Sports

Mahanama’s book reveals Ranil backed Thilanga undermining Amarasuriya

Published

5 years ago

2021/12/26

by Rex Clementine

Among those who follow the gentleman’s game closely, many regard UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as Mr. Clean. But if they get hold of Roshan Mahnama’s new book, they will have a second opinion. Mahanama in his autobiography ‘My Innings’ goes onto claim that Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister in 2002 stopped then cricket chief Hemaka Amarasuriya from attending an ICC Meeting and instead nominated Thilanga Sumathipala.

“We were appointed to mange Sri Lanka Cricket due to a prevalent issue at the time, till fresh elections appointed a new committee. However, this was a very brief stint as the level of politics involved was contrary to my work ethic and principles. As an example, the Interim Committee decided that the Chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya should attend the ICC annual meeting. However, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe overruled and said that Thilanga Sumathipala who was not even part of the committee at the time, would attend instead,” writes Mahanama.

To give a bit of background, Sumathipala had been ousted a year prior to that as cricket chief by President Chandrika Kumaratunga and he would avenge his ouster by triggering multiple crossovers that crashed CBK’s Peoples’ Alliance government and Wickremesinghe’s UNP came into power. Sumathipala and the UNP had a deal and Wickremesinghe paved the way for Sumathipala to make a comeback at Maitland Place.

This is Mahanama’s second book on cricket and it was launched just before the festive season. Like the first one, it is selling like hot cakes. The book has some interesting anecdotes, mostly Mahanama’s observations during his long stint as a Match Referee with the ICC.

Often, cricket fans have wondered why Brian Lara batted wearing sunglasses during certain stages of his career. With fast bowlers operating at 140kmph it’s not the most sensible thing to do, that too in fading light. But Lara had his own ways. Mahanama’s book gives you a clue to his eccentrics.

“Memories go back to my first Test match in St. Lucia. I was walking out to the middle with the West Indies captain Brian Lara. I noticed that he was wearing dark sunglasses despite it being overcast and the possibility of rain and I made a casual comment with regards to it. Brian replied in typical Caribbean style, ‘Rosh, I came back at 5 am, and I need to hide my eyes from the camera.’ Such was the culture in the Caribbean and the brilliance of the individual he flayed the bowling to all parts and scored a hundred in quick time as well.”

Mahanama goes onto explain in the book some of the challenges that he faced in the early days as an ICC Match Referee.

“During my early days, I vividly recall some umpires intentionally used to call me ‘Ranjan’ repeatedly. I perceived this to be done as a side jab or indication that they believed that I had received my appointment due to Ranjan Madugalle, as it was only Sri Lanka who had two members on the Elite Panel of seven referees. I handled the issue patiently and professionally. Once I became more confident in my role, I used to at times reply in jest that, ‘you can only take a horse to the water, but you can not make it drink.’

Mahanama’s book also deals with some of the issues facing Sri Lankan cricket and most cricket enthusiasts tend to agree with his sentiments.

“Since the 1996 World Cup, for over two decades most of the administrators at the top have remained unchanged. They transfer from one position to the next and make changes with individuals such as coaches and selectors who are involved with cricket operations. However, it is ensured that they themselves or individuals associated to their ideology remain in key positions. A profound change is now required,” he notes.

“The constitution of SLC and the Sports Law of the country needs to be changed drastically. The present system where appointments are made through an election of club representatives numbering over a hundred small clubs, some of which are unheard of, leaves significant room for mismanagement by certain individuals. Such votes are easily bought over, which leads to the monopoly created by the same individuals who keep getting themselves re-elected. Hence, a complete revamp is needed,” he goes onto point out.

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Sports

Tharanga lifts Sri Lanka’s profile in Budapest ahead of Asian Games

Published

3 hours ago

2026/09/15

Sahan Weerasooriya

Rumesh Tharanga and his coach Tony Prasanna celebrate after winning the Ultimate Championship. (Pic credit World Athletics Ultimate Championship)

by Reemus Fernando

‎

Rumesh Tharanga powered Sri Lanka’s track and field to new heights with yet another dominant performance, winning the men’s javelin title at the World Athletics’ inaugural Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Sunday.

‎In a performance that reconfirmed his position as the globe’s number one athlete in his discipline, Tharanga’s feat stood out not just for its drama on the field, but for how rarely Sri Lanka has produced a champion at this level.

‎Tharanga arrived in Budapest as the man to beat, having won 11 of his 12 competitions in 2026 and lived up to his billing winning by a huge margin.

‎Tharanga had already elevated the country’s profile when he qualified for the Ultimate Championship. Track and field is taken part part by over 190 countries in the world but athletes from only 65 countries could secure a berth in the Ultimate Championship. Only six Asian countries had athletes qualifying for the Budapest event. Hence he was already a winner before he entered the arena.

‎When the dust settled, not even half the nations that took part had a champion in any discipline.

