Keeping the players together for past five years was the key: Shammi Silva

CCC captain Kusal Mendis acknowledges his double century to his team mates in the dressing room in the crucial Super Eight match against NCC at the P Sara Oval on Saturday

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Gymkhana Club (CCC, CH&FC and Queens Club) Chairman Shammi Silva said the key to Colombo Cricket Club retaining the plum of Sri Lanka’s domestic cricket – the Premier Tier A league was because they were able to retain the same side for the past five years.

“We planned for this about 4-5 years back and we have retained the same side over the years. They are playing like a team the same players together for the last five years and they have bonded really well,” said Silva expressing his delight at the team’s success. CCC won the title for another year with one match against Chilaw Marians CC yet to be played starting at the SSC today.

Even if Marians beat CCC and take maximum points they will not be able to displace the champions as they hold onto an unassailable 21 points lead.

“Looking at the worst scenario if we lose outright to Chilaw Marians in our last game the maximum they can get is about 18 points. At the same time we will also get one or two bonus points for batting and bowling. Nobody can get 21 points,” pointed out Silva. Apart from the contributions made by the players Silva praised the efforts of the coaching staff. “Coach Taranga Dhammika, a former cricketer, is doing a wonderful job. He has been the coach for the past four years and has managed to blend the team nicely. At the same time we appointed Nalin Aponso as the convenor and Kanchana Dassanayake, a journalist and Chief Editor of Ada newspaper as the Secretary. Both of them handled the cricket well.”

“We have a very good team and that led to our success. It is a very balanced side with players like Malinda Pushpakumara, Ashan Priyanjan and Lasith Abeyratne. We are finding it difficult to sometimes pick the eleven. For instance a player like Lakshan Sandakan is struggling to find a place because of our bowling line-up,” said Silva.

“We planned for this some time back to encourage a lot of young cricketers to the team. We have a very good bench strength where 90% are schoolboys from Mahanama College. We made Kusal Mendis captain last year but he couldn’t play a single domestic match because of national duties, but this year for the Super Eight he was available. He is a national side regular player so we want to build his confidence and see how he leads the side,” Silva continued.

“Kusal still has a long way to go as captain. Captaincy is new to him but he is doing a good job that is what I can see. It is not easy to chase 467 but if the captain is getting 200 runs you have to be determined. As captain he waited and got the runs. He has shown a responsibility to do that,” he said.

Mendis battled through cramps to produce a virtuoso performance to see his team top NCC’s total of 467 by scoring 480-6 and gain the vital first innings points which saw them retain the Premier Tier A league title for another year. He was forced to retire at the lunch break with his score on 128 and he resumed his innings again at the fall of the sixth wicket at 346 and went onto complete the first double hundred of his career batting for five hours.      

With as many as nine Sri Lanka caps namely Kusal Mendis, Lahiru Madushanka, Minod Bhanuka, Ashan Priyanjan, Wanindu Hasaranga, Malinda Pushpakumara, Lahiru Gamage, Vishwa Fernando, and Lakshan Sandakan how costly it would be for a club to have these players in the side?

“Earlier, with whatever money we had we managed and the club also spent money but Sri Lanka Cricket increased the money for a Tier A club from Rs. 11 million to Rs. 21 million per season. All the clubs are looking after the players very well. Every Tier A player is getting around Rs. 2 million a season,” explained Silva, who is also the president of Sri Lanka Cricket.

“When the players go to Australia also they earn the same amount. We have to look after the players and stop them from migrating to Australia and all those places so we increased the amount given to the clubs. The figure was raised to Rs. 21 million from last season and it has benefitted a lot of clubs and players as well. They are very comfortable with the figure given to them, that’s why a lot of youngsters are showing interest,” Silva said.

For winning the championship title the CCC usually would send the team on a foreign tour.

“Now, because of COVID-19 virus we cannot. We’ll have to talk to them and see what they want. Sometimes they might want to go to out of Colombo and enjoy themselves. Before the tournament began they went out of Colombo to have a team bonding and all those things. So let’s see,” said Silva.

The other Super Eight matches beginning today in the final week are: NCC v Colts at CCC, Saracens SC v Sri Lanka Army SC at Katunayake and, Ragama CC v BRC at P Sara Oval.