Roshan Guneratne passes away

Sri Lanka lost its third Test cricketer with the passing away of former legspinner Roshan Guneratne in California on Wednesday. He died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 43.

Gunaratne made his mark as a top class right-arm legspinner for Nalanda College whom he captained in 1982. Leaving school, he made his first-class debut against Greg Chappell's Australians in the lead-up match to the one-off Test at Kandy a year later. Playing for the Board President's XI, he took the wickets of Kepler Wessels and Chappell for 66 runs, a performance that convinced the selectors to include him in the Test match although there was already an established legspinner in Somachandra de Silva.

With two legspinners playing against an Australian batting line up comprising five left-handers in the top six, Guneratne had an unhappy experience. His 17 overs cost him 84 runs without any success, as Australia rattled off a massive 514 for 4 declared to crush Sri Lanka by an innings. It was to be his sole Test appearance.

Guneratne went on to represent NCC, Moors SC and Nomads in division I domestic cricket before leaving for the USA to join his mother and sister. He remained a bachelor throughout.

Sridharan Jeganathan, another leg spinner, and allrounder Anura Ranasinghe were the other Sri Lankan Test cricketers to die before Gunaratne. The Sri Lankan cricketers wore black armbands as a mark of respect to Guneratne on the opening day of the second cricket Test against West Indies at Asgiriya yesterday.