Ranatunga: 'In my book, you can't chuck a legbreak'

[bennyr]

IIRC he won Sri Lanka a World Cup by beating a very classie Aussie outfit in the final. ie by scoring more runs than the opposition in lesser number of overs (which is the purpose of One day Cricket). Not by getting on other people's nerves!!

Perhaps I was getting a bit glib there.

Obviously the World Cup was won by the team that scored the most runs. The point I was trying to make is that in that instance Ranatunga's handling of the situation was instrumental. He was handed a wonderful motivational tool (Australia's forfeited match against SL) and he used it to motivate his team and I believe he successfully put Australia off their game, which contributed to the result.

The mental side of the game is of vital importance, and Arjuna Ranatunga was a master at manipulating it.

 

[luckyeddie]

Its official now....John Howards bull**** counts , but Ranatungas opinions do not

No, neither do.

 

[Deja moo]

No, neither do.

compromise ?

 

[SJS]

As usual we have gone off on a tangent. The real answer to Mr Ranatunga, whom I admire as a captain and a fighting cricketer, is that he is wrong because :-

- Yes its true that you cant chuck a leg break but this is true only of the conventional leg break which is 'wrist-spun'.

- Murali does not bowl a leg spinner in that sense. He bowls an off spinner but holds the ball in the hand with the palm facing upwards. This makes the ball tweaking action clock wise as in the normal off break but in relation to the ground it is moving in an anti clockwise direction. Thats all. It is , as far as the hand and wrist action goes still the same as an off spin. It just moves in the other direction since the hand is 'placed' differently in relation to the pitch.

- Ranatunga is surely aware of this and , therefore, by trying to defend Murali by this statement he is indulging in 'semantic' dishonesty and needs to be exposed.

- By his logic an off break is any ball which comes in from the off side and all these balls only can be chucked. If that is so, let him show how a googly can be chucked !

 

[tooextracool]

i think ranatunga's efforts as an international captain deserve a good deal of credit....he was a motivational captain and was the best player ive ever seen in terms of conserving energy(sprint half a run and then walk the rest). to call a world cup winning captain a poor excuse for a captain would be inane.
that said some of his comments are just plain ridiculous....if i remember correctly he did also say that this australian side was the worst one that had set foot on SL soil before the australias tour of SL. wow did that backfire on him or what!

 

[Deja moo]

i think ranatunga's efforts as an international captain deserve a good deal of credit....he was a motivational captain and was the best player ive ever seen in terms of conserving energy(sprint half a run and then walk the rest). to call a world cup winning captain a poor excuse for a captain would be inane.
that said some of his comments are just plain ridiculous....if i remember correctly he did also say that this australian side was the worst one that had set foot on SL soil before the australias tour of SL. wow did that backfire on him or what!

well, this Sri Lankan side is their worst ever too.

 

[tooextracool]

well, this Sri Lankan side is their worst ever too.

shows you how much of cricket you've been watching pre 96

 

[marc71178]

It appears that people have misinterpreted the "poor excuse" - I was talking about his actions that were not befitting that of an International captain.

I probably didn't phrase it right.

 

[Anil]

It appears that people have misinterpreted the "poor excuse" - I was talking about his actions that were not befitting that of an International captain.

I probably didn't phrase it right.

right, you definitely didn't. he was a canny leader of his men and someone who led from the front and by example, imo a very good captain. he got on peoples' nerves a lot, true and he was too fat, but he still made a successful career both as a player and as a captain for all that....!!!

 

[Slow Love™]

Ranatunga is surely aware of this and , therefore, by trying to defend Murali by this statement he is indulging in 'semantic' dishonesty and needs to be exposed.

Agreed. In everybody else's book, you CAN chuck a doosra (and I'm not even trying to make a point about Murali here, just Ranatunga's disingenousness).

Personally, I don't have a lot of respect for Ranatunga. I still have flashbacks to him physically shoving an umpire in '96. I'll give him plenty of credit for Sri Lanka's success back then (he deserves it) but in terms of sportsmanship, he was probably the most disreputable player I've ever witnessed. I'll never forget Alec Stewart giving him a piece of his mind behind the stumps in '99, and his post-match interview afterwards - Stewart's eyes were watering, and he was gulping so furiously it looked like he'd swallowed the bails. I remember reading an article a year or so ago about Arjuna assaulting a group of schoolboys who'd hit a ball into his yard - somehow it didn't surprise me in the least.

