Kandy schoolboys have geared up for a new cricket season….

Kandy schoolboys have geared up for a new cricket season amid constraints. Sports have always played a large part in the life of school children and with the inter-school rugby season drawing to a close it will give way to another popular sport schools cricket. Whatever the secret all Kandy schools have produced good cricketers, who have made their country, school, parents and themselves proud.

Today the biggest problem in Kandy is that schools like Vidyartha, St. Sylvester’s, Sri Sumangala and Kingwood lack grounds for their matches. The last named school has a ground but not suitable for cricket. These schools go right round and outside Kandy to play their matches which are played mostly on weekdays. Pallekelle Stadium was built to promote cricket, but sad to say, it is only used for international games and only one school is apparently getting the benefit, because KDCA has an officer bearer of this school. At one time the Peradeniya University ground helped schools but now it is not like in the good old days. The only venue which has helped many schools then and now is the Police grounds, which has a matting wicket. Most of the schools today go for turf wickets. Schools that don’t have this facility go to Dambulla, Galagedera and Kegalle to play matches.

Dharmaraja College opened the season with a win against Dharmasoka College at Lake View. Their next games are on September 30 and October 1 vs St Sebastian’s College. They are one of the oldest cricket playing schools in the country. They play in the “A” division and also have traditional fixtures against almost all the leading cricket playing schools. In the last few years, their performances have reached great heights. This year the Rajans are led by a fine one down bat Deshan Gunasinghe, a technically correct stroke maker. Old Rajan Senaka Dissanayake is again the coach. He has been coaching the school for nearly ten years. This season he has eight of last year’s players.

Trinity College who has been doing well in the last couple of years should do similarly this time too. They opened the season with a friendly with Vidyartha College, and followed it up against St. Servatius College and today are the first day of their match against D.S. Senanayake College. Leading the side this season is that all-rounder Shanogeeth Shanmuganthan and his deputy is Hasitha Boyagoda. Kavinda Sameera Jayasuriya is their coach.

St. Sylvester’s College opened the season with a match against Kingswood College, which ended in a draw and their next game is today with Anuradhapura Central. They are a school which does well at cricket with limited playing facilities. Jaliya Weerasinghe is the coach and the side is led by Manoj Perera.

Sri Sumangala College earlier known as St. Paul’s College have produced many top cricketers with limited facilities and what they need is the enthusiasm to take the game forward in the present day. This time Mithun Karunaratne is the captain an old Sylvestrian. Hemantha Wimlasekara is the coach. They are playing in division II and their fixtures are not finalized. They recently had a practice session with Dharmaraja College.

Sri Rahula College, a senior school in the game are hoping to do well. Their first game is against Nugawella Central which will be played in October. The side is led by A.G. Gehan Dilesha Madushanbka, a good all-rounder. Their new coach is A Bogalande.

Kingswood College with a long history in cricket opened the season with St. Sylvester’s College which ended in a draw. They play Sri Sumangala College Panadura at Police ground Kandy on Friday. The skipper is Ruwan Hathurusinghe, a fine wicket-keeper batsman. They are coached by former Antonian and Kandy cricketer Indika Fernando.

Vidyartha College played their first match against home town school Trinity College in a friendly game and did well in their batting. This year they field an allround side studded with experienced players. The team is captained by Ravishka Lakshan Upananda and coached by one of their products Sanjeewa Silva.

St. Anthony’s College: In the good old days was a major force but sad to say now they are in division II. In the last couple of years they have failed to live up to their past reputation. This time the Old boy’s cricket wing is going all-out to give their best and bring them back to the position they enjoyed before. Mohamed Alfat, a 5th year coloursman is leading the side and his deputy is 2nd year coloursman Virajitha Deshan Jayasinghe. They are hoping to bring in a new coach by end of this month. Former coach Prasad Ranawake after a good job has stepped down. This year they are fielding a formidable side which includes most of last season’s players. They opened the season with a match against Wesley College which ended in a draw. Their big match against Trinity College known as “Battle of the Blues” will be the 100th match.

Nugawella Central College is hoping to do well this season and still to open the season. They are once again coached by experienced Lalith Chandrasena. The side will be led by Vickum Babunuarachchi and they play in Division II. Cricket was taken up by the school about ten years ago, and they have done well. The school produced a leg-spinner Saranga Rajaguru who went on to represent Sri Lanka in the ICC Youth Cricket World Cup 2010 in New Zealand. After earning a name from this school he crossed over to St. Anthony’s College. Another bowler, Dileepa Lakshan after learning the game went over St. Sylvester’s College and the other cricketer produced by this school Lahiru Samarakoon joined Dharmaraja College and had the privilege of playing for the Sri Lanka under 19 team’ as a paceman.

Madena Central College plays in Division III and are still to open the season. They will be led by wicket-keeper batsman A.M. Inshab, a good cricketer and he has a good talented set of players. They are once again coached by Old Trinitian Eshan M Najee who has been doing a good job in coaching.

Walala A Ratnayake Central College are keen followers of cricket. They are coached by an old boy Sanjeewa Seelaratne who played for the school for four years in the mid-2000s. I.K.S. Kodikara has been chosen to lead the side. They play their big match against Nugawella Central known as the “Battle of Centralians”. The season’s matches have not been finalized yet.