Do you think he is the best for Sports Ministry.
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Arjuna Ranathunge as Sports Minister
- Thread starter AtulaSiriwardane
- Start date
Do you think he is the best for Sports Ministry.
World Cup winning captain Arjuna won Observer award in 1980 and 1982
by Leslie Fernando
[email protected]
CRICKET: Look to the Sunday Observer for your cricket stars - you will be able to pick them quite easily. There is one cricketer who really stands out from the rest and he is none other than Arjuna Ranatunga who was Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year in 1980 and 1982 and then climbed the ladder of success in inter-club and international cricket.
December 1st 1963 was the day that Arjuna Ranatunga came into this world and from his young days the took a liking for cricket and he went for it in a big way and there was success coming his way as he devoted his heart and soul to the game.
At Ananda, he was a leading light and he had the fine backing from his parents and his brothers to forge ahead in the game that he really cherished.
He had a number of successes at Ananda and it was quite natural that he was picked for the coveted honour of Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year twice and that opened up a big future for him in cricket.
The big moment for Arjuna was undoubtedly the winning of the World Cup in 1996 beating Australia in the final at Lahore.
Sri Lanka's team on that historic day comprised: Arjuna Ranatunga (Capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Asanka Gurusinha, Aravinda de Silva, Hashan Tillekeratne, Roshan Mahanama, Kumar Dharmasena, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Promodaya Wickremasinghe.
Lanka's finest moment
Australia batted first and made 240. Sri Lanka, after a disappointing start losing openers Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana for just 23 runs, recovered well. Asanka Gurusinha and Aravinda de Silva made it good, totalling 130 for 3 wickets. Gurusinha made 65, but Aravinda de Silva batted delightfully and made 112 not out and that knock really paved the way for Sri Lanka's fine victory at the end.
Aravinda de Silva and skipper Arjuna Ranatunga made 24 not out and these two stalwarts made it - 241 for 3 wickets, thereby winning the coveted World Cup. To Arjuna went the honour of scoring the winning run when he drove Aussie paceman Glen Mcgrath to the boundary and that stroke will long be remembered!
Ranatunga showed early promise as a cricketer at Ananda and he had many fine knocks with his bat in inter-school cricket matches. He played for Sri Lanka as a schoolboy at the age of 18 years and stroked a fluent half-century in the inaugural Test against England led by Keith Fletcher at the Saravanamuttu Stadium.
Arjuna Ranatunga was a player who inspires the younger lot. He turned out to be a wonderful skipper in both Test matches and one-day Internationals. India's former legendary cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar paid Ranatunga a rich compliment when he said that Ranatunga had exceptional playing skills at one time Gavaskar wanted him to coach the Indian cricket team.
The stylish lefthander Ranatunga's first international century was in February 1984 against Central Zone match played in Faislabad. Ranatunga was a member of the Sri Lanka under-23 team that played against Pakistan under-23 team in two Unofficial Tests (new Series). He scored a delightful century, 114 not out.
The power and authority with which Ranatunga batted could be seen by the fact that he took only 89 minutes to compile his century which was the first for Sri Lanka on the tour. He had sixteen 4s in his knock. With Brendon Kuruppu (Captain) unbeaten 86 were associated in an unbroken second wicket partnership of 164 runs.
Great heights
A lot can be said in favour of Ranatunga. His first contribution came as a batsman as Sri Lanka set out to prove that it could hold its own on the international stage. Throughout a long career, he was a tower of strength in the middle order. Nimble footed and fearless, he confronted his opponents, refusing to take a step back. In short, he was the cricketing version of the freedom fighter required by every nation.
Ranatunga took his team to great heights. After his playing career was over, Ranatunga won a massive vote block to enter Parliament in his political debut in December 2001. He made a comeback too at the last general election.
Today, Arjuna Ranatunga occupies the top seat in Sri Lanka Cricket and said that SLC is pleased to be associated with the ANCL for the Observer - Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year Contests 2008. "Sri Lanka cricket is concentrating on School cricket to strengthen our national pool.
Ranatunga who is the Chairman of Asian Cricket Council has already given the blessings of Sri Lanka Cricket in its endeavour to recognise the talents and achievement of local schoolboy cricketers.
by Leslie Fernando
[email protected]
CRICKET: Look to the Sunday Observer for your cricket stars - you will be able to pick them quite easily. There is one cricketer who really stands out from the rest and he is none other than Arjuna Ranatunga who was Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year in 1980 and 1982 and then climbed the ladder of success in inter-club and international cricket.
