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| Sunday, 31 August 2003 |
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Cricket very popular in Jaffna, but turf wickets are needed says Mathushan by LESLIE FERNANDO The game of cricket has become very popular in the Jaffna District. In the past too, cricket was popular and some schoolboy cricketers from Jaffna represented top clubs in Colombo and also played for Sri Lanka said the 18-year-old Chandranathan Mathushan of Kokuvil Hindu College who was presented the Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year North 2003 award at the 25th OBSERVER-BATA Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year awards ceremony held on Friday night at the BMICH. Mathushan said that the facilities for cricket in Jaffna are good but they could be improved. The standard of cricket at school level is fine but the standard should improve at club level. Most of the grounds do not have turf wickets so it is up to the cricket authorities to look into this important matter. Mathushan who has scored 738 runs this season, including four centuries and two half centuries was the mainstay of Kokuvil Hindu College. He also captured 31 wickets for this season. He said that cricketers had no problems whatsoever in playing the game in Jaffna, even during trouble times. The school had their matches at different venues. Twelve schools play competitive cricket and if given more facilities, the players are bound to perform well. In fact the 'Big Matches' were played during the last three season. St. John's vs St. Patrick's, Jaffna Central vs Mahajana College, Union College vs Stanley College. He said that his parents Ponnuthurai Chandranathan (father) who was also a top cricketer, having played for Kokuvil Hindu College from 1966 to 1974 and his mother Rathie have extended their fullest support to him to continue playing cricket. My parents asked me to play in cricket in a big way. In fact my father has been helping me and the college with cricket gear. Chandranathan is an Administrative Officer in the Survey Department while mother Rathie is an Assistant Teacher at Kokuvil Hindu College. "This is the first occasion my parents and I participated in the Observer Bata Schoolboy Cricketers of the Year awards ceremony and we were delighted with the show. I hope that this contest and show will go on many more years as this is the showpiece of school cricket. I have a request to make to the authorities - please consider having other sectional contests too for the Jaffna schoolboy cricketers. There were no problems coming to Colombo for the awards ceremony. Besides me, Pathmanadan Lavendra of St. John's College and both sets of parents came by bus to Colombo and we will come again if the opportunity comes our way," said Mathusan. |
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