Malinga spotter heads for Bangladesh

COLOMBO: A fascinating aspect of Sri Lankan cricket has been how unorthodox bowlers have been picked out of nowhere and nurtured into effective pace weapons in international cricket for years.

During his 14 years as Sri Lanka’s fast bowling coach, across two terms, Champaka Ramanayake came to be known as the man who helped develop raw talent into mean pace machines.

Almost the entire crop of current fast bowlers has passed through his hands.

Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Nuwan Pradeep, Lahiru Kumara and Dhammika Prasad are the prominent bowlers among those Ramanayake has coached. FINDING MALINGA

It was Ramanayake, the former Sri Lanka pace bowler, who picked Malinga as a 16-year-old out of nowhere and turned him into a world beater. There are similar stories about the development of Nuwan Kulasekara and Nuwan Pradeep.

“We always get raw cricketers, especially from villages. Like Malinga, (spinner) Ajantha Mendis too came from nowhere. In the history of Sri Lanka cricket, we have lots of stories like that; we have people with natural ability,” Ramanayake told the Hindustan Times.

Ramanayake, who played 18 Tests and 62 ODIs from 1986 to 1995, also had a stint with Hyderabad Sunrisers in 2014. After picking diamonds from the dust, he chose to walk away quietly with Monday being his last day in office with the Sri Lanka cricket team.

He will be joining the high performance academy in Bangladesh next month. FIRST IMPRESSION Watching the bowling of Sri Lanka spearhead Nuwan Pradeep – he took 6/132 in India’s first innings in the Galle Test – from the other side, the Galle Fort End, which also happens to be his home, Ramanayake recollected the bowler’s story.

“It was highly satisfying to see him finally convert four wickets into a five-wicket haul -- almost 10 years of work has gone into it. Till the age of 20, he had never played with a leather ball,” he said.

“I first saw him in 2007 in Colombo at a talent search competition. With his first ball, Pradeep clocked 139 kph. I straightaway picked him for our fast bowling academy.

“His advantage was that even with a soft ball, he bowled with a very good run-up,” said Ramanayake.

We always get raw cricketers, especially from villages. Like Malinga, Ajantha Mendis too came from nowhere