Mahes Goonatilleke

An efficient gloveman and proficient batsman in the lower order, Goonatilleke was Sri Lanka's wicketkeeper during their initial foray into the Test arena. An accomplished player, Goonatilleke established his position in the side leading up to the Sri Lanka's Test debut. His performances in Tests were promising, as he was a capable performer behind the wickets comfortable against pace or spin. With the bat he provided great resistance producing some handy performances. Such was his ability he was asked to open the batting in the second Test at Faisalabad. He performed admirably scoring 27 in the first innings and then top-scoring with 57 in the second innings, providing stoic resistance as the batting capitulated around him. Sri Lanka were robbed of a quality player when he disappointingly opted to tour South Africa in 1982-83, ending his Test career overnight.
Johann P Jayasekera