Kaluwitharana calls it a day!

[TendulkarFan]

I don't think I saw a thread for this topic so here goes. If one was created earlier, my apologies.

http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2004/NOV/098700_SL_09NOV2004.html

I, and I think many others as well, will always remember Kaluwitharana as one of the two guys (another being Jayasuriya) who changed the face of the one-day game. There are many of those those who excel in the game they play and then there are a few of those who change the game they play. Kalu belongs to the latter category. It was electrifying watching him and Jayasuriya murder opponents within the first 15 overs.

Farewell Romesh! It was as much of a treat as a terror to see you bat.

 

[Bapu Rao Swami]

A good cricketer to watch. His exploits with Jayasurya at top of the order is well know obviously, I personally liked some of his innings which he played under pressure, particularly in Australia. A good servant of SL, should have played more matches if it was not for Sangakarra. I still remember Kalu hitting Mcgrath to every corner in Australia. He and Jaya hammered almost every bowler in 1996 WC. Poor Manoj Prabhakar was dropped after that match against India and never got picked again.


The famous wording from the great Bradman: "One should retire when people ask WHY rather than WHY NOT"

 

[Buddhmaster]

Being a big fan of Sangakkara i never really cared about Kaluwitharana but he was a good player and best of luck to him.

 

[marc71178]

Poor Manoj Prabhakar was dropped after that match against India and never got picked again.

Probably because he reaction to being dropped was to retire!

 

[Sanz]

I will always remember Kalu and Jaisuriya's assault on Prabhakar. Poor Prabhakar started bowling off spin after that.

 

[wpdavid]

A good cricketer to watch. His exploits with Jayasurya at top of the order is well know obviously, I personally liked some of his innings which he played under pressure, particularly in Australia. A good servant of SL, should have played more matches if it was not for Sangakarra. I still remember Kalu hitting Mcgrath to every corner in Australia. He and Jaya hammered almost every bowler in 1996 WC. Poor Manoj Prabhakar was dropped after that match against India and never got picked again.


The famous wording from the great Bradman: "One should retire when people ask WHY rather than WHY NOT"

If Kalu did hammer bowlers in the 1996, he didn't do it for very long - his highest score against a test country was 26 IIRC! Actually Jaya only produced 2 decent innings against test coutries in that tournament as well, despite the prevalent mythology about the whole thing. Maybe Kalu did better elsewhere. Good luck to him anyway.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

If Kalu did hammer bowlers in the 1996, he didn't do it for very long - his highest score against a test country was 26 IIRC! Actually Jaya only produced 2 decent innings against test coutries in that tournament as well, despite the prevalent mythology about the whole thing. Maybe Kalu did better elsewhere. Good luck to him anyway.

Mostly it was his approach at the top of the order that was revolutionary. He was basically unheralded as a batsmen (apart from his ability to slog the ball) and was placed as a pinch hitter at the top of the order from around the Sri Lankan tour of Australia in the 1995-96 summer. The ODI tournament in Australia that year was classic, and was the first time I can remember regularly seeing scores in excess of 100 after 15 overs in a one day match. After that series every country began to rethink their approach to one day cricket, and lo and behold by the 1996 world cup Mark Waugh had been placed at the top of the batting order when previously it had been the same opening pair as in tests with Slater and Taylor, and after Taylor was dropped from the one day team Gilchrist began opening as well.

It wasn't actually in the 1996 world cup that Kalu made his mark, the Sri Lankan win there was simply the end result of what began during the Australian tour a few months earlier, and he was a big part of that.

Anyway, the scorecards from that Australian tour can be found here: http://www.howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Series/SeriesStats_ODI.asp?SeriesCode=0390

Note that in the first few matches he bats down the order, but from the 9th game on he opens and has a series of big scores.

 

[wpdavid]

Mostly it was his approach at the top of the order that was revolutionary. He was basically unheralded as a batsmen (apart from his ability to slog the ball) and was placed as a pinch hitter at the top of the order from around the Sri Lankan tour of Australia in the 1995-96 summer. The ODI tournament in Australia that year was classic, and was the first time I can remember regularly seeing scores in excess of 100 after 15 overs in a one day match. After that series every country began to rethink their approach to one day cricket, and lo and behold by the 1996 world cup Mark Waugh had been placed at the top of the batting order when previously it had been the same opening pair as in tests with Slater and Taylor, and after Taylor was dropped from the one day team Gilchrist began opening as well.

It wasn't actually in the 1996 world cup that Kalu made his mark, the Sri Lankan win there was simply the end result of what began during the Australian tour a few months earlier, and he was a big part of that.

Anyway, the scorecards from that Australian tour can be found here: http://www.howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Series/SeriesStats_ODI.asp?SeriesCode=0390

Note that in the first few matches he bats down the order, but from the 9th game on he opens and has a series of big scores.

Thanks for that. I was unaware of the Aus tour prior to the WC, so I always wondered what all the fuss was about. And now I know. Actually, having looked at the cards, Waugh is opening in the last few games of that series, so Aus were obviouusly quick learners! That tour may well be Kalu's finest hour, as he seemed pretty inconsistent apart from it.

