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.
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