Yet another radiant light of the famed Gunasekera clan C.H. (Channa) passed away peacefully over the last weekend.

Son of the legendary Dr. C.H. Gunasekera, who captained Royal in 1913, had many firsts In the Mecca of cricket. He was the first Ceylonese to play county cricket for Middlesex and arguably the best fielder in England at that time. Channa too captained Royal in 1949 with much success.

This is what Stanley Jayasinghe his SSC and Ceylon team mate had to say. "He was a good reader of the game, a knowledgeable coach, a writer par excellence apparently not a (ghost) writer. He also was a model for any youngster to emulate on and off the field".

Coached Nalanda

He had a short stint at Nalanda as a cricket coach when his SSC team mate Gerry Gooneratne called it a day.

He did not only teach them the cricketing skills but also gave them the human values. He was not an attacking batsman like his cousin Ivers Gunasekera who could cut any attack to ribbons.