 

[Langeveldt]

Cracking player.. Seemed a decent bloke too, definitely good behind the timbers.. Shame the average wasn't higher, but putting entertainment before batting average isnt necessarily a bad thing...

 

[dude]

yup! good luck to kalu! nice bloke and great cricketer! his average may not say much but he was there to do a job for his team and in order to perfom his duty it meant having to take risks and throw his wicket away too.

 

[JASON]

It was Kalu and Sanath Jayasuriya, who changed the SL approach (and the rest of the world's approach) to ODI cricket and generated confidence in the rest of the Team (along with obviously Ranatunga and Aravinda) by starting their assault early on some of the bowling attacks at that time which had up until then held a psychological advantage over the Sri Lankans.

I remember Kalu's assault on McGrath in a Match after which McGrath's figures were 9.4 overs -0 maidens - 76 runs - 1 wicket.

I doubt McGrath ever got such a brutal attack of his bowling even in ODI's. Kalu ended up getting three Man of the Match awards in that VB series IIRC.

I am reminded of Barry Richards's comments on Kalu, he was asked to comment on Kalu's batting and this is what he said , "Kalu only knows 2 ways to play, Attack and more Attack".

Kalu will always be rembered by SL fans with the nostalgic memories of the 96 world cup, when SL regarded as a serious underdog and rank outsider at odds of 66-1, came through to win the greatest prize in World Cricket, the World Cup !! (And as Wisden put it - Cinderella (SL) had finally come to the party and was drinking Champagne !! )

 

[Jono]

Cracking player.. Seemed a decent bloke too, definitely good behind the timbers.. Shame the average wasn't higher, but putting entertainment before batting average isnt necessarily a bad thing...

Totally agree. Best of luck to him. His impact of cricket will hopefully not be forgotten.

 

[tooextracool]

If Kalu did hammer bowlers in the 1996, he didn't do it for very long - his highest score against a test country was 26 IIRC! Actually Jaya only produced 2 decent innings against test coutries in that tournament as well, despite the prevalent mythology about the whole thing. Maybe Kalu did better elsewhere. Good luck to him anyway.

yes amazing isnt it? cricinfo calls him 'world cup winner' when he averaged 12 in 96, so that really is strange.

 

[tooextracool]

The famous wording from the great Bradman: "One should retire when people ask WHY rather than WHY NOT"

i dont know if thats applicable to kalu given that he retired after not being selected as part of the training squad.......

 

[tooextracool]

Probably because he reaction to being dropped was to retire!

what a pity too, he was a fairly effective ODI bowler with an excellent yorker, and was capable of swinging the ball both ways.

 

[tooextracool]

I remember Kalu's assault on McGrath in a Match after which McGrath's figures were 9.4 overs -0 maidens - 76 runs - 1 wicket.

I doubt McGrath ever got such a brutal attack of his bowling even in ODI's. Kalu ended up getting three Man of the Match awards in that VB series IIRC.

actually the most brutal attack on mcgrath ever happened in the carlton and united series 00-01 at sydney when abdur razzaq hammered him for 5 fours in one over. mcgrath at one stage had figures of 5-0-61-0 !!

 

[wpdavid]

yes amazing isnt it? cricinfo calls him 'world cup winner' when he averaged 12 in 96, so that really is strange.

I thought the article in Cricinfo was really sloppy. However well he'd done in Aus previously, his contribution to the WC win was minimal. In fact, SL won despite his contributions in that tourmament, not because of them. And, to be honest, the whole idea that he revolutionised how teams approach the first 15 overs in ODI's is a complete myth, AFAICS. NZ and England had done the same with Greatbach and Botham respectively four years previously.

 

[viktor]

I remember reading an article by Allan Border where he said that such was KAlu's hitting in one test match, I think his first, he thought KAlu had the potential to be one of the best batsman in the world; even compared him to Bradman, albeit, tongue in cheek. An overstatement that, but watching Kalu in full flow was a treat, even if it was against India. All the best to him

 

[Legglancer]

I thought the article in Cricinfo was really sloppy. However well he'd done in Aus previously, his contribution to the WC win was minimal. In fact, SL won despite his contributions in that tourmament, not because of them. And, to be honest, the whole idea that he revolutionised how teams approach the first 15 overs in ODI's is a complete myth, AFAICS. NZ and England had done the same with Greatbach and Botham respectively four years previously.

Well its beyond argument that the architects of the "over the top" method in the 1 st 15 overs was definitely Sri Lanka ..... Arjuna Ranatunga's Idea. The likes of Greatbach no doubt tried it before but without much success. The diffrence is the Srilankans Had a plan where even if the opening batsman do not score many runs they put caution to the wind and launch the sri lanken scoring like a SkyRocket ..... and it worked against England And India in the 1996 wc. Jayasurya scored 90 against england in 40 balls and atherton was clueless as to what was going on, against India Sri Lanka Scored there 1st 100 in something like 8 overs thereby demoralising the oppersition.

 

[Sanz]

yes amazing isnt it? cricinfo calls him 'world cup winner' when he averaged 12 in 96, so that really is strange.

You clearly have not seen Kalu play in 1995-96 season. He was explosive and he did win the world cup in 1996 for Sri Lanka. I dont understand what is so strange here.