I grieved when Ranil (Abeynaike) passed away on the 21st of February 2012 as he and I shared many great moments during his life. I was silent since then as I did not know where to start from and where to finish.
My interaction with Ranil is nut-shelled below:
I was around 12 years old – Ranil is a year senior to me — when he requested me to partner him in Tennis Doubles at the Junior Nationals.
I willingly did and from then on we went onto win the Under-15, Under-17 Doubles at the Junior Nationals. I think I was the person who interacted with him mostly on the CLTA (now known as the SLTA) courts as we made a very formidable Doubles combination.
He was a left-hander and I was the opposite and together we conquered many renowned combinations.
Many memories still remain like the time he was serving in the third set in a semi-final. We were the favourites but we were struggling as the tie-break system was introduced. I was up at the net and he hit me with the ball on my back. I was in pain but we continued. When it came to my turn, I did the same thing and at this point we both started to laugh. This broke the tension within us and we reeled off the next few points and won a memorable match. We called it the ‘Butt Match.’
We both received our College colours when we won the Public Schools Tournament which comprised of Johnny de Saram, Ranil, Suresh Sivagnanam and myself. We were also awarded the Ceylon Schools Tennis colours (Public Schools Colours), the embroidered logo which I still posses.
In cricket, I was in the Under-16 squad under Glakka Wijesuriya and when chosen to play, I did not have a pair of boots. Ranil used to watch us practice and may have heard about my predicament. He gave me a pair of new boots that I wore for the entire season. Coincidentally his father Orville was our coach.
His exploits on the cricket field are well read by all but two incidents remain vividly in my mind among a whole lot.
We were playing St. Joseph’s at Mount and Lakshman Aloysius was bowling from the Thalassa End. He was very aggressive and bounced one at Ranil. Ranil ducked and went and patted the pitch almost at the non-stricker’s end. For the next ball when LA was running in, Ranil moved out and stopped him half way. I saw a gesture from him (which I learnt later was asking Aloysius to button his shirt up as his chain was swinging) and then continued to take strike. The next ball was a vicious bouncer which Ranil hooked for four. He was to tell me later that he was expecting it as he knew LA was angry.
In the match against the Australian cricketers at the Oval ( P. Sara now) he came in when Ray Bright (later went on to play for the Australians) was bowling. Bright had a peculiar run to the wicket and Ranil had an odd stance. Bright clearly mocked him when the first ball beat Ranil by imitating his stance. The next ball Ranil stopped Bright who was about to bowl. Few words were exchanged and yes the next ball was driven for four. Ranil later told me that he had imitated Bright’s peculiar run up when Bright was staring at him and knew the next one will be a loose ball.
His analyses and anticipation on the field of cricket and on the courts of tennis were brilliant.
He was a hockey player par excellence and I am sure all his team-mates will vouch for this on the hockey field as well.
After College I met him many times and we always greeted each other like we did when we won a tennis match.
The last thing he did for me was to allow my daughter to go into the field before play and meet with the late Tony Greig and some of the South African players who were warming up. He just opened the gate and allowed her in. She still remembers ‘uncle Ranil’ for that.
This was the match at SSC which miraculously started on time though it had poured buckets till two hours before the start and also was Arjuna’s final match.
He is gone now and with him like with his charisma on and off the field I bow to you for all that you have given me as a friend, a partner and a colleague. I bow to you for all that you have given your Alma Mater and your Country.
Nothing is ever forgotten.
