Century to treasure
by Tyrell Peiris
It is a fortnight ago that
eighteen-year old Kithruwan Vithanage struck a battling century to give
Sri Lanka what had once looked like an improbable win against Pakistan
in the Under-19 Triangular final on home soil. But the Royal College
product treasures that innings as an effort that brought out the best in
him against a strong Pakistani side.
 “It is an innings to really treasure. Mind you Pakistan were at full
strength with two players from the main national team also playing. At
one time it had looked as if they had wrested the initiative from us,
but coming at No.5, I was able to bat according to the situation
rotating the strike and at first getting the singles and the twos,”
recalled Kithruwan.
He said that the greatest satisfaction for him from this victory was
that he and his side had been able to overcome pressure situations. In
that sense he very much appreciated the homework done by batting coach
Aravinda de Silva in fine tuning the batting department.
“Aravinda has been a great player with much experience and I and the
team owe much to him for conditioning us mentally to bat in difficult
situations like in the final,” added a grateful Kithruwan who also was
full of praise for overall coach Naveed Nawaz.
“Naveed has been around the team working very hard to get each and
every player to give his best,” said Kithruwan who went on to touch on
his match winning innings.
“There was lots of support for me from the tailenders. We took the
batting power play in the 37th over and in five overs we managed to
score 52 runs which was what turned the game our way.We were 170-odd
then and had to get 30 odd runs more,” reminisced Kithruwan who added
that experience had given him the much needed confidence for the future
when Sri Lanka would face South Africa and India in a triangular
tournament starting later this month, and also the Under-19 World Cup
starting on January 15, 2010.
Kithruwan has been playing cricket for nine years and started his
cricket career as a Grade 6 student and progressed from under-12 to 17
and 19, and also plays club cricket representing SSC at No.5 or 6.
Meanwhile, coach Naveed Nawaz, speaking to the ‘Sunday Observer’
magazine, said that Kithruwan held a key position at No.5 in the batting
and that it had been nice to see the youngster holding his nerve and
achieving that last ball victory.
“Importantly, I have knitted the team where I have given clear
instructions for them to give their 100 per cent,” remarked Naveed, the
former Sri Lanka player.
He noted that what made a difference in the team was that there was
no outstanding individual. Always the team has been coached to perform
as one unit.
“Everyone had so far performed 70 to 80 per cent, and what was hoped
was to have them up to 100 per cent by the time of the World Cup. When
it comes to coaching it is all about commitment. You need to have a lot
of patience with juniors and accordingly get them together,” commented
Nawaz. |
