by Edmund Dissanayake
It is rare that an individual excels both in sports and studies. But Mahendra Dissanayake is one of them. It will be recalled that Mahendra skippered the 1983 Under 17 cricket team at Wesley and won all six matches and thereby emerged All-Island Cricket Champions. He later captained the first XI in 1984 and his impressive bowling performance of 8 for 54 against St. Peter’s in 1985 is still to be bettered. In the same year, Mahendra also took 7 for 34 and 7 for 30 against then formidable Nalanda team. Even Roshan Mahanama and Asanka Gurusinghe could not counter the deadly in-swing of Mahendra.

Mahendra however continued his good work in Melborne, Australia while playing for his club Benteligh. A few of his bowling performances were:

4 for 28 vs Springvale Sc, 5 for 25 vs Oakleigh Sc, 5 for 17 vs Parkdale Sc, 6 for 32 vs Brunswick Sc, 5 for 40 vs Sunshine Sc, 4 for 48 vs Preston Sc, 6 for 43 and 4 for 21 vs Kew Sc.

He was one of the popular and highly respected head prefects produced by Wesley College Colombo. He continued his studies in Australia. And was admitted to the Degree of Bachelor of Engineering in 1995. In addition, he is a Computer Systems Engineer. He also secured his MSc. in Information Technology.

His father Graham was Sri Lanka’s Food Commissioner and earlier excelled in hockey and athletics.