Anuradhapura Central bags sixth all island cricket championship!

Monday, 10 March 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Text and pix by P.D. De Silva It’ll be a dream come true when Anuradhapura Central College’s under 19 cricket team takes the field to play in the elite All island Schools division one cricket tournament next season.

It has not been an easy journey for the present players who won the all island under 15 division III title in 2008, under 17 division III title in 2009, under 17 division II title in 2010 and the under 19 division III title in 2012 and emerged champions in the under 19 division II tournament this year. The schools continuous success at cricket should go to its untiring coach Keerthi Gunarathne and the boys. Of the 16 games played this season, the lads from Anuradhapura registered nine outright wins five of which are by an innings, five first innings wins and have conceded one first innings and one outright loss. They top the division two points table with 262.17 at an average of 16.385 points per game. “Cricket is not a popular game in Anuradhapura. There aren’t many schools which play the game here and hence cricket receives the least attention. It is a very few who appreciate the glory and achievement the boys have brought to the school and the district. It is due to the boys love and dedication for cricket that we have managed to win our way to the top and some day we hope to win the division one title too,” said exuberant coach Keerthi Gunerathne.

“It is with great difficulty that we find funds for the tournaments. The school development society funds part of the cost and we have to raise the balance. Playing 16 games costs a lot of money. We had to travel twice to Matara as well as a couple of times to Colombo this season! We would appreciate if Sri Lanka Cricket will assist us by providing the school with a turf wicket and also popularise and develop the game in the district. We have proved half a dozen times that the lads from Anuradhapura can reach the pinnacle in any age group and division as we won the under 13 division III championship in 2009 and have six all island cricket titles behind us. We hope to qualify for the under 13 division one tournament and the under 15 division one tournament within the next few years as well. This is the last school season for most of the present first XI players and we can’t abandon their cricket with it. We hope to enter the team for under 23 tournament if possible,” he concluded