Cover drive for school cricket

An awakened parent body comes of age to play godfather to the hand that rocks the cradle :

Commercially exploited and politically usurped school cricket in the island has been given an assurance that its players can look forward to a new identity at least when it comes to playing the game in a secured environment with more to come as the nation's keeper Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) grapples to come to grips with the country's declining image on the international stage.

Sri Lanka Cricket chairman Sidat Wettimuny (right) presents the vice rector of St. Patrick’s College, Jaffna Rev Fr Annesly Roshan with a certificate that makes his school a recipient of the patronage of the sport’s governing body as SLC CEO Ashley de Silva, Cricket Operations head Carlton Bernadus and School Cricket secretary Dilshan de Silva look on

As a first step at realizing that caring for the country's nursery is the best way forward, SLC handed out a covering message to as many as 24 schools which will now be in a position to secure their batting surfaces from rain that can be a constant threat to a sport like cricket.

Although producing several cricketers who wore the Sri Lanka lion-emblem shirt as teenagers, including World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga, school cricket in the country was left to virtually fend for itself and the presentation of rain-proof covers to nurseries as far flung as Jaffna is being viewed as a leap into the future.

"We are working towards mass scale development of school cricket in the country", cricket operations chief of SLC Carlton Bernadus said.

"Turf pitches have to be in good condition to play on and this is the need of the hour".

From a budget of Rs.35 million previously allocated annually for school cricket, SLC has snow-balled the figure to a hundred million and according to Bernadus their next phase is providing schools without turf pitches with upgraded practice facilities.

But critics also contend no amount of money or material will be able to hide the fact that youth cricket has dropped in quality by way of match results as the big boys in elite schools have a license to smash-up the lowly-rated or under-privileged teams at lop-sided tournaments.

One of the schools that will benefit from SLC's new awakening is St..Patrick's College in Jaffna where school cricket was ravaged and almost came to a standstill during three decades of civil war.

Its rector Rev. Fr Ramesh made the 320 kilo metre, eight hour journey to meet SLC's chairman Sidat Wettimuny and the two heads discussed a whole range of issues concerning schoolboy welfare in Jaffna where cricket has been a unifying force with the rest of the country.

"No sooner SLC and SLSCA (Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association) were informed of the need for pitch covers, SLC took immediate action to solve the problem by procuring pitch covers which we realised was a long-felt need that will help lift the standard of school cricket in Sri Lanka", Wettimuny said on the occasion.

Among the 24 recipients of pitch covers were Colombo's top six, Royal, S. Thomas', St. Joseph's, St. Peter's, Ananda and Nalanda.