Ranjan Madugalle
Encyclopedia
Ranjan Senerath Madugalle (born April 22, 1959, Kandy
Kandy
Kandy is a city in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an...

) is a former Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

n cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er who became a match referee in 1993. He was educated at Trinity College, Kandy
Trinity College, Kandy
Trinity College, Kandy founded in 1872 by Anglican missionaries, is an Independent elite private boys’ school providing primary and secondary education in Sri Lanka...

, and Royal College, Colombo.

He represented Sri Lanka in international cricket between 1979 and 1988, making his debut in the 1979 ICC Trophy
1979 ICC Trophy
Canada proved too strong for Malaysia, Rasiah Ratnalingham's excellent analysis of 12-5-18-3 not enough to stop the Canadians winning by 44 runs thanks to 77 from Cecil Marshall and 4-33 from John Vaughan...

 final against Canada. He had the honor of being in the first Sri Lankan Test team in 1982, and top-scored in the first innings with 65 - making a 99-run partnership with Arjuna Ranatunga
Arjuna Ranatunga
Arjuna Ranatunga is a retired Sri Lankan cricketer and politician. He was the captain of Sri Lankan cricket team, and led them to an unbeaten title-winning campaign at the 1996 Cricket World Cup...

. In the second innings, however, he was dismissed for a 52-ball three, triggering a collapse from 167 for 3 to 175 all out, and England took a seven-wicket victory.

Subsequently he has been a match-referee for the ICC and has attracted controversy for several rulings and displayed bias against teams from the subcontinenthttp://ia.rediff.com/cricket/2003/dec/09flash.htmhttp://www.espncricinfo.com/columns/content/story/260646.htmlhttp://www.rediff.com/sports/1999/dec/30prem.htm.

ODI Career

Madugalle continued as a vital part of the Sri Lankan Test and ODI team, only missing one international game between 1979 and 1984. However, his ODI performances worried the Sri Lankan selectors, with only one fifty from 25 innings. He was shuffled around the order in an attempt to gain some form, but after scoring a duck in the second and last ODI against New Zealand in 1984, he was dropped for the first three matches of the 1984-85 World Series Cup in Australia. A couple of seasons followed where he was in and out of the team, but a major reorganisation of the squad following the tour of India in 1986-87 gave him the chance again, and he seized it with a Test 60 against New Zealand.

Performance Outside Sri Lanka

Madugalle was never a good tourist, only averaging 21.50 with the bat abroad, while he averaged 42.76 on traditionally tricky Sri Lankan pitches. Indeed, his only century came in a home match - the first match of the 3-Test series against India in 1985. Madugalle took nearly seven hours to forge his 103, but it ensured in a drawn match. In the next match, he only batted once, making 54 from number three to build a solid platform for the next batsmen, which eventually led to a comfortable 149-run victory. They drew the third Test - despite scores of 5 and 10 from Madugalle, and Sri Lanka had won their first Test series.

Performance as Captain

In 1988 he was appointed captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team, but his team troubled neither Australia, nor England under Madugalle's leadership. Madugalle himself recorded four sub-20 scores as captain, and the two Tests he captained became his last. He also captained the ODI team in his last 13 matches, winning two and losing eleven, but again he failed to back up his captaincy with runs - only passing 25 twice. However, Sri Lanka did win in his very last match, with a five-wicket win over Pakistan in the 1988 Asia Cup - in which Madugalle did not bat.

He also played league cricket in England - particularly in 1979 for Flowery Field Cricket Club
Flowery Field Cricket Club
Flowery Field Cricket Club is located in the Flowery Field area of Hyde, Greater Manchester and was formed in 1838. It celebrated its sesquicentennial year in 1988 with a number of special matches....

, who were then in the Saddleworth League.

Retirement and Match Referee

Madugalle only made two international fifties after the '85 India series, both in Tests, and eventually he retired to become a marketing executive in a multinational corporation. But the lure of the cricket grounds became too strong, and he became involved as a match referee in 1993. He progressed through the International Cricket Council ranks, refereeing 77 Test matches and 169 ODIs. Thus, he has officiated in many more international matches than he has played.

In 2001, he was appointed chief match referee by the ICC and his tenure was not without controversy. He was accused by the Australian umpire Darrell Hair of double standards http://www.dailymirror.lk/cricket/1426-ranjan-madugalle-double-standards-asoka-de-silva-erred-says-darrell-hair-.html. He has also been accused of biased judgement against teams from the sub-continent an instance of which was during the 1999-2000 tour of India to Australia
http://ia.rediff.com/cricket/2003/dec/09flash.htmhttp://www.espncricinfo.com/columns/content/story/260646.htmlhttp://www.rediff.com/sports/1999/dec/30prem.htm.

External links

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