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Roshan Mahanama one of the bulwarks of Sri Lanka cricket for over a decade announced his retirement from international cricket yesterday after being dropped from the one-day and Test squads to play Australia and India later this month.

In a chequered international career where his position in the team wavered as much as his batting place in it, 33-year-old Mahanama in a letter to the Cricket Board interim committee chairman Rienzie Wijetilleke stated: ``This must necessarily be a sad occasion for me, to take what is a difficult decision and sever my connections with a game which has been nothing less than a passion for me from childhood upwards. It is a decision painfully arrived at after careful thought.

``Accordingly, I wish to inform you that I have decided to announce my retirement from international cricket. I do not know how my contribution to the game will come to be judged, and all that I can say for my part is that I gave of my utmost, which I suppose is all that one can fairly ask of a person.

``I extend my best wishes to Sri Lanka cricket for greater success in the years to come. I also take this opportunity to offer my sincere thanks to all who have supported and encouraged me at all times''.

Mahanama will be best remembered for his electrifying fielding and for his integrity and discipline on and off the field.

``I always wanted to be a brilliant fielder because I was not a bowler and I worked hard towards achieving that aim,'' said Mahanama when he became the first Sri Lankan cricketer and only the fourth in the world to hold a century of catches in one-day matches during the Singer-Akai Nidahas trophy triangular last year.

Unlike most other cricketers Mahanama never had an easy entry into the national team. He had to sacrifice his position as a middle-order batsman to play Test cricket. He made his debut against Pakistan at the CCC grounds in 1986.

But with the times, Mahanama's position in the batting order kept on changing and he never had the comfort of a proper batting position whether it was in a Test or a one-day international. This in some way contributed to him not being as consistent and a heavy scorer for his country.

He averaged a shade less than 30 in both types of games which does not justify his talent and calibre. He was more or less an unsung hero of Sri Lanka's rise into the big league of world cricket. He was used productively down the order in the one-day game and he was a member of the Sri Lanka team when they won the World Cup in 1996.

An elegant right-hand batsman with the temperament to play long innings, Mahanama had his greatest day in Test cricket in August 1997 when he made a career best 225 against India and shared with Bloomfield club mate Sanath Jayasuriya the highest partnership for any wicket in Test cricket - 576.

But after that marathon effort Mahanama lost his Test place on poor form to Mahela Jayawardene and missed Sri Lanka's last seven Tests. The recently concluded World Cup was Mahanama's swansong. Although he was constantly shifted up and down the batting order, he performed consistently to score 136 runs at an average of 27.

Apart from the big partnership record with Jayasuriya, Mahanama also holds an unusual world record in one-day internationals. He has been dismissed leg before wicket the most number of times - 34 in his 213 matches (198 innings). The second highest is Pakistan's Javed Miandad with 29.

One hopes that Mahanama will not be totally lost to cricket because he has a lot more to offer outside the field.

Tributes

Bloomfield president Shelley Wickramasingha: ``Personally I think Roshan should have been given a chance in the Test squad. He is still about the best fielder. Cricketers like him cannot be out of form for too long. He had at least a good two years of cricket ahead of him''.