Former Bowler - Fitness Main Reason For Lanka Success (11 Jul 1996)

11 July 1996

Fitness main reason for Lanka`s cricket success: former bowler

Having closely followed Sri Lanka`s triumph in the Wills World Cup, former fast-medium bowler Ranjan Goonetilleke put the success down to `Fitness`.

Domiciled in the Middle East, Goonetilleke told `Gulf Times` that fitness had been the major contributor to the improvement of cricket in Sri Lanka.

"Graham McKenzie, the former Australian fast bowler was the first foreign coach who came to Sri Lanka to coach us. While we wondered what techniques would be taught, he set out on establishing a fitness program for us and it helped,`` said Goonetilleke, a member of the 1979 Sri Lanka World Cup team which produced a shock win over India shortly after winning the ICC trophy.

A former Benedictine cricketer, Goonetilleke holds a record in the now defunct Gopalan trophy series between Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu.

In the annual match played at Chepauk grounds in 1978, Goonetilleke and Ajith de Silva shared a last wicket stand of 130 which is still a record.

In that game Duleep Mendis, the present manager of the Sri Lanka World Cup winning team, scored over 200 runs and Sri Lanka won the Gopalan trophy, based on a first innings result.

Goonetilleke later turned out for two seasons with Stratford SC in the Lancashire and Cheshire League and when he finally gave up the game, he took up employment in the Middle East, handing over his Sri Lankan cap to his greatest fan - his mother, who lives in Sri Lanka.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)