How Tharanga dominated

‎‎Tharanga opened with an uncharacteristic throw of 75.89m, while European champion Julian Weber (Germany) took an early lead with 84.09m. In the second round two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada surged ahead with 86.18m. Weber improved to 85.89m but slipped to second. Tharanga found his rhythm with a throw of 85.69m. It was during the third round the 23-year-old seized the lead with a throw of 87.11m. Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan managed a season’s best 81.49m — good enough only for fifth and was eliminated before the final round.

‎In the final round, Tharanga produced a massive 91.09m throw, the first-ever 90-metre throw in Hungary according to World Athletics. Peters (82.63m) and Weber (78.75m) couldn’t respond, and the title was sealed.

‎‎Sri Lanka has not seen their athletes atop global athletics podiums. Only two Sri Lankan athletes have won Olympic or World Championship medals in the country’s history- underscoring how exceptional a global title of this magnitude is for Sri Lankan sport. Neither of the two winners won golds.

Tharanga created history when he won the Diamond League title a week ago. And on Sunday he continued his remarkable breakthrough year winning the Ultimate title.

‎A Sri Lankan winning a world-level throws title, against a field including an Olympic champion and a two-time world champion, is a landmark rather than a routine occurrence.

‎”This was my one and only goal — to bring the trophy to Sri Lanka,” Tharanga told the World Athletics after the event.

‎”I faced a lot of challenges today but I was still hoping to win and I’m proud I did it. I was never thinking about the prize money and I don’t have any idea yet how I will spend it. My next goal is to bring the Olympic gold medal home.”

‎While Budapest was the final destination for many top athletes for this season, Tharanga will have no time to rest as he has another milestone to accomplish when he leads Sri Lanka at the Asian Games starting in Nagoya, Japan later this week.

‎His presence means Sri Lanka has a near certain gold medal opportunity in track and field.

Sports

Sri Lanka rely on Pathum for batting resurgence

Published

3 hours ago

2026/09/15

Sahan Weerasooriya

Sri Lanka rely heavily on their consistent opener Pathum Nissanka. He is ranked sixth in the world in T-20Is.

The heartbreak of the T-20 World Cup earlier this year is still fresh. Sri Lanka failed to reach the semi-finals despite enjoying home advantage throughout the tournament, with their batting proving the Achilles heel. Those concerns have hardly disappeared as they head into a three-match T-20 series against England, beginning today in Southampton.

The batting misfired in both warm-up games against England Lions and how Sri Lanka respond when the real business begins remains to be seen.

It is not as though they have not tried to find answers. Sri Lanka Cricket has brought in power hitting coaches and psychologists, while several batters have been given a long rope. Yet none of those measures has produced the desired results in the shortest format.

T-20 cricket remains Sri Lanka’s weakest suit, as reflected by their ranking of ninth in the world, their lowest position across the three formats.

England, meanwhile, arrive with considerably more swagger. They went down fighting to eventual champions India in the semi-final of this year’s World Cup and are currently ranked second in the world, level on points with India. A series win will see Harry Brook’s side seize the number one ranking.

Sri Lanka have plenty of motivation of their own, with a 2-1 series victory helping them climb the rankings.

The bigger question, however, is how a batting unit short on confidence will cope against a formidable England attack.

Pathum Nissanka remains Sri Lanka’s biggest hope. Ranked sixth in the world, the top order batter has frequently carried the burden on his broad shoulders and once again much will depend on how he fares against the new ball.

Barring Kusal Janith Perera, there has been little change to the batting unit that featured at the World Cup. Given the continued struggles, it is fair to wonder whether Sri Lanka need to rethink not merely their approach but also the personnel entrusted with carrying it out.

The bowling, though, paints a much brighter picture.

Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana are both ranked among the world’s top ten, while the fast bowling unit has arguably been the most impressive component of the side. Their skill set and ability to hold their nerve under pressure have repeatedly helped Sri Lanka drag games back when the batting has left them with little margin for error.

One question that lingers, however, is whether Sri Lanka require quite so many spin options in English conditions.

Apart from Hasaranga and Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage and Tharindu Rathnayake are also part of the squad, leaving the selectors with some interesting calls to make over the balance of the side.

England have named a formidable squad led by Brook and featuring established match winners Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid.

There is also room for uncapped Welshman Aneurin Donald, a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket, while 22-year-old spin bowling all-rounder James Coles is the other uncapped player in the squad.

Sports

SSC and Tamil Union in T-20 final

Published

3 hours ago

2026/09/15

Sahan Weerasooriya

SSC have been quite impressive in domestic cricket this season having already reached the finals of the one-day competition last week and this week they have reached the T-20 finals.

SSC beat a strong NCC side in the semi-final at RPS on Sunday night and will take on Tamil Union in the final on Wednesday also at RPS.

Tamil Union beat CCC in a high scoring game on Sunday at SSC. The scores were tied at the end of 20 overs sending the game to a Super Over and Tamil Union won the contest by the barest of margins.