Bertrum Wijesinha, also spelled Wijesinghe (24 May 1920 – 8 April 2017) was a

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

who played 17 matches of

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

between 1947 and 1956.

Life and working career

Bertie Wijesinha was educated at

S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia , motto_translation = Be Thou Forever , song = Thomian Song , athletics = Yes , sports = Yes , nickname = Thora , denomination = Anglican , patron ...

, where he was a prominent cricketer. After leaving school, he taught English at S. Thomas' College and coached the cricket team. In 1949 he married Dorothy Weerekoon; they celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary just before he died. Also in 1949 he joined the Lake House newspaper group where he ended up as the sports editor of the ''

Sunday Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

''. He served as sports editor of the ''Sunday Observer'' from 1953 to 1972, and coached the cricket team at

Trinity College, Kandy "Look to the End" , mottoes = , founder = John Ireland Jones , established = , type = Independent Private , affiliation = Church of Ceylon, Anglican , grade ...

, from 1971 to 1976. He then moved to the United Kingdom, where he worked for 10 years as a clerk for the

Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI ) is a company created by the British government on 9 December 1920 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families. It runs c ...

. He provided radio commentaries for cricket matches in Sri Lanka for many years, including international matches and the annual

Royal–Thomian The Royal–Thomian (The Battle of the Blues) is an annual cricket match in Sri Lanka played between Royal College, Colombo and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia since 1879. It is known as ''The Battle of the Blues'' due to the colours of the two ...

inter-school match. He formed a long-lasting on-air partnership with his former Ceylon team-mate

Lucien de Zoysa Lucien Edward de Zoysa (1917 – 1995) was a Ceylonese cricketer who played first-class cricket between 1947 and 1954. He became a stage actor, playwright, author, and cricket commentator on radio. Early life and education Lucien de Zoysa was one ...

Cricket career

In Ceylon's innings loss to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

in April 1949, Wijesinha was Ceylon's highest scorer with 29 and 12, and took 5 for 105, dismissing Pakistan's first five batsmen. On Ceylon's tour of Pakistan the next season he was Ceylon's top-scorer in the first first-class match, an innings loss to Karachi and Sind, scoring 13 not out and 57. Later in the tour he took his best bowling figures, 5 for 59, in the drawn match against Pakistan Universities. He played all his club cricket for

Sinhalese Sports Club The Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. Singhalese is the most successful club in Sri Lankan domestic cricket, having won the Premier Trophy a record 32 times to 2017. Although the name is correctly spelt wi ...

. He coached several players who went on to represent Sri Lanka, including

Anura Tennekoon Anura Tennekoon (born 29 October 1946) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He was educated at the S. Thomas' College in Mount Lavinia. After captaining the school team and being selected as best ...

and the brothers Sunil,

Mithra Mithra ( ae, ''Miθra'', peo, 𐎷𐎰𐎼 ''Miça'') commonly known as Mehr, is the Iranian deity of covenant, light, oath, justice and the sun. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing ...

and

Sidath Wettimuny Sidath Wettimuny is a former Sri Lankan cricketer, who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals as an opening batsman from 1982 to 1987. Wettimuny was a typical opening batsman in that he often played very defensively, grafting for his r ...

. The father of the Wettimuny brothers built Sri Lanka's first indoor cricket nets, then handed them over to Wijesinha on the condition that he coach his sons. Wijesinha published a book, ''Love of a Lifetime'', in 2004, combining his cricket memoirs and Sri Lankan cricket history.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wijesinha, Bertie 1920 births 2017 deaths Sri Lankan cricketers All-Ceylon cricketers Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia Sinhalese Sports Club cricketers Sri Lankan cricket coaches Sri Lankan cricket commentators Sri Lankan journalists People from Kalutara Cricketers from Western Province, Sri Lanka