Rajans look the best side from Kandy

By Shamseer Jaleel 

With the inter-school cricket season currently in full swing, Dharmaraja College looks the most promising outfit from the Central Province. 

From the six leading schools from Kandy, the Rajans looks the strongest. The team is led by Deshan Gunasinghe with Nivantha Herath functioning as his deputy.

They also have Gihan Vitharana, Bavantha Udangamuwe, Chaturanga Aludeniya, Dulaj Bandara, Chanuka Dilshan, Rukmal Dissanayake, Lakshita Weerasuriya and Kavinda Thilakaratne. The outfit is coached by one of their Old Boys, Senaka Dissanayake, who represented the Sri Lanka youth team.

St. Sylvester’s College will miss out on the services of three of their seniors due to the age ruling by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association which has affected many schools. Last year’s skipper Malith Prematilleka along with Tyron Sivakumar and Thenuka Liyanage will be missed by the outfit this year. Fifth-year player Manuja Perera leads the team this year with Thusith Soysa serving as his deputy. St. Sylvester’s suffered a first innings defeat in their opening encounter against Kingswood College two weeks ago. 

St. Sylvester’s remaining matches are against Dharmaraja College, Mahanama, D.S. Senanayake, St. Aloysius, S. Thomas’, Moratu Vidyalaya, Gurukula MV, Dharmasoka, Joseph Vaz, Zahira and Vidyartha College. 

Fifth-year player and stylish batsman Ravishka Upananda will lead Vidyartha this year. He will have Shohantha Danwatte serving as the outfit’s deputy. Nimesh Senanayake, Kasun Karunatilleka and Nipuna Kumarasinge make for a strong spin department. Kasun Ekanayake will lead the pace attack. They are coached by one of their old boys, Sanjaya de Silva, who has been with the school for a long time. Earlier in his coaching career he guided Dharmaraja College and Trinity College’s junior teams.

Trinity, after losing six of their senior players from the previous year, are led by Shanogeeth Shanmuganathan, an aggressive Number 3 batsman. His deputy is another national youth player, Hasitha Boyagoda. Rasmitha Dilshan is the other senior player in the team which toured England with the national youth outfit.

Kalana de Zoysa, Ruvin Peiris, Poorna Wanasekera, Vimukthi Nethumal, Hasintha Jayasuriya and Trevon Percival are all class acts from the junior team. Thiyagaraja Bhanugoban, Mohamed Shoaib, Chanuka Bandara, Avishka Senadheera, Bhatiya Dissanauyake and Buvanaka Ekanayake are the other players in the Under-19 squad.

Trinity cricket was reborn after the establishment of their cricket foundation under Kumar Sangakkara in 2008. They produced some outstanding sides that won many trophies in the last decade. Things could be different this year with the young outfit coached by Kavinda Jayasuriya, an Old Boy of the school who has been working with the lads for the last couple of years. 

Trinity will play Dharmaraja, St. Mary’s Kegalle, St. Peter’s, Wesley, Nalanda, St. Sebastian’s, Ananda and St. Anthony’s Katugastota in their home matches. This year’s big match will be their 100th, with a commemorative event to be graced by former national cricketers Mahesh Gunatilake, Muthiah Muralitharan, Ravi Ratnayake and Kumar Sangakkara.  

Kingswood will be captained by paceman Avishka Chandrasiri. One of the deadliest fast bowlers in the school arena, he will be well supported by his deputy Vimukthi Wijesiriwardena. They have some talented youngsters in the squad such as Yasod Kavinda, Janith Tennekoon and Under-17 skipper Ganindu Kaushlya.  

They recorded a first innings win against St. Sylvester’s in their opening outing two weeks ago. Coached by former Antonian Indika Fernando, the team is determined to finish on top in Kandy. Fernando has played for the Katugastota lads from 1994-96 and later on played for Kandy CC and Kandy YCC. He is a Level II cricket coach and a Level 4 umpire. They will play against St. Anthony’s in Katugastota in their next outing.

Wicketkeeper and No. 3 batsman Mohamed Alfer will lead the St. Anthony’s Katugastota outfit. He will have Virajitha Bandara, Dion Stuater, Mohamed Kamil, Gihan Achintha and Sandaruwan Dharmaratne behind him. The Antonians have acquired the services of former D.S. Senanayake, BRC and Bloomfield cricketer and former Trinity Head Coach Sampath Perera for their 2016/2017 season. They will play Kingswood at home in their next outing.