And he's just so full of crap in general - I remember being pi$$ed off by his comments about Australians (and their origins), in response to comments from Warne in an English daily. Those kind of remarks would have been considered completely unacceptable (correctly) had Warne done similarly in return (and when you can praise Warne of all people for his decorum and restraint, that says it all, really).

I don't see the comparison to captains like Ganguly and Chappell, who get/got up the opposition's noses without making a mockery of the game.

 

[ReallyCrazy]

Ranatunga was probably the best captain SL ever had. True he was fat and was not the best athlete but he was not a bad player. He dug his team out of trouble many times. As a captain, he was a very good tactician who gave his 100% to the team and backed his players to the fullest.

I think he did the right thing by leading his team off the field when Murali was called for chucking. Maybe it was against the spirit of the game but in the end, it was for the better for HIS team.

Speaking of Arjuna assaulting schoolboys, Warne assaulted a schoolboy too when the kid got a picture of him smoking.

 

[Scallywag]

Warne assaulted a schoolboy too when the kid got a picture of him smoking.

I tried to find a link to where Warne assulted a schoolboy but could only find alledged comments that are rejected by the security guard that was there.

I know that at first there were complaints of abuse and the need for money to compensate but they fell to the wayside when the story portrayed by the parents didnt match that of the people who were actually there. I believe they settled for a couple of tickets to the game. I'm sure you didnt get fooled did you.

 

[krkode]

Ranagunga would own you guys.

 

[Deja moo]

shows you how much of cricket you've been watching pre 96

Aus tour of Sri Lanka 92-93

Aus tour of Sri Lanka 99....SL won 1-0.

Isnt 2004 their worst performance ever? I think that it wasnt entirely due to Australias strength.....SL was bad too.....worse than in 99 and 92.

 

[Linda]

I think he did the right thing by leading his team off the field when Murali was called for chucking. Maybe it was against the spirit of the game but in the end, it was for the better for HIS team.

But what about the crowd? The people dont pay to see a team sulk off.

 

[Deja moo]

But what about the crowd? The people dont pay to see a team sulk off.

Then maybe the ACB should have ensured better quality umpires for the game.

 

[bennyr]

But what about the crowd? The people dont pay to see a team sulk off.

True, but Ross Emerson wasn't paid to directly contradict a ruling of the ICC.

There was much bad behaviour on that night. I beleive most of blame lies with the umpire. Ranatunga handled it badly, but given the circumstances I think the punishment given to him was appropriate.

 

[SJS]

Then maybe the ACB should have ensured better quality umpires for the game.

Thats very interesting.

So now the quality of umpires will be decided by captains based on whether they like the decisions or not and the protest will be not in writing at the end of the game but during it by walking out !

Wonder how many games would be actually concluded if all captains decided to do that ??

 

[Linda]

Then maybe the ACB should have ensured better quality umpires for the game.

Ok, but should the public suffer for that?
I think when someone has the opportunity to rise above childish antics, they should. I think it could've been handled better on Ranatunga's part is all.

 

[Deja moo]

Thats very interesting.

So now the quality of umpires will be decided by captains based on whether they like the decisions or not and the protest will be not in writing at the end of the game but during it by walking out !

Wonder how many games would be actually concluded if all captains decided to do that ??

Relevant portions from an article by Mark Nicholas regarding the whole affair.........

The incident could have been avoided if Emerson had not been so full of himself. Here was a man on a crusade. This was not a response to a sudden whim, and it came from a perceived lack of support for the Australian umpires in general over the Muralitharan affair. A cricketer was publicly demeaned and discredited, which is un- forgivable and should have been avoided.
Instead of no-balling Muralitharan, Emerson should have warned the match referee of his intention and asked that Muralitharan be filmed and subsequently studied again by the International Cricket Council's sub-committee on throwing. This would not have given Emerson the limelight but it would have earned him respect. In this technological age of camera angles and super slow motion replays there is no need to victimise a man in public, particularly as the man has previously been cleared of bowling unfairly.

Muralitharan was first called for throwing by Hair in Melbourne on Boxing Day 1995. There were questions then about the timing of Hair's action. Why Boxing Day, the biggest day in the Australian cricketing calendar? Why not Sydney five days earlier in a limited-overs match? Why call him from the bowler's end and not from square leg where the view is so much clearer?

Then, a short time later in Brisbane, Emerson and McQuillan did the same, though from square leg. Emerson got it so wrong that he continued to call Muralitharan when he switched to bowl leg-breaks in an orthodox manner.

After these incidents the ICC investigated the bowler and, after careful analysis, exonerated him.