Sunday Observer exposure brings results...:

Amupitiya N.S. gets cricket materials worth nearly Rs. 8 lakhs

By S. M. Jiffrey ABDEEN - Kandy Sports Correspondent

CRICKET: When the Minister of Sports Gamini Lokuge distributed cricket materials to schools in Kandy at a function held in Kandy, the happiest among them were the cricketers from a little known school from the foothills of the Knuckles Range in Rangala, a village not far from the backward village of Meemure, one of the few virgin forests left in the island.

The cricketers were overjoyed as they received two bags of cricket materials worth nearly rupees 8 lakhs and for them it was worth their weight in gold. Amupitiya National School is about 35 kilometres from Kandy and the bus service is very poor. They took to cricket in the middle of last year, thanks to the efforts of former Vidyartha College cricketer Sam Guneratne. But they underwent a very difficult time in finding materials and money to play the game of cricket.

On hearing the plight of this poor school which had just taken to cricket, this correspondent was first to highlight the requirement of this school through the columns of the Sunday Observer on 17th August, 2008 published under the headline "Funds needed for Amupitiya National School in Udispaththuwa to play cricket". When this school did well in the under 13 cricket tournament by entering the second round this correspondent did another trip to Rangala to highlight their cause.

A news item was again published in the Sunday Observer of 18th January, 2009 under the headline "Funds needed for Amupitiya N.S. to continue cricket".

Highlighting the cause of Amupitiya National School in the Sunday Observer paid rich dividends as it drew a response from the Kandy District cricket coach Chaminda Kodikara who paid a special visit to Amupitiya National School and made a study of their cause and recommended to Sri Lanka Cricket that they be provided with two bags of cricket materials as they richly deserved it.

It is also understood that their cricket coach Sam Gunaratne encouraged by the exposure in the Sunday Observer had also made representations to District Coach Chaminda Kodikara that they be helped out in someway out of the tight situation they were in. But never did they dream in their wildest dreams that they will get materials worth over Rs. 7 lakhs. The two bags of cricket materials contained 10 cricket bats, 36 cricket balls, 10 pairs of batting gloves, 2 pairs of wicket keeping gloves, 5 helmets, thigh pads and arm guards. They will have the same cricket materials which an elite school will have.

Around this time last year, there was no cricket at Amupitiya National School as they did not have a playground and the closet ground was either Kandy or Pallekelle which is over 30 kilometres away. There was no funds or facility to play the game.

It was under these conditions that Sam Gunaratne introduced the game of cricket to this school.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's vision of helping sports and smaller schools and to allow these cricket materials by waiving off duty has paid off as Sri Lanka Cricket was able to use the funds at their disposal to purchase more materials which reach a larger area through the efforts of former Test cricketer D. S. de Silva. Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge's vision of providing cricket materials to all cricket playing schools in the Kandy Region and make them as nurseries of cricket to the club and national teams too has paid off.

With the materials they now posses, the Amupitiya National School will be able to perform even better.