‘Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway Initiative’ continues to discover grassroots talent

Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway, a unique initiative to discover and nurture grassroots talent from all parts of the country, continued on its journey with the announcement of the second Coca-Cola Pathways Super Camp, to be staged in Colombo.

Coca-Cola has collaborated with the Aravinda de Silva Cricket Foundation to organise the Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway initiative and its success can be judged from the fact that 23 out of 29 players in the National Under-19 team are players that have been groomed as a part of this program. Conceptualised in 2008, this initiative, in addition to promoting talent is also leading to social cohesiveness and promoting a healthy, active lifestyle.

Commenting on the Cricket Pathway initiative, Sunil Wickramanayake, Chairman – Age Group Selection Committee, Sri Lanka Cricket said, “Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway is a laudable programme. It provides opportunities to cricket stars in the rural areas that might otherwise have been overlooked. This camp helps us in our selection process for the national under-19 squad and I will continue to support this initiative in the future.”

As part of this initiative, five cricket camps were organised over 2010/11 and the camps witnessed the participation of over 368 students. The best 70 players selected from the entire Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway initiative played six T20 matches from which 5 super players were selected for their exceptional talent and cricket skills.

This year’s camp witnessed players from various locations across the country, including North, East, Southern, Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces. In order to provide a ‘real’ cricketing experience to the aspiring cricketers, the Coca-Cola cricket camps were conducted in international venues such as the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium, the Galle International Cricket Stadium and the Asgiriya Stadium.

Enthused by the overwhelming number of entries received from budding cricketers islandwide, Abhishek Jugran, Country Manager – Sri Lanka and Maldives, Coca-Cola Far-East, commented: “We are delighted to note that the Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway initiative is gaining such popularity with every passing year. Cricket is a great binding force in Sri Lanka and we are glad to be making a contribution in encouraging cricketing talent from remote areas. Many of our selected young cricketers have gone on to play at high profile tournaments and this makes us doubly proud. Also, this initiative is a reflection of our commitment to promoting healthy, active living in communities, which is necessitated by changing lifestyles.”

Cricketing legend Aravinda de Silva lauded Coca-Cola’s commitment to perform this national service through the Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway initiative, which is making a substantial contribution to the national sport of cricket.

He commented: “Sri Lanka needs to retain its position at the top of the cricketing world and to sustain this honour we need to inject fresh talent into the national team. Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway initiative is providing a pool of genuine cricketing talent that can go on to play for the national team in time to come. Given the right support and backing, genuine talent can come to the fore and this is our endeavour in partnering with Coca-Cola in this novel initiative.”