Ranil Gemunu Abeynaike (12 February 1955 – 21 February 2012) was a Sri Lankan

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. Abeynaike was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

who bowled

slow left-arm orthodox Left-arm orthodox spin or left-arm off spin, also known as slow left-arm orthodox spin bowling, is a type of spin bowling in cricket. Bowlers using this technique bowl with their left-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery spins ...

. Born at

Mount Lavinia Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia (; ), population 245,974 (2012), is a large municipality in Sri Lanka, covering . It lies south of the Colombo Municipal Council area and is separated from it by the Dehiwala canal which forms the northern boundary of DMMC ...

, he was educated at S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia, in the

Dominion of Ceylon Ceylons:Sri Lanka Independence Act 1947, The Sri Lanka Independence Act 1947 uses the name "Ceylon" for the new dominion; nowhere does that Act use the term "Dominion of Ceylon", which although sometimes used was not the official name. was an ...

(today Sri Lanka). He was the son of Orville Abeynaike.

International career

Abeynaike made his first-class debut for the Mercantile Cricket Association against the Pakistan Under-25s. His first first-class match for

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

came against

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

in the 1974/75

Gopalan Trophy The M. J. Gopalan Trophy was an annual first-class cricket competition played between Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Madras (now Tamil Nadu) between 1952–53 and 2007–08. History The idea of the competition came about with the starting of a silver ...

. A further first-class appearance followed in 1976, when he was a part of the Sri Lanka Board President's XI team which played the touring

Pakistanis Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

. A year later he appeared for Sri Lanka in a first-class match against the touring

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

, who he also made his

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debut against.

English County Cricket

In 1978, Abeynaike joined English county

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, making his debut against

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in that seasons

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. Following the 1978 season, he returned to Sri Lanka where he made two List A appearances for the Sri Lanka Board President's XI against the touring

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. Over the coming seasons he continued to play in England for Bedfordshire, playing

Minor counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

cricket from 1978 to 1982 (with the exception of 1980), making 38 Minor Counties Championship appearances, as well as a single List A appearance in the

1982 NatWest Trophy The 1982 NatWest Trophy was an English limited overs cricket, limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 3 July and 4 September 1982. It was the 2nd Friends Provident Trophy, NatWest Trophy, after it had been renamed from the G ...

against

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Sinhalese Sports Club

By 1983, Sri Lanka had

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, but Abeynaike never gained full international honours. He played for the Sri Lanka Board President's XI in 1983 against the touring

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, he later joined the

Sinhalese Sports Club The Sinhalese people, Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) was a first-class cricket club in Colombo, Sri Lanka till 2025 when they were relegated after enduring a horrendous 2024-25 version of the Major Club 3 day tournament in which they could only m ...

, who he made his debut for in a List A match in the final of the 1988/89 Brown's Trophy against the

Nondescripts Cricket Club Nondescripts Cricket Club (also known by its initials NCC) is a first-class cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The team plays at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground. History The club was founded in 1888. The name "Nondescripts" is derived ...

. He made a further List A appearance the following season, in a repeat of the previous seasons final. The Sinhalese Sports Club won both matches. In the 1989/90 season, Abeynaike made eight first-class appearances for the club, the last of which came against the Cambrians Sports Club.

Career statistics

In his first-class career, he played fourteen matches, scoring 412 runs at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 24.23, with a high score of 66. With the ball, he took 9 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 40.00, with best figures of 6/131. In List A cricket, he scored 136 runs at an average of 136.00 (this inflated average was down to three

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

s in his four innings), with a high score of 46 not out. With the ball, he took 2 wickets at an average of 57.50, with best figures of 2/21.

Later life and death

Abeynaike acted as an international commentator on cricket for

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

based sports broadcaster

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from 2004 onwards. He died at a hospital in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

on 21 February 2012, following a heart attack.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abeynaike, Ranil 1955 births 2012 deaths People from Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Sri Lankan cricketers Bedfordshire cricketers Sri Lankan expatriate cricketers in England Sinhalese Sports Club cricketers Sri Lankan cricket commentators Cricketers from Western Province, Sri Lanka