Tony Opatha

An ordinary player with equally ordinary statistics in his brief international career that lasted a mere five games, Tony Opatha’s exit was more famous than his entry, given that it happened after the rebel tour of South Africa in 1985-86 in which he donned the dual roles of player and manager. He was a gentle medium pacer who relied more on accuracy and the batsmen’s mistakes than his own repertoire to succeed. With the bat, he was no slouch and could easily dig in for a long haul, even if he didn’t score a lot of runs during his vigils. Opatha was a man of extreme determination and being brain behind Sri Lanka’s rebel tour was one of his adventurous acts. It’s another matter that the whole squad received lifetime bans after the trip was done. Even after this incident, Opatha was a highly respected man in Sri Lanka for his persona and not surprisingly, was honored for his services to Sri Lankan cricket.

Written by Hariprasad Sadanandan