Death of any outstanding personality in any form of life saddens many as was the passing away of Dhanasiri Weerasinghe a cricketer who in his own unique way and style contributed to make cricket what it is in the country today.
DHANASIRI WEERASINGHE passed away last week in Melbourne, Australia after an illness bravely borne. Cricketers of an era gone by – the 1950s and the 1960s - will mourn Weerasinghe who made his bat talk and his intelligent captaincy brain tick with great efficiency.
‘Dhana’ as he was fondly called was an outstanding cricketer and captain at Ananda College where he learnt the rudiments of the game under that famous coach P.W. Perera. After excelling in school cricket he threw in his lot and joined the Police as a Sub Inspector in 1958 where his cricket began to blossom and he played for Board X1 and also in the then famous trophy match – the Gopalan Trophy – which was most looked forward to. Where is that trophy match now? Ask cricketers and fans.
‘Dhana’ played and excelled as a big hitting right hander and leg spinning googly bowling all rounder when the country was not playing in the elite league of Test cricket. Had he been born in the present era he would have dominated any international bowling attack with his fearless and damaging stroke play.
It has been said that he was invited to play for the Sinhalese Sports Club in ‘Sara’ Trophy cricket, but preferred to sport the colours of Bloomfied which was then a club perched on wheels in Borella. He captained Bloomfield.
Not being a cricket statistician I am not in a position to enumerate his school, club and country deeds with bat and ball and as a coach. But from what I can gather from some of his former team mates and opponents, he was one who played the game hard, to win in the true spirit of the game, because for him the game was the thing.
Hearing of the demise of his former colleague who was also in the Police force former DIG Sumith Liyanage who was a fast bowler in inter-school cricket at Nalanda when Weerasinghe was captain of Ananda and was a dear friend and who preferred to box for the country instead of playing cricket and who was tagged the ‘Black Panther’ for his excellence in the ring, spoke highly about ‘Dhana’.
Calling him a true friend Liyanage requested me to pen the two teams Ananda and Nalanda which played in the ‘Battle of the Maroons’ in 1955 which had a galaxy of inter-school cricketers for posterity.
The teams: ANANDA – Dhanasiri Weerasinghe (C), Parakrama Molligoda, Palitha Premasiri, Sarath Wijesinghe, Daya Amarasinghe, Anurudha Polonowita, Mahinda Jayasinghe, Nimal Tamitta, Ranjan Leckamwasam, Bertram de Silva and Bradman Ratnayake. Coach P.W.Perera.
NALANDA: Amarasiri Gunesena (C), Chandrasiri Weerasinghe, Yasapala Dissanayake, Nalin Perera, Sumith Liyanage, Mahanama Premaratne, Arthur Silva, Ranjith Vitharna, Nihal Vitharna, Terrence Samarawickrema, Tuton de Silva, Edmund Jayatilleke . Coach Gerry Gooneratne. The’battle’ ended in an exciting draw at the Oval.
It will also be of interest to recall that Weerasinghe was the bodyguard of the first Minister of Sport V.A. Sugathadasa who was also the Minister of Nationalized Services in the UNP led Dudley Senanayake Government of 1960. In Weerasinghe, Sugathadasa had a ‘Ready Reckoner’ to consult on sport affairs and unbiased opinion.
Incidentally it must be recalled that two of the most efficient Sports Ministers that the country had and will ever have were Sugathadasa and later K.B. Ratnayake in the Sirima Bandaranaike led Government. Both were top sportsmen in their time – Sugathadasa for my old school St.Benedict’s College as a footballer and boxer and Ratnayake surprisingly for a school in Jaffna as a classy footballer.
Both Sugathadasa and Ratnayake who had a real and active understanding of sport, unlike Minister’s of today who are appointed who do not know a bat from a ball, did their duties always offering a straight bat, as they also did in life and when they made a crucial decision when it came to any controversy in sport, it was well received in all quarters in sport because it was done with fairness to all and malice towards none.
And in Lionel Madugalle, father of former Royal College, NCC and Sri Lanka captain and now Chief Match Referee Ranjan Madugalle, was the best ever secretary that the Sports Ministry had and will not be fortunate to have again.
Lionel served under Ratnayake and steered the two pilots in the turbulent sports ship of that era, especially the two stormy petrels of cricket Abu Fuard and J.S.N. Anandaraja of football in that glorious era with great understanding. Lionel was and will be a LEGEND.
I will be failing in my duty if I don’t mention how Madugalle captained my ‘Schoolboy cricketer of the Panel’ for several years in the 1970s with great dexterity and also helped me among much difficulty to send me on my first trip abroad – the Munich Olympics- in 1972 when the dreaded ‘Black September’ group murdered some innocent Israeli sportsmen in cold blood.
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