Joseph Ravindran "Ravi" Ratnayeke (born 2 May 1960), is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and ODI captain, who batted left-handed and bowled right-arm medium pace. Ratnayeke played 22 Tests and 78 ODIs from 1982 to 1990, his Test best bowling performance of eight wickets for 83 runs at Jinnah Stadium (Sialkot) Pakistan was a Sri Lankan Test record at the time, and was also vice captain to Arjuna Ranatunga.
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| Full name | Joseph Ravindran Ratnayeke | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
2 May 1960 Colombo, Ceylon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Left-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm fast-medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | All-rounder | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side |
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| Test debut (cap 12) | 5 March 1982 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 16 December 1989 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 25) | 12 March 1982 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 2 May 1990 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1989 | Nondescripts | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 23 January 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ratnayeke was described by Cricinfo writer Johann Jayasekera as able "to bowl with a lively pace and move the ball in favourable conditions", and also as "a competent batsman".
Contents
School times
He was educated at St. Anthony's College, Kandy and later moved to Trinity College Kandy.
Domestic career
Ratnayake made his debut in first class cricket for Sri Lanka Under–25s against Tamil Nadu Under–25s in 1980–81. Opening the bowling with Ashantha de Mel, Ratnayeke took three wickets, and impressed the Sri Lankan selectors enough to go on tour of England in 1981. Playing six of Sri Lanka's fifteen matches on tour, Ratnayeke took nine wickets, five of which came in one match against Sussex.
When Sri Lanka played their first Test match in February 1982, against England, Ratnayeke did not feature in the XI, though Wisden Cricketer's Almanack said after the series that leaving Ratnayeke out "gave their captain an unbalanced attack in which only De Mel was more than medium pace".
International career
He did play a tour match for the Sri Lanka Board President's XI, taking five wickets for 120, and when Sri Lanka went to Pakistan the following month, he played the first and third Tests and all three ODIs. Ratnayeke was said to "improve as the tour progressed" by Wisden,[8] though he was noted as a bowler who gave little support to Sri Lanka's main three.[8] Ratnayeke took three of Sri Lanka's seven wickets in the final Test at Lahore, which Sri Lanka lost by an innings and 120 runs, and also the wicket of Zaheer Abbas in the second ODI, which Sri Lanka won on scoring rate.[9]
After cricket
Ratnayeke retired from cricket at the age of 30, at the end of the 1989–90 season. Shortly after, he emigrated to Perth, Australia, where he played grade cricket. He and his family later moved to Melbourne, where he gained a job with Amcor, a packaging company. Ratnayeke currently lives in Rowville, Victoria, with his wife and two children, and holds Australian citizenship.[10]
