Mahinda will ‘Strive Hard’ to maintain their pride

AT The SCHOOL NETS

Mahinda will ‘Strive Hard’ to maintain their pride

Chris Dhambarage

Mahinda College Galle with five senior coloursmen and a host of several other promising players in their ranks are determined to remain unbeaten this season and maintain their reputation as one of the top cricket playing schools in the Southern Province.

The Mahindians have always maintained their pride and prestige while maintaining high standards on the field and have a unique record of having not lost their inter-school Big Match to traditional rivals Richmond College for the past 44 years.

They have produced some outstanding schoolboy cricketers almost every year and their latest products are Denuwan Rajakaruna and Rumesh Bhuddika who recently had the honour of representing the Sri Lanka Under-19 team with distinction.

Dashing wicketkeeper opening batsman Denuwan Rajakaruna came into the limelight when he hammered a sparkling 94 in the International Cricket Council Youth World Cup Play Off final match against the West Indies in New Zealand.

Left-hand aggressive middle-order batsman Rumesh Bhuddika is another proud product of Mahinda College who made a huge contribution to the Sri Lanka Under-19 team with his 137 ball 139 against South Africa Under-19 team at Johannesburg as his best effort.

This is of course in addition to the number of national players who have represented the country with great pride including D. Somachandra de Silva, D. H. de Silva, Athula Samarasekera, Jayananda Warnaweera, Upul Chandana and Lasith Malinga.

This time Mahinda College will have the services of five top senior coloursman including skipper Malith Mahela de Silva, Ishan Akalanka, Dulaj Udayanga, Nilanka Laksiri and Thamitha Kalhara.

However the star player in the line-up will be undoubtedly their new recruit Piyushan Kulathunga who turned out to be a revelation last season where he excelled as an all-rounder while representing Rahula College Matara.          

The eighteen-year-old right-hand opening batsman created a piece of history by becoming the first cricketer from Rahula College Matara to score more than one thousand runs during the concluded inter-school cricket season.

The former Sri Lanka Schools under-15 player had a memorable outing when he hammered a career best 141 runs against St. Xavier’s College Marawila having earlier captured a hat-trick in the first innings of the same match.   

  

Kulathunga followed up this innings with another century (106) against Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda and also had the credit of scoring three other half-centuries against Maliyadeva College Kurunegala (58), Devapathiraja College Rathgama (84) and Asoka College Colombo (88) respectively.

This season he has already shown a glimpse of his talent and potential having struck two important half-centuries in the third term matches against Royal College (70) and St. Joseph’s College (63).   

Both his innings had a great amount of significance for his team as Mahinda College had the satisfaction of taking first innings honours over Royal College at Reid Avenue and his fighting half-century against the Joes helped his team to force a draw after they had being asked to follow on at Darley Road.             

In addition middle-order batsman Nilantha Laksiri hit an unbeaten 88 in the game against Royal College while Dulaj Udayanga also made an impact by stroking a splendid half-century against St. Joseph’s College at Darley Road.

The Mahinda College bowling attack is spearheaded by the right-arm off-spinner Thamith Kalhara who has grabbed most of the opportunities to shine while capturing four wickets in an innings twice against Royal College and St. Servatius College Matara.          

Mahinda College have so far played five matches this season where they took first innings honours over Royal College and St. Servatius College Matara while their fixtures against Trinity, St. Joseph’s and Ananda ended in a no result.

Mahinda College Galle First XI Cricket Squad for 2013/14 season:

Malith Mahela de Silva (captain), Ishara Akalanka (vice captain), Dulaj Udayanga, Nilanka Laksiri, Thamith Kalhara, Piyushan Kulathunga, Rasika Udara, Pasindu Dilshan, Champika Gunawardena, Gihan Dhanushka, Shanuka Samarawickrema, Sithira Shanuka, Yohan Dilshan, Krishan Rangajith, Visitha Sammana, Yorkshitha Sandeep. Lakshan Asanga, Gayashan Kalhara, Hasitha Rajapaksa (Head Coach), Indeera Gallage (Assistant Coach), K. M. D. Prasad (Master in Charge).

The upcoming fixtures:

November 11/12: v S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia at Galle

December 26/27: v Prince of Wales College at Moratuwa

December 30/31: v St. Anthony’s College at Katugastota

January 1/2: v Maliyadeva College at Kurunegala

January 10/11: v Dharmapala MV Pannipitiya at Galle

January 17/19: v Dharmaraja College at Galle

January 24/25: v Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda at Galle

February 7/8: v Nalanda College at Campbell Place

February 21/22: v Revata MV Balapitiya at Galle

February 28/March 1: v President’s College at Rajagiriya

March 7/8: v St. Aloysius College at Galle

March 21/22: v Richmond College (Big Match) at Galle Stadium

March 29: v Richmond College (one day) at Galle Stadium