Tamil Union’s hat-trick of U-23 Div. 1 Cricket C’ships

Tamil Union’s hat-trick of U-23 Div. 1 Cricket C’ships

Chris Dhambarage

Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club have done it again and this time in a more spectacular manner. They have retained the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Under-23 Division One Championship for the third successive year.

Last week they completed a memorable tournament when they pulled off a convincing 257 run outright victory over Moors Sports Club in the three-day final encounter worked off at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Khettarama.

It also turned out to be a fitting farewell for their coach Jeevantha Kulatunga who will be stepping down from the club after this tournament to take up duties as the head coach of the Sri Lanka Women’s Cricket Team.

“I think this is one of the greatest achievements in my coaching career and to sign off things on a victorious note certainly gives me that extra confidence ahead of another important assignment,” said the former Sri Lanka all rounder.

The former captain of Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala YCC and Colts Cricket Club all rounder believed that he has got the opportunity of proving his credentials as a coach although he is still disappointed that he was not given more chances to impress as a player for his country.

“This is no doubt a turning point in my coaching career prospects and it provides me the opportunity to give something back to my country even though as a player I had only a couple of chances to represent Sri Lanka.”

The dashing right hander who represented the country in just two Twenty20 internationals said that spearheading Tamil Union to win the under-23 championship for the second successive year gave him a great amount of satisfaction before relinquishing his role as the head coach.      

“Guiding Tamil Union towards success in this under-23 tournament for the second successive year is a very important achievement because we were minus six regular players from last year’s champion outfit.

“But we had a great amount of confidence from the start of the tournament and the players had a strong belief in themselves and that helped them to register as many as four outright victories during the preliminary round.

“I think we were pitted in the toughest group and every match was keenly contested and there were plenty of close results which put our players under tremendous pressure throughout the competition.

“The manner in which the team pulled off the final league match against Sri Lanka Army Sports Club was really outstanding because the players showed a lot of character to snatch the game outright by 59 runs after having conceded first innings points.”    

                    

Jeevantha Kulatunga who had recently guided the Melbourne based Oasis Cricket Club to win the Twenty20 Championship as coach cum player stated that they were able to dominate the final due to some outstanding cricket from their key players.

  

“We were under great pressure once again in the final as well as our batting did not click well and we managed to post only 223 runs in the first innings after having elected to bat first on a good batting surface. 

“I had never walked onto the grounds when a  match is in progress but this time I was compelled to come out and have a chat with my key bowler Thineth Manishka who delivered the goods almost immediately by removing the danger man Shehan Jayasuriya.

“I think Manishka has all the talent and the potential to take his career into the next level and with his height and long strides he should be able to make headlines for his country in the coming years.          

“Top order batsman Rumesh Buddhika also played a very important innings for his team and together with all rounder Matheesha Perera they completely sealed the final in our favour with two brilliant individual contributions.

“I think it was all about a mind game at the end and we were able to have a psychological advantage throughout the final because out of the entire nine sessions in the match we batted for six and a half while Moors could bat only for two and a half sessions” added Jeevantha Kulatunga.         

How Tamil Union fared in the tournament:

Beat Singha SC Ambalangoda outright by 4 wickets at P. Sara Oval

(Tamil Union: 288 and 115-6, Singha SC: 93 and 304)

Beat NCC on the first innings at Maitland Place

(NCC: 207 and 102-3, Tamil Union: 240)

Beat Sri Lanka Navy SC outright by 10 wickets at P. Sara Oval

(Tamil Union: 314 and 24-0, Navy SC: 146 and 190)

Beat Colts CC outright by 9 wickets at Havelock Park

(Colts CC: 96 and 294, Tamil Union: 280 and 112-1)

Beat CCC on the first innings at the P. Sara Oval

(Tamil Union: 362-3 and 157-5, CCC: 236)  

Beat Sri Lanka Army SC outright by 59 runs at Panagoda

(Tamil Union: 202 and 210, Army SC: 245 and 108)

(Final)

Beat Moors SC outright by 257 runs at the R. Premadasa Stadium

(Tamil Union: 223 and 442, Moors SC: 181 and 227)

Caption:

Pictured here is the champion Tamil Union cricket team which won the SLC Under-23 Division One title.  Seated (from left): Mahesh Dilantha Bopage (Manager Cricket), Kithuruwan Vithanage , Suresh Murugaser (Chairman of Cricket), Denuwan Rajakaruna (Captain), Dinal Phillips (President of Tamil Union C & AC ), Pulina Tharanga (Vice Captain ), Jeevantha Kulathunga (Head Coach ), Romesh Buddhika, Matheesa Perera. Standing 1^st row (from left): Gamini Perera (Team Assistant), Rushan Jaleel , Chamikara Edirisinghe, Fabian Fernando , Thineth Manishka , Ruwantha Kallepotha, Rajinda Punchihewa, Minhaj Jalil, Nisala Tharaka, Nipun Kariyawasam, Pramod Liyanagamage, Raveendra Fernando (Official Scorer). Standing 2nd row (from left): Devind Pathmanathan, Mogan Raj, Leo Fransisco, Manoj Sarathchandra, Darshana Mahawattha and Ishara Prasan

End.