It was Ranatunga, however, and to the musical beat of the colourful band which plays a merry tune or two in the grandstand who took the baton and conducted his own victory march. The result was victory by six wickets over South Africa in the Standard Bank tournament
The rotund Sri Lanka captain also earned man of the match award for a well-paced innings of 93, which is surprise, surprise the highest by a Lankan against South Africa at ODI level. And it was his fifth-wicket of 107 with Roshan Mahanama which enabled the tourists to reach the 232 victory target with 3.2 overs remaining.
Just the sort of convincing margin Sri lanka need as they head for Willowmoore Park tomorrow. It is at the Benoni venue, also known as Compton's playground, where they meet Pakistan for the third and final pool game beyween the two sides.
Naturally a chuffed Ranatunga agreed one victory gave them a chance. Beating Pakistan would put them on level terms on the points table, but they also needed to pick up the run rate.
Willowmoore Park is a small ground, but the pitch is the sort which is as near you will find, in South Africa, to sub-continental standards. The ODI surface at St George's Park, and that at Fochville, run it a close second. Although, for a time yesterday, Ranatunga must have wondered whether the Port Elizabeth groundsman had not studied preparation of the sqaure at P Saravanamutu Stadium.
The longer the Sri Lanka innings progressed the slower and less bounce there was in the pitch. Yet the total of 232 did not seem beyond the islanders. They recovered from the traumas of another top-order collapse as first Romesh Kaluwitharana then Sanath Jayasuriya fell victim to Roger Telemachus and the new-ball.
Kaluwitharana was beaten by a straight one after a cracking square cut had earned him a boundary; Jayasuriya attempted to pull too soon at a ball which spat off the pitch and top-edged it. Both were batting errors rather than Telemachus doing his clever bit as an opening bowler. Yet he deserved the wickets.
And when Aravinda de Silva's disappointing run continued Sri lanka were no doubt wondering whether the remainder of the series would, for them, be turned into an academic exercise. Shaun Pollock's delivery which zipped one through the gate with a well-disguised seamer cutting in off the seam, was the one great ball of the innings.
First with Marvan Atapattu, brought back to give the side more stability in the top five, and then with Mahanama the Sri Lankan innings displayed true character. Certainly Atapattu looked the part of an organised limited-overs run-maker. His innings of 63 provived the quality the tourists needed.
South Africa's bowling lacked thrust and bite. Their captain, Hansie Cronje, did not have a happy game and Telemachus was found wanting in his second spell. The Boland seam and swing bowler was supposed to provide the penetration Fanie de Villiers provided and bowl with the same economy. On this occasion he failed and needs to take a serious look at how to bowl to batsman who put him under pressure.
If the bowling was not as sharp as it was against Pakistan in East London (there was nothing wrong with the fielding) the South African batting strategy was also found wanting. A decided lack of discipline and shot selection saw wickets fall all too regularly.
Jonty Rhodes could perhaps, feel a little miffed at his stumping call which went to Cyril Mitchley at the TV monitor. It was a key wicket as South Africa were relying on him to take the score beyond the 250 mark.
Gary Kirsten put together a solid innings before throwing it away, Pat Symcox, in the pinch-hitter role, was out of his place in the order; a frustrated Mike Rindel was bowled in similar fashion to that at Buffalo park on Saturday - pulling without his body correctly placed and exposing his leg stump again - Cronje looked out odf sorts and Hercelle Gibbs played himself in and threw it away as well.
All very surprising when you consider they have had plenty of experince on such sub-continetal type pitches this season. Yet the guile and wiles of Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Dharmasena exploited the conditions and the edgy frustrations of the South Africans.
Ranatunga switched his bowlers, rotating the four spinners who kept the sort of tight control the skipper had been seeking in their previous three games. While Muralitharan eaned three for 47 in his 10 overs, Dhamasena netted one for 37 off his 10; and we had leg-spinner Upul Chandana taking one for 42 in nine with Jayasuriya chipping in with two for 34 in seven.
All very academical and straightforward yet highly effective.
Yet the Lankans know they need to beat Pakistan in Benoni and South Africa in Bloemfontein if they are to stay in the hunt.
``We have sorted out our batting problems and just need to work on our bowling,'' Ranatunga said, giving away little. ``We have taken a hard look at our game and we saw a positive result today.''
Benoni, he admitted, posses the key to how much further they can advance in the series. Another victory will help their cause.