Bertie Wijesinhe, the former Ceylon-representative cricketer and coach, died on Saturday aged 96. Wijesinghe, an allrounder who bowled offspin and medium pace, represented S Thomas’ College Mt Lavinia from 1936 to 1939. He then moved to SSC, and played for Ceylon in the pre-Test era.<\/span><\/p>\n Wijesinhe’s greatest contribution, though, was as a coach. The Wettimuny brothers – Sunil, Mithra and Sidath – who all played for the Sri Lanka were coached by Wijesinghe.<\/span><\/p>\n “Whatever skills we learnt from cricket we owe it to him,” Sidath Wettimuny said. “He was a fabulous coach, the best in the business. His knowledge and the way he transferred that knowledge to us was fantastic. Bertie lived a full life and was one of the greatest cricketers produced by SSC and one of the best coaches the country has produced.”<\/span> Bertie Wijesinghe Dies Bertie Wijesinhe, the former Ceylon-representative cricketer and coach, died on Saturday aged 96. Wijesinghe, an allrounder who bowled offspin and medium pace, represented S Thomas’ College Mt Lavinia from 1936 to 1939. He then moved to SSC, and played for Ceylon in the pre-Test era. Wijesinhe’s greatest contribution, though, was as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1643],"class_list":{"0":"post-16670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-articles","7":"tag-bertie-wijesinghe"},"yoast_head":"\n
\nFormer Sri Lanka and SSC captain Anura Tennekoon also paid tribute to Wijesinhe: “He helped me to brush up my technique from school to club level. He was very good at putting the basics right of a cricketer whether it be batting or bowling, that was his main strength.”<\/span>
\nWijesinhe had also worked as the sports editor of the Daily News from 1953 to 1972 and, alongside another SSC stalwart Lucien de Zoysa, provided ball-by-ball commentary on radio.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"