Trinitian Kaushalya won main award in 2000

CRICKET: One of the out-standing schoolboy cricketers from Kandy, Trinity College's Kaushalya Weeraratne who recently represented Sri Lanka in the three one-day internationals against the West Indies was the winner of the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of Year Award in 2000.

Performances in two-day inter-school matches during the September 1999 to April 2000 season and national participation were taken into consideration by the panel of umpires when deciding the winners and runners-up.

Allrounder Kaushalya Weeraratne born on 29th January 1981 in Gampola who was picked as the Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year, captained Trinity College, Kandy, (the only school in the world to own a Test class cricket stadium) for two consecutive years. He also won national representation, playing in the Asia Cup Tournament in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1999.

Kaushalya was also a member of the under-19 Youth World Cup team and he captained Sri Lanka under-19 cricket team's tour of England. Besides winning the top award, Kaushalya Weeraratne was also picked as the Best Bowler and Best Allrounder by a panel of umpires from two associations - the Association of Cricket Umpires (Sri Lanka) and Central Province Cricket Umpires Association, Southern Province Cricket Umpires Association failed to turn up for the selections.

The 27-year-old Weeraratne is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium fast bowler. He had plenty of success at school cricket and proved his capabilities with the bat and ball for Trinity in the year 1999 and 2000. After his school career, Kaushalya has played for major teams Bloomfield, Colts CC, NCC, Kandurata and Ragama CC in the premier league tournaments and Twenty-20 tournaments.

L.F.