Deshabandu Deshabandhu (; ) is the third highest Sri Lankan honours system, national honour awarded in Sri Lanka. It is awarded "for meritorious service". The title is held by no more than 150 living holders at any time. It is conferred with a citation and ...

Asanka Pradeep Gurusinha ( Sinhala: අසංක ප්‍රදීප් ගුරුසිංහ, ; born 16 September 1966) is a Sri Lankan Australian former international

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who had an 11-year international career, playing 41

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

s and 147

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s for

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. He was a key member for 1996 Cricket World Cup winning team for Sri Lanka, who is a specialist batsman helped to win the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

with 65 in a partnership of 125 with the final's Man of the Match,

Aravinda de Silva Deshabandu Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva (, ; born 17 October 1965) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and captain, regarded as one of the best Sri Lankan cricketers, he played in the team as an all-rounder. De Silva was a key member of the Sri L ...

. He was educated at Isipathana College, Colombo & Nalanda College Colombo and had been residing in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. He was formerly the manager of the

Sri Lanka national cricket team The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, (; ) nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in men's international cricket. It is a full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test cricket, Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T ...

and a member of the selection committee. In December 2020, he was appointed as head coach of Nigeria national cricket team. In 2022 he was announced as the senior coach of Victorian Premier Cricket club Essendon.

International career

Early career

Gurusinha was called up at 19 as a

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

, a role he took in a further two ODIs and one Test. He gradually established himself as a No. 3 batsman, playing 33 Tests and 109 ODIs in that position, and was described by Simon Wilde of Cricinfo as "the rock on which Sri Lankan batting was founded". He was also known for his big stature and wide stance when batting.

Late career

Gurusinha was one of the main pillars of Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup winning batting line up. His application at the crisis situations to drag the team scorecard was a major highlight for those who watched the World Series tournament back in 1996. Gurusinha was the 32nd Sri Lankan Test cap, making his debut against Pakistan in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

in 1985/86. He was also a useful part-time bowler, with Michael Atherton,

Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ born 10 July 1949), is a former captain of the Indian national cricket team who represented India national cricket team, India and Mumbai crick ...

, Dean Jones,

Steve Waugh Stephen Rodger Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian former international cricketer and twin brother of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman and a medium-pace bowler, Waugh is considered one of the greatest cricketers of all time. ...

and

Inzamam-ul-Haq Syed Inzamam-ul-Haq Sitara-e-Imtiaz, SI (; born 3 March 1970), also known as Inzi, is a former Pakistan cricketer and captain of Pakistan national cricket team. He is regarded as one of the greatest players Pakistan has produced and one of the ...

among his 20 Test wickets. He was the first Sri Lankan to score a Test century at Seddon Park.

Coaching career

He is a Level 3 certified Cricket Coach, and was also the Consultant Regional Cricket Coach for Cricket Australia. Gurusinha was appointed as the Manager for the National Cricket Team of Sri Lanka in 2017. However, with consecutive defeats to India in all formats, Gurusinha along with the selection committee resigned from their positions on 29 August 2017. The resignation did not last for a week, where on 19 September 2017, Gurusinha was re-appointed as the selector, along with three new selectors – Graeme Labrooy, Jeryl Woutersz, Gamini Wickremasinghe, and Sajith Fernando. In December 2020, he was appointed as head coach of Nigeria national cricket team. He resigned in April 2022.

International centuries

Key

Test centuries

ODI centuries

References

External links

*
President To Honor Sri Lankan Cricketers (1 Nov 1996)

National Awards Conferred by His Excellency the President of Sri Lanka

"'Gura’ Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of 1985 starred in Lanka’s World Cup triumph in 1996:by Leslie Fernando"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurusinha, Asanka Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers 1966 births Living people Basnahira South cricketers Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers Sinhalese Sports Club cricketers Sri Lankan Buddhists Alumni of Nalanda College, Colombo Alumni of Isipathana College Sri Lankan emigrants to Australia Deshabandu Salespeople Australian salespeople Coaches of the Nigeria national cricket team Sri Lankan expatriates in Nigeria Cricketers from Colombo