At a Bristol Trophy match at SSC in 1982, between arch rivals of the time SSC and Bloomfield, Bloomfield hero Anura Ranasinghe is carried by his ardent fans on their shoulders. This is also depictive of the popularity of club cricket in Sri Lankan at the time. Photo Prasanna Hennayake[/caption]
For many, he was probably the most mysteriously charismatic cricketer to emerge from Sri Lanka in the post-independence era, simply because he represented an emerging new wave of cricket followers of the 1970s and 80s.
As “the Royal-Thomian-Sarem-CH-CI-Tissera” era gave way to “the age of Ananda-Nalanda emergence”, Anura Ranasinghe turned out to be a hero.
People flocked to his club Bloomfield with the ‘bathmula’ and water bottle in hand, from far off places, to watch the cricketer of the Ananda-Nalanda fame showcase his blistering batting and crafty bowling. According to Sri Lanka’s first Test Captain Bandula Warnapura, Ranasinghe was a fighter to the core.
Ranasinghe died nearly 22 years ago, but his memory could still be lingering in the hearts of the old-school cricket fans of the country.
Karunatilaka, Chinaman, and Anura
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Shehan Karunatilaka[/caption]
Shehan Karunatilaka’s “Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew” was published in 2008. The novel was titled after the term for unorthodox left-arm spin delivery. The book won many awards including the 2008 Gratiaen Prize.
It tells the story of a journalist’s hunt for fictional Sri Lankan cricketer named Pradeep Mathew who had a brief yet spectacular career in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Mathew was then forgotten till the journalist uncovered the story of his life after cricket.
“Pradeep is a composite of failed cricketers like Anura Ranasinghe,” Karunatilaka has said.
“Chinaman is a novel of talent not realised. It’s the story of potentially the greatest cricketer who ever lived proving not to be. Think to those cricketers you have known and willed on who never followed through at the elite level. From recent figures such as Rory Hamilton-Brown, and others doleful, like Richard “Danny Germs” Austin, to those of more parochial standing.
“Of the latter, Sridharan Jeganathan, Roshan Guneratne, and Anura Ranasinghe, fringe Sri Lankan spinners from the 1980s who all died young and forlorn, are likely unfamiliar. Chinaman amalgamates their obscure fates and a swathe of other half-true stories from Sri Lankan cricket into the story of a left-arm unorthodox and his resolute biographer.”
- The greatest cricketer who never lived by Benjamin Golby, thecricketmonthly.com, October 2016
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The cover of the book “Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew”[/caption]
Anura Ranasinghe’s elder brother Lakshman speaks
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Lakshman Ranasinghe talking to The Morning Sports[/caption]
Anura was my younger brother. We all played cricket for Nalanda College, Colombo. Cricket came to our family through my mother’s side. Our uncle, Norman Perera, played cricket for Holy Cross College in Kalutara.
Anura was a brilliant player from the very small days. He was actually a born cricketer. Anura could play for Sri Lanka when he was still a schoolboy.
He in fact could have been the Sri Lanka Captain after Warnapura simply because he was the Sri Lanka Captain in the national Under-19 and Under-25 age groups. Anura captained Nalanda in 1975.
Anura was very much heartbroken after he received a 25-year ban from all forms of cricket after his involvement with the Rebel Tour. Anura never recovered from that shock. In fact I called him to join me in Australia in the mid-80s. I was there then. I always feel Anura would have still been living had he come there to join me that time.
After the Rebel Tour, Anura lost his cricket and his job. But wherever he went, he was so popular. People used to flock to see him in action. I remember there was a massive crowd for his funeral.
Anura would have served Sri Lanka’s cricket immensely if not for his untimely death. It was a sad death.
ANURA NANDANA RANASINGHE - BIO
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Anura hooks Vanburn Holder in an unofficial Test against West Indies[/caption]
Born: 13 October 1956 at Kalutara
Death: 9 November 1998 in Colombo (age 42)
School: Nalanda College, Colombo
Father: Sudubanda Ranasinghe from Diyatalawa (an apothecary)
Mother: Muriel Perera from Kalutara
Siblings: Fifth in the family of six children, four boys, two girls
Coaches: Nelson Mendis and Premasara Epasinghe
Batting Style: Right-handed hard-hitting middle-order batsman
Bowling Style: Left-arm medium and orthodox (left-arm leg-spin)
Fielding Position: Forward short-leg
Major Achievements:
* Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year in 1974 and 1975
* In February 1975, he was picked for SL national team for the 1975 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup in England under Anura Tennekoon and became the first schoolboy to play in the ICC World Cup. Played in his first match on 7 June 1975 in Manchester against the West Indies
* Captained Nalanda in the 46th Battle of the Maroons Big Match against Ananda in 1975 (opposition Captain Sidath Wettimuny)
* Led SL Under-19 team to win the 1975 Ali Bhuttu Trophy against Pakistan Under-19 under Javed Miandad. The victory is considered the first-ever international championship win by any Sri Lanka cricket team
* Led SL Under-25 against Tamil Nadu in the Gopalan Trophy
* Played for Bloomfield Cricket & Athletic Club
* Scored 61 runs in the third one-dayer against touring Australia under Kim Hughes on 3 May 1981
* Toured England with Sri Lanka team under Bandula Warnapura during which Test status was given to Sri Lanka (on 21 July 1981)
* Scored 51 runs in 41 balls in Sri Lanka’s first “official” ODI, played against England under Keith Fletcher at SSC on 13 February 1982
* Toured Pakistan which was Sri Lanka’s first official Test tour
* Scored 77 runs in the second innings of the first Test against India, played at Chepauk Stadium, Madras saving Sri Lanka and turning the match in favour of the Sri Lanka team
* Suffered a ban of 25 years on cricket for participating in the AROSA rebel tour of apartheid South Africa in October 1982
* Scored a century in the third unofficial one-dayer played against South Africa in that series
* When the ban was lifted prematurely after seven years in 1989 by President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Anura made a comeback for first-class cricket for the club BRC against NCC
* There he hit a massive sixer in the opening game in that game breaking a window of a bus travelling on the Duplication Road
* Anura later hung up his boots in 1990
* Began a coaching career in 1998 with the Bloomfield Under-23 team. He also captained their Division III team in the mean time
* On 9 November 1998, after returning from a match in Galle, Anura Ranasinghe died while on sleep. He was 42 then. The death took place at his Makola residence in Colombo. The reason of death – severe cardiac arrest