A great player and a fine humanbeing

A TRIBUTE to Arjuna Ranatunga is no easy thing. And penning one could be an honour simply due to the fact that if we have one man who has done so much for cricket in Sri Lanka it is he. Beginning the story by describing about the way he handled the Murali affair when Ross Emerson no balled him could be ideal. This act of his may not have been acceptable to many but for Sri Lankans all over the world following the hounding of Murali would have seen him as a Hero. As the Manager on that tour I could recall the feelings of the team, the way a great leader stood up for his man. I am quite convinced that this made people respect Ranatunga, some I am sure did it grudgingly whilst some others through absolute respect. In short this is, was and will be Ranatunga who always stood up to what he believed and supported the innocent and the helpless. His dream to build a hostel for the underprivileged outstation cricketers, the decentralisation of cricket, by looking at more players from the areas out of Colombo are simply the traits of Ranatunga who is Champion of causes such as this.

However July 20, 2000 when he announced his retirement would go down as a historic day for Sri Lankan cricket. It was the day that marked the end of an era. This is because he was possibly the greatest cricketing son of Sri Lanka. To me it was a sad beginning to the first Test match between Sri Lanka and South Africa at Galle. And even as Ranatunga shared his decision with me as we took a stroll down the pitch before the beginning of activities on the first day, I felt a great sense of sadness gripping me. It could have been due to the great affection I had for Ranatunga the person, but I have very little doubt that it had a verystrong cricketing reason too. At 37 the man they loved to hate in Australia, a man most cricketers grudgingly respected and above all the manwho was chiefly instrumental in putting Sri Lankan cricket on the world map seem to think he had had enough. Ranatunga approached the South Africanseries a hundred runs short of 5000 Test runs. He I am sure wasalso keen to go out on a high making a lasting impression in a careerwhere many a high profile achievement was a mere formality.

In the light of this aspiration he had only two catches to show in Galle. But Kandy was so different. Sadly cut short by a rather poor decision in the first innings after an entertaining half century he proceeded to destroy a pumped up South African attack to pieces before unfortunately being dismissed to an equally brilliant act by Jonty Rhodes at short leg. Coming in at 21 for 4 with Sri Lanka needing 177 and with Pollock and Hayward threatening, Ranatunga took the attack to the bowlers. I also had a sneaky feeling that most of them whilst feeling sad when he was out would have thought whether Ranatunga had retired too early. Didn't he have at least another one year left in him to offer? This is the thought one would have had just after seeing the conclusion of a great entertaining act.

The beginning to Arjuna Ranatunga's cricket was a fairy tale. Breaking in to the Sri Lankan limelight as just an under 14 cricketer with a triple century and a ten-wicket haul in the same game made the whole of Sri Lanka sit up and take note. It was the pre Test days for Sri Lankan cricket and here was a young boy from Ananda College making a name for himself and also getting the attention of many cricketing pundits. Come 1982 Arjuna would have never expected to be in the first Test side of his country but as luck would have it he was very much a part of it. In fact talking to the captain of that side Bandula Warnapura it was clear that Ranatunga was very much an automatic selection of that team which speaks volumes of the 18 year old's ability even then. With Sir Garfield Sobers taking charge of the Lankan outfit then, people made the comparison between the rookie and the legend. No doubt an unfair comparison but a worthy role model for any youngster.

In that famous first Test match Ranatunga had the honour of recording his Country's first half century in addition to the numerous many firsts he achieved later. But even his detractors will grudginglyconcede that the World Cup triumph in 1996 was and will always be thecrowning glory of Sri Lankan cricket. An achievement for its very value which will never be surpassed. Ranatunga's contribution to Sri Lankan cricket was not only with the bat and ball and not limited to thecricket field alone. The very spirit he developed both on and off the field amongst his men, is definitely the key factor in the turnaround of the Sri Lankan cricketing fortunes. The fighting spirithe instilled at a time when the Sri Lankans were the losing gentlemen in the cricketing world was disliked by his opponents. Standing up to themight of Australia in their own den taking them on at what the Aussies newbest and even defeating them made Ranatunga a man both the Aussie cricketers and most of the public loved to hate. It is a known fact that the Australians target the skipper to demoralise a side and so they took on Ranatunga and soon realized their folly. He bore the brunt and found that he was better than them in their own style of play. I have no doubt that for this they secretly had immense respect for him. This is like what Jardine and Larwood experienced from the Aussies. The victory over Australia in the World Cup final after being tormented on that tour down under just before that was just the revenge he wanted. Since then victories against all major cricketing countries made Ranatunga and Sri Lanka continue to ascend. Being hailed as the best Test captain at that time was more a right than an honour, such was his status amongst the world leading cricketers.

He always stood up for the underdog and behind that tough exterior was a heart of gold. I have seen him at close quarters and can vouch for it. On a tour on which I was the Manager, a player was apprehended for a serious act of misdemeanor. Everyone including the media was insisting that the player be sent home. For various reasons, one of which being that it was a challenge to turn the player around, prompted me to take a very unpopular decision to keep the player back and it was only the skipper Ranatunga who stood by me and was prepared to be counted despite the criticism, in the larger interest of the player. He saw the bigger picture, unlike others who were very narrow minded.

RANJIT FERNANDO

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