by Rex Clementine

These days, anyone who could roll his arm over is called an all-rounder. But time was when one guy opened batting and shared the new ball for Sri Lanka in Test match cricket. Ravi Ratnayake is his name.

Ravi at one point had the best bowling figures by a Sri Lankan in Tests. Against Pakistan, in Sialkot, he claimed eight wickets in an innings. The record stood for 13 years before Muttiah Muralitharan broke it. Even today, it’s the seventh best bowling figures by a Sri Lankan in Tests.

Ravi played all sports at school. He represented Trinity in basketball and rugby. He was part of three teams that played Bradby Shield from 1977 to 1979, The 1977 side was unbeaten in the school season.

“Those days anything that had to with sports and nothing to do with studies, I was in it. I loved playing sports,” Ravi recalls.

“I am six foot three inches tall and when I tell my Aussie friends that I played second row forward at school, they tell me that I am too small. They tell me that in Australia, I would fit in only as a winger.”

Ravi has been living in Australia since 1989 but he keeps a close eye on Sri Lankan cricket.

“The fast bowlers we have really excite me. They are very skillful, fit and intelligent. We used to win Test matches banking on our spin bowlers, but it’s good to see the quicks having a massive impact. I just hope that they can keep off injuries,” says Ravi.

“When we started Test playing cricket, there was little guidance for us. We had to figure out what we needed to do. I guess with little more guidance and support we could have done better. The people in the management during my time were task masters, but that kind of approach will not work with international sportsmen.”

“We had toured Pakistan in 1982 and had little success. But when we returned there in 1985, Mudassar Nasser told me that Ashantha de Mel and Rumesh Ratnayake bowled quicker than Wasim Akram and Imran Khan. That was some complement.”

“Imran Khan was someone who gave us a lot of tips about fast bowling. Soon we realized that there was nothing magic about reverse swing. But Pakistan players could do it so well, because they had tried that out at training for years.”

“I used to look up to Majid Khan and he told me that when we toured Pakistan in 1982, they used to wait for the loose ball before putting that away. But in 1985 he said we were different. Bad balls were few and rare.”

When Ravi was approached to open batting in Test cricket in Madras in 1982, he took up the challenge without any hesitation. “I had opened batting at school. My technique was pretty sound. I liked fast bowling but was not so good against spin. So, opening batting was something that I took up happily.”

“In the Gabba Test match in 1989 when Aravinda posted a brilliant 167, I shared a 148-run partnership with him. It was a record at Gabba. The record stood for a few years and when it was finally broken, an Australian friend of mine called me and said, your record is no more.”

The opportunities for Sri Lanka’s cricketers in 1980s were few. Virtually there was no international cricket taking place in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1992 due to the war.

“I had a few years left in me but I retired aged 29 in order to settle down in Australia. I enjoyed my cricket. I am happy to see the progress the team has made in recent years.”