Tony Opatha

Antony Ralph Marinon Opatha (5 August 1947 – 11 September 2020) was a Sri Lankan cricketer.[1] A right-arm medium pace bowler, he played five One Day Internationals at the 1975 and 1979 Cricket World Cups.[2]

Tony Opatha
ටෝනි ඕපාත
Personal information
Full nameAntony Ralph Marinon Opatha
Born(1947-08-05)5 August 1947
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Died11 September 2020(2020-09-11) (aged 73)
BattingRight-hand bat
BowlingRight-arm medium
RoleBowler
International information
National side
ODI debut (cap 6)7 June 1975 v West Indies
Last ODI16 June 1979 v India
Career statistics
Competition ODI FC LA
Matches 5 39 20
Runs scored 29 790 100
Batting average 9.66 17.17 7.69
100s/50s 0/0 0/3 0/0
Top score 18 65 19
Balls bowled 253 n/a 1,092
Wickets 5 111 21
Bowling average 36.00 30.74 33.85
5 wickets in innings 0 2 0
10 wickets in match 0 0 0
Best bowling 3/31 6/91 3/20
Catches/stumpings 3/– 24/– 8/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 24 December 2014

Educated at St. Peter's College, Colombo he joined the Royal Ceylon Volunteer Air Force in 1968. He had played for his college cricket team and went on to play for the air force cricket team till 1977. He first played for Ceylon in 1971 and was a member of the Sri Lankan teams playing in the World Cups in England in 1975 and 1979. He later played club cricket in Ireland for one season in 1979 and was offered the post of coach of the Holland team.[3]

As player/manager of the rebel tour to South Africa in 1982-83 in defiance of the sporting ban against the apartheid state, he and the other tourists received a lifetime ban from international cricket.

In September 2018, he was one of 49 former Sri Lankan cricketers felicitated by Sri Lanka Cricket, to honour them for their services before Sri Lanka became a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC).[4][5]

References
  1. "Former Sri Lanka seamer Tony Opatha dies aged 73". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  2. "Former Sri Lankan international Tony Opatha dies". Emerging Cricket. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  3. "Living Legends - Tony Opatha". The Nation. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  4. "Sri Lanka Cricket to felicitate 49 past cricketers". Sri Lanka Cricket. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  5. "SLC launched the program to felicitate ex-cricketers". Sri Lanka Cricket. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
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