Ravi Ratnayeke

Ravi Ratnayeke

Personal information
Full name	Joseph Ravindran Ratnayeke
Born	(1960-05-02) 2 May 1960 Colombo, Ceylon
Batting	Left-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast-medium
Role	All-rounder
International information
National side	Sri Lanka
Test debut	5 March 1982 v Pakistan
Last Test	16 December 1989 v Australia
ODI debut	12 March 1982 v Pakistan
Last ODI	2 May 1990 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1989	Nondescripts
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 22 78 71 90 Runs scored 807 824 2,225 934 Batting average 25.21 14.98 28.52 15.56 100s/50s 0/5 0/1 1/11 0/2 Top score 93 50 107 51 Balls bowled 3,833 3,573 9,388 4,060 Wickets 56 85 133 98 Bowling average 35.21 33.71 36.77 32.82 5 wickets in innings 4 0 5 0 10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 n/a Best bowling 8/83 4/23 8/83 4/23 Catches/stumpings 1/- 14/- 18/- 15/-
Source: CricketArchive, 23 January 2013

Joseph Ravindran "Ravi" Ratnayeke (born 2 May 1960) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who batted left-handed and bowled right-arm medium pace. Ratnayeke played 22 Tests and 78 ODIs from 1982 to 1990, his Test best bowling performance of eight wickets for 83 runs at Jinnah Stadium (Sialkot) Pakistan was a Sri Lankan Test record at the time, and was also vice captain to Arjuna Ranatunga. Ratnayeke was described by Cricinfo writer Johann Jayasekera as able "to bowl with a lively pace and move the ball in favourable conditions", and also as "a competent batsman".

He was educated at Trinity College Kandy, and made his debut in first class cricket for Sri Lanka Under–25s against Tamil Nadu Under–25s in 1980–81. Opening the bowling with Ashantha de Mel, Ratnayeke took three wickets, and impressed the Sri Lankan selectors enough to go on tour of England in 1981. Playing six of Sri Lanka's fifteen matches on tour, Ratnayeke took nine wickets, five of which came in one match against Sussex.

When Sri Lanka played their first Test match in February 1982, against England, Ratnayeke did not feature in the XI, though Wisden Cricketer's Almanack said after the series that leaving Ratnayeke out "gave their captain an unbalanced attack in which only De Mel was more than medium pace". He did play a tour match for the Sri Lanka Board President's XI, taking five wickets for 120, and when Sri Lanka went to Pakistan the following month, he played the first and third Tests and all three ODIs. Ratnayeke was said to "improve as the tour progressed" by Wisden, though he was noted as a bowler who gave little support to Sri Lanka's main three. Ratnayeke took three of Sri Lanka's seven wickets in the final Test at Lahore, which Sri Lanka lost by an innings and 120 runs, and also the wicket of Zaheer Abbas in the second ODI, which Sri Lanka won on scoring rate.

Ratnayeke retired from cricket at the age of 30, at the end of the 1989–90 season. Shortly after, he emigrated to Perth, Australia, where he played grade cricket. He and his family later moved to Melbourne, where he gained a job with Amcor, a packaging company. Ratnayeke currently lives in Rowville, Victoria, with his wife and two children, and holds Australian citizenship.