Sarath Wimalaratne

Sarath Ransiri Wimalaratne (born 14 June 1942) is a former cricketer who played for Ceylon in the 1960s. He is now a physician in Sydney.

Sarath Wimalaratne

Personal information
Full name	Sarath Ransiri Wimalaratne
Born	(1942-06-14) 14 June 1942 (age 83) Nawalapitiya, Ceylon
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium pace
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 10 Runs scored 220 Batting average 14.66 100s/50s 0/0 Top score 41* Balls bowled 1366 Wickets 26 Bowling average 28.84 5 wickets in innings 2 10 wickets in match 1 Best bowling 5/32 Catches/stumpings 9/–
Source: CricketArchive, 24 February 2017

Cricket career

Wimalaratne attended Ananda College, where he captained the cricket team in 1962 and toured India with a Ceylon schools team. He then went to the University of Ceylon, where he studied medicine.^[1]

He made his first-class debut in the Gopalan Trophy match in 1965–66, and was selected to tour Pakistan in 1966–67 with the Ceylon team. He played in all five first-class matches on the tour, including the three unofficial Tests against Pakistan.^[1] Although primarily an opening bowler, he achieved more with the bat on the tour. In the first match against Pakistan, batting at number 11, he top-scored with 41 not out in the first innings,^[2] while in the second match he opened the batting, scoring 28 and 27 and putting on 44 and 67 for the opening partnerships with Fitzroy Crozier, another bowler.^[3]

In the Gopalan Trophy match in 1967–68, Wimalaratne captained the Ceylon team and took 5 for 32 and 5 for 36 in the victory over Madras.^[4] He became disenchanted with cricket when he was not included in the team to make the planned tour of England in 1968; the tour was cancelled amid widespread dissatisfaction.^[1]

Later life

Wimalaratne graduated in medicine from the University of Ceylon in 1971.^[5] He went to live in New Zealand in 1972, doing his internship in Dunedin, where he played senior club cricket,^[6] He moved to Australia in 1975.^[1] He lives in Sydney and practises as a GP in the suburb of North Strathfield.^[5]

He and his first wife Eva, a doctor from Poland, had a son and a daughter. After their divorce he married his brother's widow Nelun, and they had a daughter. They also divorced, and he now lives with his partner Anne, who was born in the Philippines.^[1]

In September 2018, Wimalaratne was one of 49 former Sri Lankan cricketers felicitated by Sri Lanka Cricket, to honour them for their services before Sri Lanka became a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC).^[7][8]