Rumesh Ratnayake on Sri Lanka’s historic 1985 Test win, fast bowling greats and coaching the women’s team

The ball popped up from Kapil Dev’s tentative bat. The bowler, with that distinctive white headband over dark curly hair, dove to his right, in front of the umpire, and took the catch, one-handed, ending the captain’s gritty knock of 78. Sri Lanka thus completed its first-ever Test victory, in Colombo in 1985, against a strong Indian side.

That was Rumesh Ratnayake’s ninth wicket of the match. The quick ended up playing 23 Tests and 70 ODIs, claiming 149 wickets in all. The 62-year-old has also had a memorable stint coaching the Sri Lankan women, guiding them to series victories in England and South Africa, as well as an Asia Cup triumph, beating India in the final. Excerpts from an exclusive interview Ratnayake gave The Hindu at Thiruvananthapuram during Sri Lanka’s T20I series against India:

How do you look back at that Test in Colombo four decades ago? Sri Lanka also went on to win that series, in which Sunil Gavaskar batted in the middle-order.

Yes, and I got him out a few times. India had a fabulous batting line-up, with Mohinder Amarnath and Dilip Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri. I remember Vengsarkar had this lazy elegance about him. He had sleepy eyes, but would do so much damage with his bat. I think it was a fantastic series. We all knew we had a chance. And those wickets were also conducive to pace. Because our strength was pace at that time. If it was against Pakistan, it would have been a different story.

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You were part of a good pace attack with Ashantha de Mel and Saliya Ahangama.

And we had a young leg-spinner Sanjeewa Weerasinghe, who sadly played only one Test, which we won.

You had figures of four for 76 and five for 49.

That Test match is sort of engraved in my mind. And people throw it back all the time, even now. Somehow, once a week I get a video; somebody will send it from somewhere. Unfortunately, that match was not videoed fully. But when the government knew that we had a chance of winning on the fifth day, they sent a television crew.

How much did that Test win mean to the Sri Lankan team and the country at that time?

It meant a lot. Our President, J.R. Jayewardene, gave a holiday the next day. He had played cricket, you know, for his school.

You bowled at good pace, and had some memorable Test spells in England, Australia, New Zealand…

My ambition was to bowl as fast as I could, to be the fastest bowler. But those days we didn’t have as many opportunities, such as videos, to learn from. So my university was the fast-bowlers of the era. I would talk to them.

I still remember the advice I got from Richard Hadlee, who was such a phenomenal bowler. He bowled like the wind. He was so smooth, it was unbelievable. He is the one who told me about fast-bowling being all about rhythm. I remember him telling me, ‘You have bowled faster than me and you are asking me.’ I was just 18 then. And I remember asking him, ‘Richard, but what do you think I need to do?’ He said, ‘Rumesh, just think of your rhythm. Think of your timing.’ That was the first time I was hearing of the timing of the ball — when you release the ball.

I also looked up to Michael Holding, Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee. And Kapil also has been a favourite. And what a batter he was, too! We used to talk about how he hits the ball. He used to have this shot, which he would play on the up. It would go past the mid-off and extra-cover. He would sort of glide it. And sometimes the shot would be too late for the mid-off. But it’s near the extra-cover. And bang, it’s gone!

But if you ask me who the best fast-bowler I have ever seen or faced is, it is Wasim Akram. He was everything a fast-bowler needed to be. He had swing, pace, seam… He was a complete fast-bowler.

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And the bowlers that you enjoy watching today?

Mitchell Starc is lovely to watch. He has a lovely rhythm, super timing. And Pat Cummins, too.

When you took over as coach, the Sri Lankan women’s team hadn’t been doing well. You began your tenure with a victory over host South Africa in the 2023 T20 World Cup, then won T20I series in England and South Africa and stunned India in the Asia Cup final.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s CEO Ashley de Silva asked me whether I was interested in taking up the position because Hashan Tillakaratne was leaving. At that point of time I said, ‘No, I haven’t ever coached women.’ Besides, Hashan is my friend and I didn’t want to take his job, but he left and joined Bangladesh. So I accepted the offer and when I went for their training and saw them practising, I realised, ‘Man, this is a team I can grow with’.

But I found there were a lot of negatives in the system, especially with the girls. I believe that if you give them confidence, if you create an environment in which they can learn, I am sure they will grow. And I saw in the first match we played against South Africa, we beat them, and remember that team went on to play the final. Our next match was Bangladesh. We beat them. So we were on a sort of a roll. Then we lost…

How do you recall those early days as coach?

I believe in creating the right kind of environment, and it is about saying the right thing at the right time. And no negatives were spoken. If someone bowled a bad ball, I wouldn’t say, ‘What a rubbish ball that is!’ Not that they did not make mistakes or miss catches. They missed catches, but they knew I was backing them for the next catch, or the next moment.

We spoke of winning the ball, winning the moments. If you can’t hit a six, try for a four, and if you can’t get hit a four, look for a one or a two. And I took the individual aspect away. Five-wicket hauls did not matter. Everybody chipping in at the right time mattered more. Nothing makes the coach happier. I didn’t care for a batter’s fifty. I would give her six or seven balls when she is on 40. I took inspiration from the New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks, where nobody is bigger than the team. The Australian cricket team is also like that.

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In this series, your last of this stint as coach, Sri Lanka showed a lot of spirit in the last two T20Is, but lost 0-5.

Yes, the girls fought hard, and regardless of the result, it was a great experience for them, playing against the Indian side that won the ODI World Cup recently.

Women’s cricket is becoming more popular…

The game is evolving fast. I think some of the sixes you see in women’s cricket today are almost as big as the ones that were scored by the men 30 years ago.