December 1st 1963 was the day that Arjuna Ranatunga came into this world and from his young days the took a liking for cricket and he went for it in a big way and there was success coming his way as he devoted his heart and soul to the game.
At Ananda, he was a leading light and he had the fine backing from his parents and his brothers to forge ahead in the game that he really cherished.
He had a number of successes at Ananda and it was quite natural that he was picked for the coveted honour of Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year twice and that opened up a big future for him in cricket.
The big moment for Arjuna was undoubtedly the winning of the World Cup in 1996 beating Australia in the final at Lahore.
Sri Lanka's team on that historic day comprised: Arjuna Ranatunga (Capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Asanka Gurusinha, Aravinda de Silva, Hashan Tillekeratne, Roshan Mahanama, Kumar Dharmasena, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Promodaya Wickremasinghe.
Lanka's finest moment
Australia batted first and made 240. Sri Lanka, after a disappointing start losing openers Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana for just 23 runs, recovered well. Asanka Gurusinha and Aravinda de Silva made it good, totalling 130 for 3 wickets. Gurusinha made 65, but Aravinda de Silva batted delightfully and made 112 not out and that knock really paved the way for Sri Lanka's fine victory at the end.
Aravinda de Silva and skipper Arjuna Ranatunga made 24 not out and these two stalwarts made it - 241 for 3 wickets, thereby winning the coveted World Cup. To Arjuna went the honour of scoring the winning run when he drove Aussie paceman Glen Mcgrath to the boundary and that stroke will long be remembered!
Ranatunga showed early promise as a cricketer at Ananda and he had many fine knocks with his bat in inter-school cricket matches. He played for Sri Lanka as a schoolboy at the age of 18 years and stroked a fluent half-century in the inaugural Test against England led by Keith Fletcher at the Saravanamuttu Stadium.
Arjuna Ranatunga was a player who inspires the younger lot. He turned out to be a wonderful skipper in both Test matches and one-day Internationals. India's former legendary cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar paid Ranatunga a rich compliment when he said that Ranatunga had exceptional playing skills at one time Gavaskar wanted him to coach the Indian cricket team.
The stylish lefthander Ranatunga's first international century was in February 1984 against Central Zone match played in Faislabad. Ranatunga was a member of the Sri Lanka under-23 team that played against Pakistan under-23 team in two Unofficial Tests (new Series). He scored a delightful century, 114 not out.
The power and authority with which Ranatunga batted could be seen by the fact that he took only 89 minutes to compile his century which was the first for Sri Lanka on the tour. He had sixteen 4s in his knock. With Brendon Kuruppu (Captain) unbeaten 86 were associated in an unbroken second wicket partnership of 164 runs.
Great heights
A lot can be said in favour of Ranatunga. His first contribution came as a batsman as Sri Lanka set out to prove that it could hold its own on the international stage. Throughout a long career, he was a tower of strength in the middle order. Nimble footed and fearless, he confronted his opponents, refusing to take a step back. In short, he was the cricketing version of the freedom fighter required by every nation.
Ranatunga took his team to great heights. After his playing career was over, Ranatunga won a massive vote block to enter Parliament in his political debut in December 2001. He made a comeback too at the last general election.
Today, Arjuna Ranatunga occupies the top seat in Sri Lanka Cricket and said that SLC is pleased to be associated with the ANCL for the Observer - Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year Contests 2008. "Sri Lanka cricket is concentrating on School cricket to strengthen our national pool.
Ranatunga who is the Chairman of Asian Cricket Council has already given the blessings of Sri Lanka Cricket in its endeavour to recognise the talents and achievement of local schoolboy cricketers.
AtulaSiriwardane said:
Tonight Arjuna said he is more qualified as the Minister of Sports than anyone else in the parliament.... And he will clean the sports field even if others will not allow him to live.
Do you think he is the best for Sports Ministry.
for sure hes better than Gamini Lokuge,
Arjuna blames sports minister for cricketing woes By M. Shamil Amit
The anti minister forum – Arjuna, Guy de Alwis and Hashan Tillekeratne.
(Pic by Ranjith Perera) The deposed interim committee chairman Arjuna Ranatunga came out strongly against the Minister of Sport Gamini Lokuge for having him thrown out as the Chairman of the Interim Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket.
