Ranatunga ready to pad up for the polls

Sri Lanka's World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga is set to take strike as candidate for the ruling party in parliamentary elections on December 5.

Ranatunga, whose father is a minister in President Chandrika Kumaratunga's government, became a national hero when his team won the 1996 World Cup on the sub-continent.

"The final decision on his nomination will be made this week," an official of Kumaratunga's Peoples' Alliance coalition said on Tuesday.

Ranatunga, who retired from cricket last year, was not immediately available for comment, but he joined the ruling party earlier this week.

One of the country's best known faces, Ranatunga is no stranger to controversy on the pitch, drawing criticism for his abrasive style of leadership.

He also had a turbulent relationship with some officials of the Sri Lankan cricket board, and appeared in court earlier this year to answer charges of assaulting schoolboys who hit a cricket ball into his family home.

Mail Cricket Editor