Dodanwela underlines SSC’s commitment to teamwork
After playing second fiddle for five years, the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) hit a green patch this year when they clinched the Premier League title with a convincing six-wicket win over Moors in the final.
Kaushal Silva
The success in winning the competition has not gone unnoticed by the SSC hierarchy. They have now set their sights on the Singapore International Pay Pal T20 tournament to be held in the third week of August this year.
Thilina Kandamby
Samantha Dodanwela, Chairman of SSC Cricket and a tea-taster by profession, did not mince his words when he spoke about SSC’s success, future plans and the gratitude he has towards his cricketers, management and coaching staff in a an interview with the Sunday Times.
Dodanwela, a former Trinitian who had turned out for SSC for almost a decade and a member of the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI and a former Sri Lanka national poolist, who has also had a stint at the UK’s league tournament, was full of praise for the skipper Thilina Kandamby, Kaushal Silva, Tharanga Paranavithana, Dimuth Karunarathna, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Dhammika Prasad and Thilan Samaraweera, who retired from international and club cricket halfway through the season.
Thilan’s services will be sorely missed by SSC not only for his performance, but also for the guidance he has given younger players. He also thanked Duminda Ratnayake, CEO of Etisalat, who has come forward as SSC’s main sponsor for the next two years and Kandurata Kuda Chairman Naushad for the support extended to SSC cricket to support their youngsters financially and also to recruit new talent.
“It was teamwork all the way,” emphasised Dodanwela. “After losing the limited over final to Ragama, the team found new courage and skill to win the league,” was his comment.
SSC won the Singapore International Pay Pal T20 Tournament in 2010 where teams from Melbourne, Madras, Kowloon, Hong Kong and Singapore had participated. Last year they could not make it to the contest due to the Sri Lanka IPL contest where SSC players were heavily involved. “This year we are going all out to win this tourney,” insisted Dodanwela.
Samantha Dodanwela
Dodanwela also spoke in glowing terms of cricketer, Tharanga Paranavithana, one of the few cricketers to reach 10,000 domestic runs in first class cricket. The fact that Paranavithana hails from Kegalle MV is another factor to be proud of.
Kaushal Silva too came in for praise for scoring 1000 runs this season, andwas the only batsmen to do so. SSC also created two new records in first class cricket this year when they hit 787 runs against Tamil Union and Thilina Kandamby clobbered 340 runs to become the highest individual scorer in domestic first class cricket.
“Overall it was teamwork and nothing but teamwork and in this direction one cannot forget the services of our Coach Avishka Gunawardena, who has done yeoman service to the team,” commented Dodanwela. Avishka, who is SSC’s head coach, is a product of Ananda College and had played as a brilliant opening batsman for Sri Lanka. Kapila Weerasinghe, a Thurstan product, is the Assistant Coach
Also the SSC Cricket Committee comprising Michael De Zoysa, Mahinda Halangoda, Priya Paranavithana, Priyantha Udayaratne and Ashan de Silva were at the top of the page of Dodanwela’s SSC success story
The following SSC cricketers have represented Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardena, Dilhara Fernando, Thilan Samaraweera, Dhammika Prasad, Tharanga Paranavithana, Dimuth Karunaratne, Sachithra Senanayake and Kaushal Silva.
Tharanga Paranavithana
Sachithra Senanayake was the main bowler capturing 49 wickets. However, he missed out on the last few games due to national and IPL commitments.
Youngsters Kasun Madushanka, Danushka Gunathilaka, Dasun Shanaka, Amil Prasad and Upul Bandara were outstanding and did their mite to steer SSC to the top.
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