Mahamaya girls determined to excel in cricket
by Upananda Jayasundera- Kandy Sports Special Cor.
Mahamaya Girls College, Kandy established in 1932, is a school that
has flourished well in both education and sports in no uncertain manner.
Talking of sports, the Mahamaya girls are doing well in swimming.
Now the girls at Mahamaya are determined to hit the the top in the
game of cricket like as they have done in swimming in the last 16 years.
Cricket, Hockey, Netball, Table Tennis, Chess and Basketball are the
other sports the school has a eye on for the girls.
Mahamaya girls school is one school in the Kandy district that plays
both Softball and Hardball Cricket. The game of cricket became popular
at the school in 1985 when Nita Pilapitiya was the Principal and at that
time there were two teams, one captained by Thushara Tennekoon and the
other by Manjula Kalpage. Thushara is the sister of former Dharmaraja
College cricket captain and N.C.C. Cricketer Thilina Tennekoon.
Manjula is the sister of former Sri Lanka Test player Ruwan Kalpage.
From then onwards cricket became very popular at Mahamaya. Captaining
Mahamaya is Yasamali Hettiarachchi and Shalika Gannoruwa.
Under the captaincy Yasamali Hettiarachchi Mahamaya Girls College won
the Kandy Mayor's Cup Softball Cricket Tournament beating Swarnamali
Balika in the mid ninetees. Then under Shalika Gannoruwa Mahamaya came
third in hardball cricket in 2008 where the Anuradhapura team became
runners-up. Shalika Gannoruwa is the daughter of Ajith Gannoruwa -
former cricketer of Dharmaraja College and Central Province in the late
sixties.
For any sport to thrive at school level it must have the backing of
the school authorities and Mahamaya has in Indra Withanachchi, a
principal who is very keen on sports and with the Deputy Principals
Visaka Herath, Uthpala Seneviratne, Himali Senadheera and the Prefect of
Games Dhammika Mahawattage all encouraging the cricketers and the girls
have responded well.
The school authorities and the girls are very keen in cricket and not
practice is arranged for hardball cricket and Wewasiri grounds is used
for softball cricket. Coaching in fielding is arranged by old girls and
they have monthly coaching programmes under the district cricket
coaches.
The captain of cricket at Mahamaya is Dedunu Bhagya and under her
captaincy the team qualified for the tapo tape Ball Cricket Tournament
conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket.
Mahamaya have two cricket teams -under 15 and over 15 and the school
authorities are hoping to play friendly cricket matches with other
schools in hardball and tapeball. |