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| Thursday, 25 September 2003 |
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Coaching great Gerry Gooneratne dies at 84 by Sa'adi Thawfeeq One of the finest cricket coaches produced by Sri Lanka, Gerry Gooneratne died yesterday after a brief illness at the age of 84. Gooneratne's name is synonymous with cricket coaching for more than half a century from school to national level. What was so unique about him was that he carried on with the profession he loved so much virtually until his last breath. Such was his dedication to the game. Gooneratne belonged to an era when Sri Lanka cricket was picking itself up from the ravages of the Second World War. As a stylish left-hand batsman and left-arm first change bowler he played three seasons for St. Joseph's College, Colombo (1934-36). He showed his capabilities as a leader by captaining Saracens SC to win the Daily News trophy (then the premier club competition in the country) in 1938. He later went on to play for SSC. Gooneratne showed his class when at the age of 20 he made it to the national team under Sargo Jayawickrema's captaincy and narrowly missed out on scoring a century on debut when he was dismissed for 96 against India in the unofficial Test played at Bombay in 1940-41. Gooneratne also went onto become a national selector of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the sixties and returned ten years later to become chairman of selectors in 1976. However it was as a coach that Gooneratne left an indelible mark on Sri Lanka cricket. He was coach of Nalanda College for 35 years since 1947. After he finished with them he continued to coach other schools with great success and was even made national cricket coach of the Ministry of Sports. One of the keys to his success as a coach was that he was a strict disciplinarian. He was one of the few coaches who opposed limited overs cricket in schools because it affected the techniques of the batsmen and bowlers. Gooneratne produced many cricketers from the top drawer who went onto gain national honours. But his greatest product among them was Stanley Jayasinghe who went onto play for his country and also for English county Leicestershire. Carl Obeysekera, Anura de Silva, Bandula Warnapura, Lalith Kaluperuma (the present chairman of selectors) and Anura Ranasinghe are some of his outstanding products. The remains of Gooneratne will be at A.F. Raymond's funeral parlour. His funeral will take place on Saturday at the general cemetary Kanatte. |
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