Mahesha Rodrigo (30 June 1928 – 7 January 2011) was a

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 ...

ese sportsman who represented his country in

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 ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

. He was educated at

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

and played for the First XI cricket team and First XV rugby union team where

E.V. Pieris Ernest Victor Pieris FRCP, 1926-1991, known as "Ernie" to his contemporaries and students was a Sri Lankan physician, medical educator, a founding member of the Ceylon College of Physicians, cricketer and rugby union player. Education Pieris was ...

was a teammate. Rodrigo sometimes played as Ceylon's wicket-keeper and his 12 first-class appearances consisted of matches against

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 ...

, the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, Commonwealth XI and the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

, amongst others. An Old Royalist, he also took the field for Ceylon in a one-day match against Don Bradman's Australians in the 1947/48 season, scoring 26. Only once in first-class cricket did Rodrigo manage a score of 50 or more and he made the most of his form, making it to 135 before he ran out of partners. It came in a match against the West Indies, who had a bowling attack to the calibre of

John Goddard John Goddard may refer to: * John Goddard (engraver) (fl. 1645–1671), engraver *John Goddard (cricketer) (1919–1987), West Indian cricketer *Johnathan Goddard (1981–2008), American football player *John Goddard (adventurer) John Goddard (Ju ...

Gerry Gomez Gerry Ethridge Gomez (10 October 1919 – 6 August 1996) was a cricketer who played 29 Test matches for the West Indies cricket team between 1939 and 1954, scoring 1,243 runs and taking 58 wickets. He captained in one match for the West Indies ...

Prior Jones Prior Erskine Waverley Jones (6 June 1917 – 21 November 1991) was a West Indian cricketer who played in nine Test matches from 1947–48 to 1951–52. A fast bowler, Jones played first-class cricket for Trinidad from 1940–41 to 1950–51. ...

and John Trim. He had opened the batting and his innings took no less than 400 minutes. He was also a highly talented rugby scrum-half who played in the Clifford Cup and captained

internationally.

References

External links

* 1928 births 2011 deaths Sri Lankan cricketers Sri Lankan rugby union players All-Ceylon cricketers Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Wicket-keepers {{SriLanka-cricket-bio-stub