Wednesday, March 14, 2012

St. Sylvester’s a formidable outfit


St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy will be fielding a very formidable side during the current inter-school cricket season and has the potential to call the shots against any school team.

During the past they have been performing well and their year of reckoning was in 1994 when they won the All Island Schools Division One Cricket Tournament for the Coca Cola trophy which was earlier won only by St. Anthony’s College who then had in their fold a star-studded side including Muthiah Muralitharan, Piyal Wijetunga and Ruwan Kalpage who went on to play for the national team.

St, Sylvester’s College will be led by fourth-year coloursman Ruwantha Ekanayake a steady left-hand bat and a leg-spinner who also has experience playing Sara Trophy club cricket for Kandy Youth Cricket Club. 

Last season he scored 820 runs and also captured 30 wickets. Waruna Wijesinghe is the vice captain of the side who scored 650 runs last season and also captured 30 wickets with his medium pacers. 

In-form batsman Fais Ahamed has turned out to be a belligerent bat reeling off runs very quickly. In one match this term he scored 90 runs in just 35 balls which included 6 sixes and 10 fours and Sylvesterians will expect much from him.

The others who should be in the runs are 15-year-old H Perera, Dushan Malalasena, Saradha Disanayake, Indunil Samararatna and Janitha Perera,
The bowling attack will be spearheaded by Waruna Wijesinghe and Indunil Samararatna. Their strong point will be their spin department which will comprise Ruwantha Ekanayake, Fais Ahamed, Dushan Malalasena, Sumedha Dissanayake, Nimesha Mendis and Dilan de Mel. 

Nimesha Mendis has been bowling well, having captured 40 wickets last year, and has already taken 35 wickets this season.
Those who are looking for places in the side are Dilan de Mel, Dilip Maduranga, Harsha Wedikkara, Dhananjaya Hettiarachchi, M Nimesha Piyaratne, Chandula Hassantha, Sandeep Singh, Upendra Kumara, and Chamal Samararatne. 

The team is coached by old Sylvestarian Roland Perera who has taken over the coaching after a lapse of five years. 
In 1994, Roland coached St. Sylvester’s College to go on to win the schools Division One championship title. He will be assisted by Sankalpa Gunasekara who has played top level club cricket for Sri Lanka Air Force and Kandy Youth and also has coaching experience with Kingswood College and St Sylvester’s College in the past. 

No comments:

Post a Comment