Celebrating Josephian cricket achievements
View(s):On Wednesday the Josephians took an evening off to celebrate their recent success and felicitated five of their brightest stars that illuminated the entire Lankan skies.
The proud Josephian team
The event took place at the Water’s Edge.
The five cricketers were – the present National cricket captain Angelo Mathews, the mercurial allrounder Thisara Perera, Test opening batsman Dimuth Karunarathne, the Sunday Times Bata Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year Sadeera Samarawickrama and Chaminda Vaas – the present national bowling coach and the best exponent of seam bowling that Sri Lanka ever produced.
Heading the proceedings of the night was Rev Fr. Travis Gabriel along with a host of distinguished old boys and celebrities within and outside the boundary line.
Angelo Mathews, St. Joseph’s cricket captain of 2006, is the first ever Josephian to captain Sri Lanka. He has let his performance do the talking during the last two years, and has shown that he is indeed a tough character who has always “led from the front.” He is also Sri Lanka’s youngest cricket captain and currently holds the second best test cricket batting average of 86.93 (as a captain) next to the legendary Sir Don Bradman.
 The national fast bowling coach Chaminda Vaas receives his memento from Brian Obeysekera who captained St. Joseph’s in 1969 |
 The national cricket captain Angelo Mathews receives his award from the Rector St. Joseph’s Rev Fr. Travis Gabriel |
 The mercurial Lankan allrounder Thisara Perera is felicitated by Deepthi Lokuarachchi – CEO Sri Lanka Insurance |
 The Lankan Test opener Dimuth Karunaratne receives a token of appreciation from Chrishantha Fernando – the oldest living Josephian captain. He captained St. Joseph’s in 1954 |
 The World Cup winning Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga chatting up with his 1994 national team mate Chaminda Vaas |
 The Sunday Times-Bata Schoolboy cricketer of the year is felicitated by the first Josephian Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year – Raja de Silva who was recognised in 1961. He captained St. Joseph’s that year |