COLOMBO, March 4 (AFP) - Sri Lankan cricketing great Arjuna Ranatunga is to be quizzed by police over a brawl in which he and his brothers allegedly beat up several students from a high school next door to his home.

Police here said they wanted to talk to Ranatunga about Friday's clash, which was reportedly provoked by the students hitting a cricket ball into the grounds of the family home.

Four of the students remained in hospital on Monday after being beaten up by Ranatunga, his bothers and the security guards at the family residence, according to Lalith Amarasekara, a teacher at the Asoka College.

"A total of seven were injured and three were discharged on Saturday," she said.

The state-run Sunday Observer newspaper reported that local police had to intervene to free students held by Ranatunga's guards.

Thousands of students from the college Monday staged a protest march against Ranatunga, the former captain of the national cricket team and the man who led Sri Lanka to World Cup victory in 1996.

Ranatunga left Sri Lanka after the incident for Kenya, where he played Sunday in a charity match to collect aid for the victims of the Gujarat earthquake in India. He retired from international cricket last year.