Anura Tennekoon - the spirit of cricket

The Sunday Observer's Rohan Wijesinghe remembers Anura Tennekoon, widely regarded as one of Sri Lanka's great batsmen, as a cricketer and a gentleman in the widest sense of the phrase.

Elevated to the country's leadership in 1974, his blade continued to carve runs and carve them with a flourish. The relatively small build, dancing feet, exquisite timing and ramrod straight bat, Anura, batting everything except his eyelids, established supremacy over the bowlers within seconds of having scratched out his guard. His cover drives held one transfixed and he could clip a ball off his ankles with that wristy authority of his.