Old Ben Mervyn Fernando of famous sports quartet passes away
Mervyn Fernando, second of a famous quartet of brothers who represented St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena at cricket and football passed away died at the age of 79. Mervyn was vice-captain to Sunil Fernando in that invincible cricket team of 1964 where St. Benedict’s went through the season unbeaten and were crowned Lifebuoy Shield champions.
Mervyn was a highly reliable batsman and medium-pace bowler who later went onto play for NCC, Combined Universities and Lanka Lions Dubai. Elder brother of the famous Benedictine quartet was Lionel, who captained cricket for his alma mater achieving a world record, and later for Ceylon under Michael Tissera. Benildus, the third in the family and Damien, the fourth and last, also played cricket for the school. Benildus and Damien also played football for St. Benedict’s and later went on to represent Sri Lanka.
Mervyn’s remains lie at Negombo Jayaratne funeral parlour from Saturday (December 2) after 2.00p.m. till Monday (December 4) 11.00a.m. before being taken to the Negombo General Cemetery for burial. He leaves behind his wife Wyomi, daughter Shehani and son Dinesh.