The former World Cup winning captain also has filed law suit against the action taken against him by the minister.
In a press briefing held at the SSC auditorium yesterday, Arjuna began by saying that he did not speak to anybody since he was put out by the minister was because he was concentrating on legal action that he was planning to take.
He said that “I have been given a chance by the courts to prove myself for the embarrassment that I underwent due to my sacking”. He stressed that the minister took this decision as he was doing things the right way.
Arjuna added “We stopped corruption as a result some of the officials did not like what was happening and I think that was the main reason why minister Lokuge took this dubious decision”. He went on to say that there is corruption going on yet and the man responsible is still working at SLC.
“During my tenure since January 2 last year things did not happen the way I wanted. I had to work with a committee given by the minister and they were going on a different track” and mentioned the names of K. Mathivanan and Sidath Wettimuny of being not cooperative.
“It was after a request I made to President Mahinda Rajapaksa that I was able to bring in three members of my liking and one of them was Aravinda de Silva”.
He also mentioned this was not a political forum “if not I wont be seated with Hashan Tillekeratne who is in the opposition politically. It was I who appointed Hashan as the manager of the Sri Lanka team to Bangladesh but what did the minister do -- he rejected it.
“Why we are here today is because we want to do something good to cricket in Sri Lanka. My sole aim was to produce another World Cup winning team but when everything was coming in place I was put out”.
He added that the present administrators will have to take the bulk of the blame for the present situation and the performance of the Sri Lankan cricketers. The SLC is run by unprofessional officials who do not know anything about cricket.
The cricketers are not to be blamed for the soup Sri Lanka cricket is in. He was of the view that Sri Lanka has the best and talented cricketers who are not second to other leading cricket playing nations.
Arjuna accused that even the ground conditions for the present series has been done to the liking of the Indian cricketers and not to the liking of two top bowlers we possess and added it as a pathetic situation.
He also did not forget to blast the local media saying some media journalists were always speaking on the negative side since he took over.
This was vouched by Guy de Alwis from the head table who also went to the extent of mentioning one particular newspaper but he failed to name.
(Pic by Ranjith Perera) The deposed interim committee chairman Arjuna Ranatunga came out strongly against the Minister of Sport Gamini Lokuge for having him thrown out as the Chairman of the Interim Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket.
The former World Cup winning captain also has filed law suit against the action taken against him by the minister.
In a press briefing held at the SSC auditorium yesterday, Arjuna began by saying that he did not speak to anybody since he was put out by the minister was because he was concentrating on legal action that he was planning to take.
He said that “I have been given a chance by the courts to prove myself for the embarrassment that I underwent due to my sacking”. He stressed that the minister took this decision as he was doing things the right way.
Arjuna added “We stopped corruption as a result some of the officials did not like what was happening and I think that was the main reason why minister Lokuge took this dubious decision”. He went on to say that there is corruption going on yet and the man responsible is still working at SLC.
“During my tenure since January 2 last year things did not happen the way I wanted. I had to work with a committee given by the minister and they were going on a different track” and mentioned the names of K. Mathivanan and Sidath Wettimuny of being not cooperative.
“It was after a request I made to President Mahinda Rajapaksa that I was able to bring in three members of my liking and one of them was Aravinda de Silva”.
He also mentioned this was not a political forum “if not I wont be seated with Hashan Tillekeratne who is in the opposition politically. It was I who appointed Hashan as the manager of the Sri Lanka team to Bangladesh but what did the minister do -- he rejected it.
“Why we are here today is because we want to do something good to cricket in Sri Lanka. My sole aim was to produce another World Cup winning team but when everything was coming in place I was put out”.
He added that the present administrators will have to take the bulk of the blame for the present situation and the performance of the Sri Lankan cricketers. The SLC is run by unprofessional officials who do not know anything about cricket.
The cricketers are not to be blamed for the soup Sri Lanka cricket is in. He was of the view that Sri Lanka has the best and talented cricketers who are not second to other leading cricket playing nations.
Arjuna accused that even the ground conditions for the present series has been done to the liking of the Indian cricketers and not to the liking of two top bowlers we possess and added it as a pathetic situation.
He also did not forget to blast the local media saying some media journalists were always speaking on the negative side since he took over.
This was vouched by Guy de Alwis from the head table who also went to the extent of mentioning one particular newspaper but he failed to name.
