Veteran cricket coach Lionel Mendis passed away at a private hospital in Colombo at the age of 80.

He was a key figure in Sri Lankan cricket coaching arena, and coached many former cricketers, most notably the world cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga.

Lionel Mendis had his formative education at Dharmashoka College, Ambalangoda. His father, R.M.Mendis was Head Tea Maker and Factory Manager at HighForest Estate, Kandapola , Nuwara-Eliya in the very early forties. Lionel’s father passed away when he was just six years old.

Lionel learned the basics of the game at  Dharmashoka College under Mr. Tom Fernando, an Old Thomian & SCC Cricketer. He represented the school at all levels in cricket before joining Richmond College, Galle.

He played for Richmond College First XI for three consecutive years in the mid fifties , at Richmond his coaches were Mr. Walter May, Mr Mahesh Rodrigo ( former SriLanka Cap) and Mr.A.S.Weerasinghe.

After leaving school, he played for Ambalangoda Sports Club (Old Sokians).

He joined the teaching profession as a Science Assistant teacher in 1959 and his first appointment was to Karandeniya Central College , maha-Edanda, a village school five miles away from Ambalangoda. It was here that Lionel realised the joyful experience of teaching and hence wanted get qualified as a teacher. In 1960 Lionel joined the Govt. Training college, Maharagama to become a professional teacher. He passed out in 1961. He specialized in the teaching of Biology and later joined the Tutorial Staff of Sri Sumangala College, Panadura. In addition to teaching he coached cricket to pupils and also trained Army Cadets of the school being a commissioned officer of the SriLanka Army volunteer force.He played cricket for the education department in the Government Services ‘A’ Division cricket tournament for a number of years.

Even in his late forties he played cricket and captained the Nondescript cricket Club Division III team in the Daily news Trophy Tournament for 3 years from 1982 to 1984. In 1969 he was transferred to Nalanda college Colombo.

At Nalanda he taught science and in the afternoon worked as the Junior Cricket Coach. Furthermore he was warden of the college hostel.

In 1973 he crossed over to Ananda College Colombo where he had a long innings. He devoted his entire time to Ananda College on various roles, like Senior Cricket Master, Junior Cricket Coach, Prefect of Games, Deputy Warden of the Hostel, Teacher in charge of Prefects,Teacher in charge of minor employees, Broadcasting Chief of the Broadcasting unit that was initiated by him which bestowed some of the famous media personal to the country.

Lionel Mendis was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Sports by the O.I.U. which is affiliated to the O.I.U. in USA in 2002.

Lionel Mendis received the ICC centenary Award ( 1909-2009) in recognition of his outstanding service to SriLanka Cricket in 2009. He was also a recipient of the Gold Award for cricket coaching at the Golden Jubilee celebrations of SriLanka Cricket in 1998.