Roshan Mahanama – a true Gentlemen in the Gentlemen’s game
Sri Lanka has produced some great cricketers the world has ever seen and among them is Roshan Mahanama, one of the greatest gentleman ever to grace the sport.
The former Sri Lanka World Cup winning cricketer who rose to become an international match referee, fell in love with the game of cricket at an early age. Hailing from a cricket-mad family, his father Upali Mahanama was his greatest inspiration in his life.
“I was around nine years when I fell in love with the game,” he recalled. “My greatest inspiration was my father, who played cricket in club level. My relatives were also involved in the game and they encouraged me to take up the sport.”
Like most youngsters he began his career playing cricket in the streets with his friends and still remembers the first day he went for practices in his school Nalanda, along with his father and elder brother Devaka because he was not allowed at practices given his age. But his father persuaded the coach to allow him to attend training as he was very keen.
Coach Nelson Mendis was quick to notice the talent of the youngster and went onto become another great influence in his career, moulding him into a gentleman cricketer.
“I respect my first coach. Sir Nelson Mendis has nurtured and guided a lot of cricketers that played for the national team. He has taught us lifelong lessons and taught us how to play the game in good spirit, and more importantly he advised us to be true gentlemen,” he said with a sense of gratitude.
Mahanama represented Nalanda from the age of nine until he got selected to play in the first XI. In all these age groups, he ended up being the best batsman and at the same time he was able to captain all the age groups as well. It was Mendis who also recognised his leadership qualities.
“In the good old days a coach had the ability to see whether an individual is suitable for the post of captaincy and I think he must have spotted something special in me and he must have had the faith that I will do the captaincy in a responsible manner,” said the former Sri Lanka captain.
However, Mahanama had to face an unfortunate incident when he was 14 years old. It was when he was selected to the first XI. His school mates thought that he was not good enough to play in the team. During a match his colleagues protested by holding white and black flags. His parents were pressurized to even take him out of Nalanda. But his father stood firmly by him and insisted that he will not remove Mahanama at any cost.
But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. His father decided to enroll him into the Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club which had eight players who played in the national team, including Bandula Warnapura, Sri Lanka’s first Test captain. It was one of the reasons that inspired Mahanama to play for the national team.
Playing for Bloomfield kept his dream of playing cricket alive as his father wanted him to face problematic situations so that he will be prepared to face challenges in life.
Mahanama blossomed thereafter and became the Schoolboy Cricketer in the years 1983 and 1984, the first player to win the award in two consecutive years. In 1983 he also broke the record for the most runs in a school season.
“Due to the competitiveness that we had at Bloomfield I joined the Colombo Cricket Club. I felt that if I want to be consistent, I need to get more chances. My advice for all the budding and present cricketers is, that when you are selecting a club, see whether you are getting opportunities to show your talent,” said Mahanama who made his international debut against Pakistan in 1986, when Pakistan was captained by present Prime Minister Imran Khan and Sri Lanka by Duleep Mendis.
It was a baptism of fire as he was thrust into the role of opener for the first time in his career.
“I had never opened at domestic level or at school level. It was a unique experience. They had a formidable bowling attack led by Wasim Akram and Imran Khan. It was a challenge but I enjoyed it,” he recalled.
The 1996 World Cup triumph is considered as the turning point in Sri Lanka cricket. Mahanama played a pivotal role, being part of the journey from being non-professional to semi-professional and then professional.
Mahanama said that the incidents leading to the World Cup made them mentally stronger, especially after the controversial Australian tour. The team was determined to prove their critics wrong, he said praising Dave Whatmore for identifying what the team was lacking and more importantly for giving them the freedom to play according to their natural instincts.
“When Dave was appointed in 1995 he knew what we lacked over the years. He brought in Alex Kountouri, who joined in as the physiotherapist. He also took the responsibility of being the trainer and the masseur as well,” he said.
“Alex oversaw the fitness aspect of our team. He was a versatile character. Along with him Chandrishan Perera and Lal Thamel as trainers helped us immensely to improve our fitness levels,” he added pointing out that in the 1992 World Cup Sri Lanka didn’t even have a physiotherapist.
He attributed their World Cup victory to a team effort.
“Throughout the tournament Sri Lanka played with unity. Everybody took the responsibility and did their respective roles according to the team requirement,” he said lauding former SLC (Sri Lanka Cricket) chairman Ana Punchihewa for having a broad vision.
“He wanted Sri Lanka to become the best Test team by the year 2000 and to his credit Sri Lanka emerged as the champions,” he said cherishing every moment of the tournament.
“As a youngster you will never encounter those memorable moments. We beat India twice convincingly and we beat Australia in the final. After 23 years it gives me great joy,” recalled Mahanama.
More importantly he was pleased that victory was able to bring happiness for the entire nation suffering from a long civil war.
Mahanama’s highest point in Test cricket came in 1997 where he was involved in a record breaking partnership of 576 runs with Sanath Jayasuriya. He scored a double century and he rates his innings as his most memorable innings of his illustrious career.
Despite being still fit to play, Mahanama abruptly announced his retirement after Sri Lanka’s disastrous World Cup in 1999. He was the second highest run scorer in the tournament.
He was disappointed with the outcry that followed and penned his autobiography title aptly ‘Retired hurt’.
He came out of retirement to become an international match referee in 2004. He had to work hard as they had to monitor match situations in close quarters but grasped his new role with vigour and enthusiasm.
“During my first few years my greatest inspiration was my father,” said Roshan Mahanama, who was fortunate to be a part of three World Cups and also officiated Champions Trophy final held in South Africa in 2009.
When Mahanama started his career, the role of the match referee was not known even among the players. As he progressed, Mahanama adapted to the rules and regulations of the ICC (International Cricket Council).
“When there is a change to the laws of the game each and every one of us has our own opinions, the Cricket Committee decides if a rule needs to be implemented. It’s a learning process,” said Mahanama who praised his close friend and the Chief ICC Match Referee Ranjan Madugalle. Mahanama officiated in 61 Test matches, 222 ODIs and 35 T20I in his 11-year illustrious career.
“After my retirement from international cricket I was able to work as a match referee for 11 years. The ICC offered me the job in a time where a lot of corruption was taking place in the cricketing world. I’m pleased about the fact that the ICC respected my honesty and integrity and I would like to mention that I have only stepped down but not retired (as match referee),” he said.
He described this year’s epic World Cup final that England won by a fine margin “as the greatest game of all time.”
“It was a great game of cricket. People have their own opinions about that game but I think the game of cricket was the eventual winner. If you are a passionate cricket fan, those are the kind of matches that you would like to witness,” he said.
A devoted family man, Mahanama is heavily involved in social welfare activities, while helping out school children around Sri Lanka. Presently he is an active member in the ‘Ayati Foundation’ which benefits the differently-abled individuals in Sri Lanka.
Mahanama is also considered a great team man who stood tall in times of strife and a player who played the game within the spirit of the game. More importantly he has earned the status of ‘gentleman’ globally in the world of cricket, as a player, official and a humble person.
Before winding up, Mahanama shared a piece of advice to aspiring cricketers and those who are in the national grid.
“We have never been short of talent in Sri Lanka but somebody needs to guide them in the correct path. That is more important when it comes to sport. We will make mistakes. We are human beings. As long as they are genuine mistakes, not with the intention of putting someone in to trouble, I think you can be happy. As I said, it is not what you show the world that matters, it’s what you show to your own heart,” he said.