Former Dharmapala College Pannipitiya and Police SC cricketer Vajira Ranaweera passed away at the age of 52 and his funeral took place at the Wattera public cemetery, Polgasowita yesterday.
Ranaweera was a past pupil of Dharmapala College, Pannipitiya and blossomed into a cricketer after he joined the police service. He became the Police SC’s opening bowler in inter-club Tier A competition from 1995/6 to 2007 during which period he captured 225 wickets in 96 first-class matches.
His best bowling effort was against SSC when he returned figures of 8 for 95. He also took seven wickets for six runs against Bloomfield. Ranaweera was named the Best Bowler of the tournament on several occasions. It is unfortunate that Ranaweera at the peak of his career was picked to follow a course at the MRF Cricket Academy in India under former Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee, but for whatever reason, he was unable to attend. Ranaweera was later picked to play in the three-day warm-up game against New Zealand in 1997/98 but again he missed out.
After retiring from cricket, he qualified as an umpire of the Sri Lanka Cricket Umpires Association, but his career was short-lived as he had to spend more time in the police service.
At the time of his death, Ranaweera served as the Chief Inspector of Police, Inspector General of Rehabilitation, Field Force Headquarters, Bambalapitiya serving his country to battle the ongoing Covid-19 virus.
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