Romesh Kaluwitharana

Romesh Shantha Kaluwitharana (Sinhalese: රොමේෂ් ශාන්ත කලුවිතාරණ; born November 24, 1969) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played in 49 Test and 189 ODIs from 1990 to 2004. He was appointed as the interim cricket coach of Malaysia on the 17 May 2008. He was a key member and wicket-keeper for 1996 Cricket World Cup winning team and renowned for his aggressive batting style.

Early career

His early career made him look like a good Sri Lankan prospect, and the undoubted highlight of his career was the entertaining innings of 132 not out (including 26 boundaries) that he made on Test debut against a powerful Australian side in 1992. However, he failed to deliver on his promise in a declining Sri Lankan team (prior to the revival of Sri Lankan cricket at the 1996 World Cup).

Aggressive Dual

Once in the national side, he sometimes threw his wicket away due to poor shot-selection and was suspect to the swinging delivery. However, he relished pace and would often be quick to put away any delivery off line or length. His greatest contribution to ODIs came after he was promoted to the top of the batting order to partner opener Sanath Jayasuriya during the 1995–96 tour of Australia, helping to give birth to an aggressive batting approach in the first fifteen overs of fielding restrictions. This new strategy of attacking from the outset heavily contributed to Sri Lanka to win all their matches and secure the 1996 Cricket World Cup as all other teams were not prepared for such an attack. Kaluwitharana was the wicket keeper and opener with Jayasuriya in that world cup series that was captained by Arjuna Ranatunga.

International centuries

Test centuries

Test centuries of Romesh Kaluwitharana
No	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Start date	Result
[1]	132*	1	Australia	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	17 August 1992	Lost
[2]	103	9	New Zealand	Dunedin, New Zealand	Carisbrook	7 March 1997	Lost
[3]	100	26	Pakistan	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium	4 March 1999	Drawn

ODI centuries

One Day International centuries of Romesh Kaluwitharana
No	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Date	Result
[1]	100*	56	Kenya	Nairobi, Kenya	Gymkhana Club Ground	28 September 1996	Won
[2]	102*	156	England	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	27 March 2001	Won

International Awards

Test Awards

Man of the Match Awards

S No	Series	Season	Match Performance	Result
1	3rd Test – New Zealand in Sri Lanka Test Series	1998	1st Innings – 28 (78 balls, 4x4) ; WK 1 st. 2nd Innings – 88 (146 balls, 8x4); WK 1 ct. 1 st.	Sri Lanka won by 164 runs.[1]

One-Day International Cricket

Man of the Match awards

No	Opponent	Venue	Date	Match Performance	Result
1	Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	9 January 1996	WK 2 Ct. ; 77 (75 balls: 12x4)	Sri Lanka won by 3 wickets.[2]
2	West Indies	WACA Ground, Perth	14 January 1996	50 (54 balls: 5x4, 1x6) ; WK 1 Ct. 1 St.	Sri Lanka won by 16 runs.[3]
3	Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	16 January 1996	WK 2 Ct. ; 74 (68 balls: 8x4)	Sri Lanka won by 3 wickets.[4]
4	New Zealand	Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad	20 May 1997	44 (36 balls: 5x4) ; WK 2 ct. 2 st.	Sri Lanka won by 52 runs.[5]
5	Australia	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo	31 August 1999	WK 2 St. ; 95* (117 balls: 12x4)	Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets.[6]
6	England	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo	27 March 2001	WK ; 102* (117 balls: 20x4)	Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets.[7]
7	New Zealand	Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Dambulla	13 May 2003	48 (119 balls: 4x4)	Sri Lanka won by 5 wickets.[8]

References