Daunting Dmitri

by Umangi de Mel

Sixteen-year-old Dmitri Ratnayake, a cricket enthusiast since he was three years old was born in Sri Lanka (to a mixed parentage).

Having migrated to South Africa in 1993. Dmitri started his life there as a mere toddler. "I've practically lived my whole life there. So I can't recall any kind of segregation back in school in South Africa."

A Grade 10 student at St. John's College in Johannesburg he's always been someone who wanted competition. His potential and hard work won him the chance of being in the school's under 19 cricket team at the age of 15 and has been playing for an year since...

Ironically having earned the chance to represent South Africa in his motherland back in Sri Lanka, Dmitri arrived in Sri Lanka, in August this year along with 16 guys from his team.

"We played three out of four games and I scored 50 against St. Sebastians and 47 against Nalanda College, but unfortunately we had to cancel the rest of the matches due to security reasons. I was quite disappointed and annoyed but I must say that we enjoyed ourselves."

Quite satisfied as a cricketer, Dmitri has already captained both under 11 and under 13 teams of the Northwest Province. He's also captained the under 15 team of the Gauteng Province. Having played many matches in South Africa, he scored five centuries.

His passion for sports doesn't end there. Dmitri's also being good at hockey, soccer, squash, basketball and TT back in school.

"Hockey's like my second love. I've captained the under 13 team of the Northwest Province. I've also played for the under 16 team of the Gauteng Province when I was 15 and played for the South Africa under 16 team. I was lucky to be selected again for the second consecutive year for the South Africa under 16 team, in 2006."

Having a very supportive family background, Dmitri talks about his life as a teenager, "My mum is Rajini Ratnayake who's a lawyer and my dad Dammika Ratnayake, is a General Practitioner. I've got a younger sister called Rapti.

They have great expectations but are very supportive. I've got four pillars within which I live my life. They are sports, education, social and family." Cricket doesn't affect my social life, says Dmitri. "It actually has a lot of benefits. We have practices after school and the whole of Saturday."

He says, he'd be different if he weren't a cricketer, "I wouldn't have this much determination. Actually all you need to reach a dream is determination, hard work and passion."

Apart from Cricket and Hockey, he is also interested in music, movies and poetry. "I like to try playing the piano and dancing to Hip Hop," he chuckles.

"Life should be a tree with endless branches," believes young Dmitri looking forward to many more adventures in the future.