.

Gamini's life has been described as a "good innings" but with his passing away Australia lost a captain of cricket from Cambridge University and the game of cricket one of the outstanding personalities.