Vinothen John (standing 4th from left) with the SL squad for the 1983 Prudential World Cup in England[/caption]
Vinothen John, also known as Vinothen John Bede Jeyarajasingham, is one of the main strike bowlers of Sri Lanka during the mid 1980s, especially in the ODI format.
Emerging from a remarkable period of school cricket at St. Peter’s, Bambalapitiya, John appeared in six Tests, during March 1983 to August 1984, where he took 28 wickets at an impressive average of 21.92.
In ODIs, between 1982-87 when Sri Lanka faced the battering of many seasoned teams during those formative days, he captured 34 wickets in 45 games at 48.67.
Five of his six Test matches were against New Zealand, two three-match series both home and away, yet his memorable moment came in August 1984 at Lord’s when the Lions roared for the first time at the international stage with that classic 190 by Wettimuny and the dashing display of batting by Duleep, Dias, Arjuna and co.
“The most cherished moment in my career for Sri Lanka is taking five wickets at Wellington against New Zealand,” John told Sunday Morning last week.
He took 5/60 in the first innings of that match and Sri Lanka bowled out the home team for 201 to gain a 39-run first-innings lead.
“Sridharan Jeganathan dropped a catch off Lance Cairns from my bowling and Cairns went on to score 45. If we got that wicket that time, it would have been five wickets for about 25 runs,” he remembered.
Where should Sri Lanka lift their game at present?
“It’s the boys who should lift their game. What the Coach can do is limited at their level. They should also improve their fitness, concentration, and the pride over the fact that you are representing your country. When you lose, it’s the country that loses. There is no point in just earning money if the country is going backwards,” he said.
The full interview with Vinothen John will be published in our next week’s (April 11) Sunday Morning.