Kandy schoolboys gear for new cricket season amid constraints

by Hafiz Marikar

Sports have always played a large part in the life of school children and as the inter-school rugby season draws to a close it will give way to another popular sport, cricket.

Whatever the secret all Kandy schools have produced good cricketers, who have made their country, school, parents ,Kandy and themselves proud.

Today the biggest problem here in Kandy for schools like Vidyartha, St. Sylvester's, Kingswood and Sri Sumangala is the lack of grounds for their practices and matches. These schools go right round and outside Kandy to play their matches.

Pallekelle Stadium was built to promote cricket, but sad to say, it is only used for international games and only one school benefits.

At one time the Peradeniya University Ground helped schools but now it is not like in the good old days.

The only venue which has helped many schools is the Police ground on their matting wicket. Most of the schools today go for turf wickets. Schools that suffer go to Dambulla, Galagedera and Kegalle to play matches.

Trinity College will open the 2015/16 season on September 10 and 11 when they play Maliyadeva College at the Asgiriya stadium. Nushan Weerasinghe one of the finest stroke makers in the side is expected to lead them. In the last five years Trinity has been doing extremely well under coach Sampath Perera who made a remarkable change in cricket at Trinity. They produced one of the greatest batsmen in the world Kumar Sangakara. Today Trinity's cricket is on a good footing. For all this good work, a big hand should go to their cricket wing and the staff.

St. Anthony's College this season will be playing their first game on September 25 and 26 against Wesley College in Colombo. A school which has been a major force in school cricket, they have not only produced several champion teams but have also produced some of the finest cricketers who have made Sri Lanka proud with their achievements. The Antonians will field a formidable side which includes most of last season's players. In the last couple of years the Katugastota school failed to live up to their past reputation and now play in Division II. Kaniska Ugalpaya is expected to lead the side with old boy Prasad Ranawake as the coach.

St.Sylvester's will open their 2015/16 inter -school cricket season with a match against Anuradhapura Central. This match is expected to be played at the Pallekelle Stadium or Police Ground on September 14 and 15. They started cricket in 1955, fifteen years after the school was formed. Once again they are coached by Roland Perera an experienced hand in this subject who has given his best and should continue the good work while his assistant is Jaliya Weerasinghe. Leading the side this time is wicket-keeper batsman Malith Prematilleke a fine cricketer who should get the best out of his team.

Dharmaraja open their season against Dharmasoka on September 15 and16 at Maggona. One of the oldest cricket playing schools in the country they should emerge as one of the best teams in this coming season. They play against almost all the leading cricket playing schools and their performances have reached great heights during the last couple of years. This time they will be led by allrounder Weluka Galahetiyawa, who is good in bowling, fielding and batting. He bowls left arm leg-spin and is a middle order batsman and a close-in fielder. Old Rajan Senaka Dissanayake is once again the coach. He has been coaching the school for nearly ten years. This time he has eight of last year's players.

Sri Sumangala, earlier known as St. Paul's College was founded in 1880 and first played cricket in 1894. They too have produced many top cricketers with limited facilities and what they need is the enthusiasm to take the game forward in the present day.

Sri Rahula College is a school which took to cricket in the1900s and in two years gave it up. They were back in the late 1980s and today do well in cricket and have produced some good cricketers. A big hand must go to coach Aubrey Kuruppu who has guided them to play good cricket. But this time they are having some problems. Players are not at practices due to examinations and there is no place to have their practices. But they are expected to start practices from next week. The side will be led by Jeewantha Wijeratne and are hoping to play their first match in the third week of September.

Kingswood College with a long history on the cricket field opened the 2015/16 inter-school season with a match against Sri Sumangala College Panadura at Police Ground Kandy on Friday. The skipper is Ruwan Hathurusinghe a fine wicket keeper batsman. They are coached by former Antonian and Kandy cricketer Indika Fernando. He coached the Antonian juniors for nearly 12 years.

Vidyartha College will open the season against home town rival Kingswood College on September 17 and 18 at Police Ground. Vidyartha started playing cricket in the year 1952 and is a school with limited facilities. This year they field an allround side studded with experienced players. The team is captained by all-rounder Namal Perera, a pace bowler while the side is coached by one of their products Sanjeewa Silva.