Moratu Vidyalaya will felicitate Ajantha Mendis

By Dilwin MENDIS - Moratuwa Sports and Spl. Corr.

CRICKET: The new champion on the cricket field - Ajantha Mendis, is a product of Moratu Maha Vidyalaya and he is presently attached to the Sri Lanka Army. He did well to beat Indian Ajith Agarkar's record of taking 50 wickets in 19 matches. Agarkar took his record haul in 21 matches. Moratu Vidyalaya is a school who had produced cricketers of outstanding merits over the years. Some of those cricketers - Mohanlal Fernando, Gamini Perera, Sarath Fernando, Asoka Perera, Lucky Rodgers and Bernard Perera, just to name a few who come to mind in a flash. Though Mohanlal Fernando and Gamini Perera turned out for NCC and Moratuwa Sports Club with distinction in the Sara Trophy Tournament and were in the then Ceylon cricket pool, they did not get the opportunity of representing the country. But Sarath Fernando who moved over to Prince of Wales, represented the national team.

So, Ajantha Mendis carried forward the name of Moratu Vidyalaya. After leaving school, Mendis played for Old Moratu Vidyalian Sports Club and led the under-23 team and also the Sri Lanka Army.

Prasanna Dissanayake is the man responsible in bringing Ajantha Mendis to the high position that he is in now. Dissanayake saw the talent that Mendis had in his young days and nurtured him. Lakshman Fernando - a Vice President of the Past Pupils' Association and the Old Moratu Vidyalians Sports Club with the assistance of the school authorities will felicitate Ajantha Mendis for his fine achievements after the matches against the visiting Indian cricketers.