Whatmore and Agar

[Lazza]

A little bit of trivia from the resident Sri Lankan born and Australian raised Collingwood supporting Nickster! Both Aussie test cricketers Dav Whatmore and Ashton Agar are of SL heritage but were/are proud to represent the mighty Aussies. Another interesting (to some!) fact is that both Michael Bevan and Keith Potger from the band The Seekers also had SL heritage, as do Jamie Durie and Michael Janse. Also former SL coach and test player Hathurusingha is currently the assistant coach of NSW as well as the specialist batting coach.

[Donny]

Good get, Lazza.

[Donny]

Asanka Gurusinha ?

Whilst thinking Sri Lankan cricketers, I remember when Murali first came to Australia and how the Oz commentators tried to pronounce his name. Was it Muralitharan ? Muralidaran ? Muraliduran ?

Of course, as he became a World star, most comms and fans just called him Murali. Other SL players also gave comms problems.

Brings to mind Chaminda Vaas. Aha, No probs there - until they tried his full name: Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas. Was almost like it was embarrassing for his parents, to have such a short surname. So they tossed in a few tongue twisters.

With due respect.

[Donny]

Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanga Welegedara or simply Chanaka Welegedara is the man with the longest name in the cricketing world.

Vaasy came in second.

[Lazza]

Interesting topic! The reason for the long name is thus: Every Sinhalese person has what is known as their “ge” name or to put it simply their family name. It is known as the “ge” name (not gay name!!) because the family name is one that is passed down many generations and just about always ends with “ge”. This family name is never used on a daily basis but is on formal documents such as the birth certificate or passport. Generally Lankans like every one else use a first name and a surname like the rest of us. However when they started putting names on the back of the cricket uniforms, they sometimes couldn’t fit all the letters. For example a former schoolmate of mine who played for SL has a surname “Wijegunawardene” so they either had his first name “Kapila” or he showed me a top that simply had “alphabet” on it 😀 So it is natural that commentators have their fun with the names but technically they are never used in everyday dealings. My full name is Larry Elmore “Polonmaruwa Hukmanage” de Silva but I only ever use Larry de Silva. Hope you found this information useful and interesting.

[Donny]

Aha. Yes mate. Certainly did.

[Donny]

Does your side of the de Silva family include the great batsman and former SL captain, Aravinda ?