Gahmini Ryle Johannes de Soysa (21 June 1917 – 13 January 2002) was a Sri Lankan first-class

cricket 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 ...

er. The son of Wilfred and Evelyn de Soysa, he was born at

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 June 1917. He was educated in Colombo at

Royal College A royal college in some Commonwealth countries is technically a college which has received royal patronage and permission to use the prefix ''royal''. Permission is usually granted through a royal charter. The charter normally confers a constituti ...

, captaining the school in a five match tour of Australia, which was the first time a school team from Ceylon had toured abroad. He later studied in England at

Oriel College Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. While studying at Oxford, he played

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

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, making his debut against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1938. He made three further appearances in 1938 for Oxford, before making a final appearance in 1939 against the combined

Minor Counties cricket team The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

. While at Oxford, he toured Jamaica with a combined Oxford and Cambridge Universities team, making two first-class appearances against

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. For Oxford University, de Soysa scored 241 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 26.77 and with a high score of 67. The influence of

Frank Woolley Frank Edward Woolley (27 May 1887 – 18 October 1978) was an English professional cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club between 1906 and 1938 and for the England cricket team. A genuine all-rounder, Woolley was a left-handed batsman ...

on his batting was noted, particularly his late cuts and driving. After graduating from Oxford, he returned to Ceylon where he coached the Royal College XI. de Soysa made a final first-class appearance for All-Ceylon against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. For many years he worked for the family tea, rubber and coconut exporting business. He became president of the

Singhalese 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 ...

in 1997, then a team with first-class status, but had to step down the following year due to ill health. de Soysa died at Colombo in January 2002. His elder brother was

Harold de Soysa Charles Harold Wilfred de Soysa MA (1907-1971) was the first Ceylonese Anglican Bishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Born to Sir Wilfred and Lady Evelyn de Soysa, he was educated at Royal College, Colombo and graduated from Oriel College, Oxford o ...

, the first Ceylonese

Anglican Bishop of Colombo The Anglican Bishop of Colombo is the ecclesiastical head of the Anglican Diocese of Colombo, a diocese in the Church of Ceylon which is part of the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Diocese of Colombo was founded in 1845, as the diocese of the C ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soysa, Ryle 1917 births 2002 deaths Cricketers from Colombo Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Sri Lankan cricketers Oxford University cricketers Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers All-Ceylon cricketers Sri Lankan cricket coaches Sinhalese businesspeople Sri Lankan cricket administrators De Soysa family