Kaluwitharana a draw card

Sri Lanka Insurance Cricket Legends 2007

CRICKET: Romesh Kaluwitharana was another blaster in the Sanath Jayasuriya mould.

Although out of the game now, Kaluwitharana will still be the cynosure of all eyes when he takes the field in the cricket carnival organised by the Sri Lanka Cricketers' Association and Sri Lanka Insurance on Wednesday at the SSC.

Hailing from St. Sebastian's College Moratuwa, he first came under the guidance and watchful eyes of Bro. Gurusinghe who taught him how to play the game.

Kaluwitharana had to retire from the game prematurely after some failures and Kumar Sangakkara took on the gloves behind the stumps.

It was Kalu along with the master blaster Sanath Jayasuriya who turned the cricket world upside down with their pinch hitting.

In those days most teams were won't to go over the top in last 15 overs. But Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya introduced a new concept where they went for the bowling in the first 15 overs when field restrictions were on.

With sweet timing he hit the ball over the top, much to the amazement of the opposing bowlers, and this revolution in early batting upset the bowlers and went to help the Sri Lankans win the World Cup in 1995/96 when the 50 overs World Cup was played in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India.

Kaluwitharana had the knack of attracting spectators by the number wherever he played. That was because of his belligerent strokeplay that sent his followers into raptures. He is best remembered for the mince meat he made of the Australian attack in a Test match played at the SSC where he made his debut.

The Aussies had in their attack Craig McDermott, Mike Whitney, Greg Matthews and Shane Warne.

He walked to the wicket when the Lankans were not in too happy a position.

From the first ball he just took the pace of McDermott and Whitney and the spin of Greg Matthews, Shane Warne and the part time spin of skipper Allan Border and wrung it to all parts of the field.

It was an amazing display of clean hitting and some of the strokes that flashed to boundary had the Aussies applauding in appreciation.

That innings of 132 not out signalled the arrival of this batting star from the music loving town of Moratuwa.

His strokeplay on that day was like sweet music.

As a wicket keeper he was an asset to the Lankans bowlers, especially the spin variety of Muttiah Muralitheran. He read the spin of Muralitheran well and was the gloveman at the London Oval when Murali wrought havoc on the England batting to bring Sri Lanka a memorable victory.

A sudden slump in form, with Sangakkara breathing down his neck saw him quit prematurely, but continued to play in the club scene.

Kaluwitharana played one Test short of 50, scoring 132 not out as his highest. He figured in 189 one-day international with 102 not out as his highest. As wicketkeeper he held 93 catches, with 32 stumpings. In the ODIs he held on to 132 catches and had 75 stumpings.

Elmo Rodrigopulle