'Try me, I'm here'

Sri Lankan lass playing for the UAE might just be what her country is looking for in the absence of pros:

by Allaam Ousman

DUBAI: A Sri Lankan teenager born out of the Desert Cubs Cricket Academy (DCCA) is making giant strides here as a batting all-rounder for the UAE national women's cricket team.

Born and brought up in the UAE, Kyna Vedhasinghe is the first and only Sri Lankan to play for the UAE women's cricket team.

"It was a proud feeling. It was the first step for me to find a way into pursuing my cricket dream. So starting from UAE, since I have always been here it was a brilliant opportunity," said Kyna who is now dreaming of representing Sri Lanka.

"I found that once I get into the UAE team it is a good opening for me to go to Sri Lanka and continue to pursue my dreams of representing Sri Lanka as well one day," said Kyna,19, who made her international debut for the UAE at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) tournament in Kuwait in 2012.

"It was a whole new experience for me. It was just the beginning for me and because they took me as a bowler, I got only a few chances to bowl," said Kyna who went onto become a regular opening batsman for UAE by working hard at the nets.

"I started focussing on my batting whenever I came back from my tours. At Desert Cubs I would focus on my batting and the next few tours I went as a batsman," said Kyna whose UAE team won the inaugural Gulf Cup last year.

Kyna got hooked onto cricket in 2010 watching her brother Kirk practising at DCCA, one of the leading academies in the Gulf and headed by a former Sri Lanka first-class cricketer Presley Polonnowita.

"I used to play hockey in school. I was always into sports even in school. During Sports Day, I used to do athletics and then I got into cricket because I used to watch my brother at Desert Cubs practices. One day I felt like joining him along at practices and from then on I got stuck into cricket," recalled Kyna who spoke of her dreams of representing Sri Lanka.

"It has always been a dream of mine to represent Sri Lanka women's cricket team if ever I got the opportunity. That's something I want to pursue once I'm done with my university. I look forward to going to Sri Lanka and pursuing my dream," said Kyna a member of Colts Cricket Club. "I will continue playing for UAE as long as I'm here. I want to go to Sri Lanka or even Australia where there is good infrastructure for cricket".

Kyna hails from a sporting family. Her mother Christine was a netballer and athlete at school level in Sri Lanka while her father Aaron played cricket, rugby and badminton. Retired Sri Lanka great Mahela Jayawardene is her role model.

"From the beginning when I used to watch cricket with my family, I always used to look up to Mahela and the way he used to play his late cuts and pull shots," she said when asked which cricketer she admires most.

She counts as her best achievement ripping through Dubai College while representing DCCA. "It was all boys and I was the only girl. I bowled four overs and took five wickets for 11 runs," she recalled with pride.

Her most memorable batting performance came in Sri Lanka last year during a DCCA summer tour. "I had just gone for a practice session with Colts Cricket Club and a selector, Vanessa, asked me to stay back and play in a B division tournament to start a week later. I batted and scored 36 runs in one of the matches. It was like a big thing because I hit four sixes in that one match," she said heartily.

Her hidden talents as a hard-hitting batswoman came to the fore despite her lack of experience.

"Most of the time (in UAE) girls cricket is focussed on the shorter format. In Sri Lanka, it was the first time I got to play a longer innings - 40 overs and stuff like that. It was a whole new adjustment for me. It was a really good exposure," said Kyna who has also toured the United Kingdom and Australia with the DCCA.

She wants to pursue cricket as a career once she completes her studies by settling down in Sri Lanka or going to Australia.

"Once I'm done with UAE cricket, I plan to settle most probably in Sri Lanka or Australia where they have a really good cricket infrastructure. I can always make a career out of cricket. If not, I always have business as my back-up plan," said Kyna, a final year student at Emirates Aviation Academy where she is studying Business Management.

Her talents also drew the attention of Sri Lanka women's cricket captain Chamari Atapattu when they played against Pakistan in the UAE this year.