Cricket coaching came naturally to 'DDP'

by Upananda JAYASUNDERA -Kandy Sports Special Corr.

CRICKET: Learning cricket from knowledgeable people is something that young cricketers yearn for and Sri Lanka is in the fortunate position that there are quite a number of good cricket coaches to teach youngsters the finer points of the game.

The SSC has earned a name for itself as one of the leading cricket teaching schools with very good coaches teaching the youngsters. A past cricketer of Dharmaraja College - D.D.P. Alwis has taken to cricket coaching in a big way at the SSC School of Cricket during his seven-year tenure at the pleasant job as he puts it.

Alwis has coached alongside cricketers of the past Bertie Wijesingha, Russel Hamer, the late Ranil Abeynayake, Lalith de S. Wijeratne, Sheran Wickremasekara and Nihal Kodituwakku. There are more than 180 young cricketers from various schools in the island at this school.

For 'DDP' - a product of Dharmaraja College, Kandy, coaching came somewhat naturally as he loved sport and cricket was a speciality. His cricket career spans over 35 years. He played for Dharmaraja College, represented Sri Lanka Schools and Kandy Cricket Club in the Donovan Andree Trophy Tournament. Joining the Air Force, 'DDP' represented Adastrians in the Saravanamuttu Trophy Tournament from 1971 to 1981.

Cricket brought Alwis rich rewards as he was known to be one of the hardest hitters of the ball at School level and this is clearly shown by the fact that in 1967 he hit M. Rahuman of Zahira, Colombo for 30 runs in One over, (4 sixes, 1 four and two runs).

In the same year in a 3rd term match against S. Thomas' led by Praboda Kariyawasam, 'DDP' with a fine knock of 72 runs led the Rajans to register their first victory over S. Thomas'.

He performed well as an all-rounder in that match. Having scored 72 in the Rajans 1st innings in a total of 140, he went on to take 3 for 40 and the Thomians were dismissed for 130 in the 1st innings.

Dharmaraja had somewhat of a shock when they dismissed for 65 in the 2nd Innings and DDP's contribution was 20. The Thomians had to score only 76 runs for victory in the 2nd innings, but DDP's on-the-spot bowling helped him to take 5 for 13 and the Thomians were shot out for 65 runs and that brought victory to Rajans by 10 runs.

Came the 'Big Match' against Kingswood that year and a right -arm off spinner, 'DDP' had a match bag of 11 for 116, getting 6 for 61 in the 1st innings and 5 for 55 in the 2nd innings. His match haul of 11 wickets for 116 runs stood as record for many years.

It was not only at cricket that 'DDP' excelled in - there was Hockey and Football that he fancied playing.

After his school days, 'DDP' played for Kandy Cricket Club under Malcolm Berenger in 1970 and when he joined Sri Lanka Air Force, he played alongside Dr. Cyril Ernest, Dr. Nihal Gurusinghe, Tony Opatha, Brain Obeysekera and Ajith Jayasekera to name a few of the stars. 'DDP' also has the record of playing for Old Rajans in the Col. Herny Steele Olcott Memorial Cricket Tournament from the inaugural year 1999 and played 10 consecutive years and also led the team to their 1st victory in the year 2001. He also represented Defence Services at Cricket from 1978 to 1980, represented Up-Country and Central Province teams under Berty Gomes in 1968, and before joining the Air Force, played against Pakistan and Madras.

At Hockey, 'DDP' played for Dharmaraja from 1966 to 1968 and represented Kandy Combined Schools from 1967 to 1968, Kandy District team form 1969 to 1970 in the National Championship and also toured India with the Kandy District team in 1969 under Ananda Jayasundera. When he joined the Air Forces, he played Hockey from 1971 to 1982, captaining the team in 1979. He played for Defence Services in 1979 and 1980 and toured India with the Air Force team in 1981. H was also in the National Pool in 1979.

At Football, he captained, Dharmaraja in 1967 and led the team to victory at the Central Province Tournament.

He captained the Kandy combined Schools in 1968 and as a rugby player, he played for Kandy SC Lions in 1969 and 1970.

Later on he coached the first Dharmaraja College Rugby team in 1970. He played for the Air Force Rugby team in 1979.

However cricket was the sport he loved most and he did not hesitate to follow a Course in Cricket conduct by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka in 1994 and now he is involved in cricket coaching to date.