Apart from being known for its dense wildlife and scenic beaches, Sri Lanka is best known for its cricketing achievements and quality players. They have produced magnificent cricketers over the years and have provided c with memories for a lifetime. Who could ever forget the heroics of Arjuna Ranatunga’s team of 1996, or the incredible knocks by Kumar Sangakarra and Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan’s magic fingers, Chaminda Vaas’s deadly in-swingers and Lasith Malinga’s toe-crunching yorkers still bring nightmares to opposition players.
Apart from these gifted players, Sri Lanka has also produced a host of great officials. Officiating a cricket match is one of the most difficult and tedious jobs in the industry. Despite being as involved in the game as all the players and coaching staff, the officials do not get the credit they deserve.
In this article, we look at the people behind the scenes who should be credited for their hard work and significant contribution to this beautiful game. Here are the top 5 cricket officials to emerge from Sri Lanka.
#1 Ranjan Madugalle
Ranjan Senerath Madugalle is arguably the most prominent and elite match referees in the history of the game. Having refereed over 150 tests, 300 ODI’s and 50 T-20’s, he is surely one of the most coveted and respected match official.
Madugalle started off his career as a stylish middle order test batsman for the Sri Lankan cricket team. He was known for his lazy elegance and in his ability to pick gaps in the field while batting. He was the only player to feature consistently in the first 18 tests Sri Lanka played. Madugalle performed well during his test career averaging 30, but was not able to do so in the ODI’s where his average was a meagre 18.
Madugalle also captained the Sri Lanka Test and ODI teams for a brief period of time. During his unsuccessful stint as captain, Sri Lanka won only 2 out of their 13 ODI’s and lost both the test matches.
After his retirement, Madugalle became an ICC-appointed match-referee. He made his Test debut in the match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe at Karachi in 1993-94, his ODI debut in the same series and his T20I debut in the match between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in 2006. After garnering a lot of trust and respect from the ICC, he was appointed as the “Chief match referee” in 2001 by the ICC and was considered as an outstanding member of the existing panel back then.
He did court a small controversy exhibiting bias against Asian teams, a popular one which happened when Indian toured Australia in 1999. Apart from that incident, he has arguably been the best match referee till date. Due to his congenial outlook and strict disciplined approach, he was a highly respected referee who was never taken lightly. Till date, he continues to referee matches and has constantly featured on ICC’s Elite list of referees.
#2 Kumar Dharmasena
Handunnettige Deepthi Priyantha Kumar Dharmasena, also known as Kumar Dharmasena is currently one of the world’s most well-respected umpire. He has been a part of the ICC Elite Umpire panel for many years now and due to his skilful umpiring, he was named as the ICC Umpire of the Year in 2012. He umpired the final of the recently concluded ICC World Cup which took place in Australia last year.
Like many other umpires, Dharmasena started off his career as a player for the Sri Lankan cricket team in both formats, making his test debut in 1993 and ODI debut in 1994. Dharmasena was a key part of the Sri Lankan squad for a career which spanned over 13 years and was a part of the famous World Cup winning side of 1996. Having being known for his unique action while bowling his right arm off break, he also proved to be useful with the bat.
After retiring as a player in 2006, Dharmasena took to umpiring as he wished to remain close to the game which he loved dearly. Since he already had some experience umpiring matches at the domestic level before his retirement, he was given his first official cap as an umpire at the early age of 38 in 2009. His debut match was the ODI between India and Sri Lanka at the Rangiri International Stadium in Dambulla.
He will always be remembered for the famous decision he made in the recently concluded ICC T-20 World Cup final between West Indies and England. During the tense affair between the 2 sides, he decided to go to the third umpire for a catch in the 7th over.
The catch which was taken by Jos Butler to dismiss Marlon Samuels looked out to everyone, except Dharmasena. Samuels – who was batting at 26 at that time would have been given out until he was called back after replays proved that the catch was not legitimate. This led to Samuels playing a match winning innings and leading the West Indies to victory.
#3 Ajith C. S. Perera
Ajith Chrysantha Stephen Perera – the man with many talents and professions has given his heart and soul to the betterment of Sri Lankan cricket for many years. Perera is a Chartered Chemist by profession, a scholar, a former senior manager, a qualified training instructor and a former test-match-panel cricket umpire as well.
He had a short career as a cricket player for the University of Colombo for from 1972-78. In 1975, he had qualified to become a test umpire. Just a few days before his first ever match as an umpire for an international match, he met with an accident which made him a paraplegic for life. After that, he decided to become an author, an activist for the disabled and a highly competent accessibility advisor.
He will be remembered for his many significant contributions to the growth of Sri Lankan cricket. He streamlined the rules and regulations governing the different divisions of cricket in Sri Lanka in 1996.
He is also the author of two widely selling books namely “The Golden Era of Sri Lankan cricket” and “Thinking Cricket".
He was named as a “Life Member” by the Association of Cricket Umpires of Sri Lanka for his dedicated service over 20 years. He has constantly been awarded and hailed for his contributions by several organisations from all over the world.
#4 Asoka De Silva
Ellawalakankanamge Asoka Ranjit De Silva, also known as Asoka De Silva was the first Sri Lankan umpire to feature on the ICC Elite Umpires Panel. He is the most widely capped Sri Lankan umpire having umpired 49 tests and over a 100 One Day Internationals. He was frequently chosen to be the umpire for matches between the top test playing nations.
He was a part of the “Elite Panel” for 2 years between 2002 and 2004. He was part of the panel in 2008 after it expanded to incorporate 12 members. He started off as a player for the Sri Lankan cricket team in a career which spanned over 8 years, featured in 10 Test matches and 28 ODI’s in this time.
His debut as an umpire came in 1999 when he umpired the ODI between Sri Lanka and Australia at Galle. After many years of successful umpiring, his career was brought to a standstill when he faced a lot of criticism for his decision making during the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011. Due to this, he was not allowed to officiate in a couple of key group games that he was originally supposed to officiate.
Unlike the cricket team, the umpire from Sri Lanka had a World Cup to forget. Several of his decisions were overturned by the DRS: out of the 7 decisions which were challenged, only 3 of them stood. Despite the problems he faced a few years ago, Asoka De Silva will always be remembered as one of the greatest umpires to come out of Sri Lanka.
#5 K. T. Francis
Kandiah Thirugnansampandapillai Francis, also known as K. T. Francis is considered as the most iconic and respected umpire to have come out from Sri Lanka. Along with Herbie Felsinger, Francis officiated in Sri Lanka’s first-ever Test match against England at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo in 1982. He also had the distinction of officiating Sri Lanka’s first one-day international.
Francis mostly stood as the umpire for matches which took place in Sri Lanka. He officiated 25 test matches and 56 One Day Internationals in a career which spanned over 15 years. He was known for his high level of integrity and his distinct and thorough knowledge on the rules and laws of cricket.
In a famous incident way back in 1993, K. T. Francis encountered a situation where the batsman refused to accept his verdict after being given run out. The rule was regarding breaking the stumps to run a batsman out after the stumps had already been uprooted without the ball in hand.
Francis got into a spat with a spectator over the incident and after proving himself right to the spectator, Francis demanded an apology. K. T Francis passed away 3 years ago after a long struggle with diabetes. Despite having a few flaws and making a few mistakes throughout his career, K. T. Francis will go down as one of the most respected umpire in the world.
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