Former Sri Lanka cricket captain and former regular cricket columnist for ‘The Island,’ Gamini Goonesena, who also had prestigious career with the Cambridge University and Nottinghamshire, died at the age of 80 in Canberra, Australia.

Goonasena, a student of Royal College, Colombo, had a career spanning 194 1st class matches where he scored 5,751 runs while capturing 674 wickets. He also held 108 catches. Goonesena captained Ceylon against India in an unofficial Test played at the Oval in 1956.

Goonesena was a renowned all-rounder for Cambridge University from 1954-57 and in fact was the first Asian to captain the university, in 1957. He played for Nottinghamshire from 1953-64

Following his retirement from competitive cricket, he was appointed Sri Lanka’s representative at the ICC. He was the Sri Lanka team Manager for a tour of India in 1982. He was also a cricket commentator and a regular columnist to ‘The Island’ before settling down in Australia.