Those cricket siblings at Ananda
Dressed in a spotless white shirt and a blue Tasso shorts when we walked through the gates of Ananda College at Paranawadiya, there was always a sense of pride. On its own it held its own awe that stood well above the human spirit – the feeling is indescribable.
However at this time Ananda’s central nerve in sport was at Nalanda College – the original Ananda College Ground, but subsequently cascading into our brother school Nalanda which was built around it.
Arjuna Ranatunga -- one of the most illustrious cricketing sons of Ananda. He had another four brothers who represented the College in first Xl cricket.
When it came to cricket we always called it our home ground, until such time the Mackwoods Coir factory was flattened out to build the Ananda Mawatha facility. Yet, this narration is my memory about Ananda cricket and the set of siblings that enriched it.
Lalith and Channa Gunaratne were two great brothers who played cricket for Ananda and also served the motherland by joining the army and the Air Force respectively while continuing their cricket careers. Lalith played for Ananda from 1963 and captained the team in 1967, Channa played from 1969 to 1971. Both were punishing left-hand batsmen and were also left-arm seamers. Their father, Douglas who was attached to the Lake House in a managerial capacity was a frequent visitor to the cricket grounds to witness the performances of his sons. Most memorable performance of Lalith as captain was his leadership to beat the strong St. Benedict’s outfit at Kotahena in 1967 by skittling the Bens for 22 runs in the second innings to end the match early on the second day.
Then there were the Wettimuny brothers, Sunil, Mithra and Sidath who were role models for all school boy cricketers. At that time Sunil was a smart wicket keeper and an attacking opening batsman and played from 1965 and captained the team in 1968. Mithra was also a front line batsman and was also an off spinner. He played for Ananda from 1967 and captained the team in 1970, in the same year he also captained the Ceylon schools team.
Sidath was a highly technically correct opening batsman who also bowled seamers. All three brothers went on to represent the country. Their father, Ramsay was also a keen follower of the cricketing careers of his sons.
Senanayake brothers were another set of brothers. Sanjeewa played from 1966 to 1969 and captained the side in 1969. He started as a paceman and later became a front line batsman also. He was promoted from No.11 to No.4 in the batting order in a single season after his excellent batting performances as a tail-ender. He was involved in a memorable partnership with Sunil Wettimuny in the big match against Nalanda in 1968, both were going great guns and narrowly missed centuries.
Saliya was also a good cricketer playing for Ananda for a number of years and captaining in 1971. In the big match that year Nalanda led by Bandula Warnapura entered the big match after a string of victories over the other schools hoping to beat Ananda easily, but Saliya turned tables on them and also inflicted a 50 plus runs lead in the first innings much to the surprise of all Anandians. The match ended in a draw with Ananda taking major honours. Their parents Stanley (former inspector general of police) and Maya came to see their sons playing for Ananda on most occasions.
P. Dayapriya and P. Palitha also rendered yeoman services to Ananda cricket displaying their all round capabilities. Dayapriya opened both bowling and baiting. In batting he partnered Mahilal de Silva and in bowling Sanjeewa Senanayake.
Dayapriya and Mahilal were two of the most explosive openers that the school ever produced. Dayapriya had a blistering knock of 60 runs in the big match in 1966. Palitha was an accurate paceman and a dusky hitter batting in the lower order. Dayapriya played from 1966 to 1968 while Palitha played from 1968 to 1970.
Priyanka and Aruna Seneviratne were the next set of brothers to sport the Ananda cap. Priyanka played from 1969 to 1974 and captained the side in 1973. He was a hard-hitting left-handed batsman and a fast bowler of great repute in school arena. Aruna was also a left-hand batsman and a wily spinner. Both were powerful hitters of the ball. Aruna played in 1973 and 1974.
Ranatunga brothers were easily the set of brothers who took the cricketing goodwill of Ananda to sky-high over a period of 10 years from 1979 upto 1988. Dhammika and Arjuna started playing for Ananda from 1979. Nishantha played from 1982 to 1985. Prasanna played in 1985 and 1986 and Sanjeewa from 1985 to 1988.
Arjuna became the first schoolboy cricketer to playTest cricket for Sri Lanka while representing his school. He also did his school and country proud by leading the national team to win the ICC cricket world cup in 1996. Dhammika became the CEO of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka. Both Nishantha and Sanjeewa led the team to win the schools’ limited overs cricket tournaments in 1985 and 1988. Nishantha currently holds post of secretary, Sri Lanka Cricket.
Rohitha and Kapila Perera were also great allrounders. Rohitha was a paceman and a clean-hitter of the ball batting in the lower order while Kapila batted in the top order as a frontline batsman. Rohitha also represented the Sri Lanka schools team and also won the schools limited overs title for Ananda in 1981 leading the side. He started 1978 while Kapila started playing in 1983 and led the side in 1986.
Weerasinghe brothers Jeewaka and Sanjeewa were great opening batsmen. Jeewaka played in 1981 and 1982 while Sanjeewa played in 1985 and 1986. Both batsmen laid solid foundations for big Ananda totals. Both brothers were committed cricketers and were very active on the field too.
Twins — Thusira and Nilan de Silva became the next set of brothers to shine. Thusira played in 1987 and 1988 while Nilan from 1988 to 1990. Thusira was a smart wicket keeper and also was a dependable opening batsman. Nilan also served Ananda in the same capacity. The brothers were involved in a marathon opening stand in the big match in 1988.
The highly talented Samaraweera brothers entered the scene next. Dulip played from 1987 and captained in 1991 winning another schools limited overs tournament beating the strong Kandy Anthonians.
Anthonian team had the services of Muttiah Muralitharan, Sajith Fernando, Nuwan Kalpage, Daminda Kolugala and many other good players. Dulip marshaled his team to defend a low total of 150 – bundling out the opponents for only 91 runs.
Thilan – the more illustrious of the two Samaraweera brothers represented school from 1992 to 1996 before going to do bigger deeds with the national team. Elder brother Dulip also had a short stint with the National team as an opening batsman. Herath brothers were the next set of brothers. Chathura played from 2003 and led the side in 2006 to win the schools limited overs title again. He was a good wicket keeper too. Ruchira was an accurate spinner and a good middle order batsman. He played for in 2006 and 2007.
The last set of brothers to have played for Ananda was the Wijesuriya brothers, namely — Vishwa, Sameera and Tiran. Vishwa played from 2005 to 2007. Sameera from 2006 to 2009 and Tiran from 2011 to 2014. Vishwa and Sameera were allrounders while Tiran was a paceman.
The above list of brothers were fortunate to receive excellent coaching from veteran coaches Dhanasiri Weerasinghe, P.W. Perera, Anuruddha Polonowita, Palitha Premasiri, Udayananda Perera and many others.
The writer served as the treasurer of Ananda cricket in 2006/7 and also assisted the 2006 cricket team to win the lemonade trophy, schools limited overs title as the team motivator/strategist and could be reached via csassociatesnew@vahoo.com