Trinity, Dharmaraja, St. Sylvesters have their work cut out for them sans stalwarts
Trinity College
Trinity is the leading cricket side from the hills
Hasitha Boyagoda (Captain), Trevon Weerasuriya (Vice Captain), Kavinda Jayasuriya (Coach)
Trinity, 1 of 3 ‘A’ Division Schools in Kandy, have huge boots to fill, as their inspirational skipper of last year, Sanogeeth Shanmuganathan won’t be around this season. Batting at the top of the order, and bowling his quickish left arm leg-breaks, Sanogeeth scored over a thousand and also bagged a heap of wickets.
They will have the services of 5th-year Hasitha Boyagoda, and Thisara Dilshan, both National Under-19 representatives. Skipper Boyagoda’s wicket will be highly prized. His knocks of 136 against Dharmaraja and 139 against Royal were exceptional efforts. He has many shots and a mature approach, which means he will use them wisely.
As an off-spinner, he may not run the rough sides. Instead, he will constantly chip away at the opposing lineups. His tally of wickets suffered as he had to play second fiddle to the other 2 spinners.
Vimukthi Nethumal, a left arm spinner, made a huge contribution to the team. His bag of 5-55 against Richmond was particularly impressive. A tireless bowler, he will carry a heavy workload. However, he could suffer from not having an effective partner to operate in tandem.
Trevon Percival, the Vice Captain, produced several useful efforts with bat and ball. An unbeaten 94 against Richmond and an under-pressure 55 against the Josephians, were good innings. He also helped turn things round in the One-Day match against their arch rivals.
Opener Hasintha Jayasuriya was a 20-30 player, but suddenly, sat up and made 106 against Zahira. Seamer Dilshan tore through the Rajans with a bag of 8-31. Not successful on a consistent basis, he can contribute well with the bat. The Antonians will testify to that!
Of the others, Poorna Wansekera, a batsman cum stumper, Himanga Suriyampola, a heavy scorer in school cricket and left-hander Avishka Senadheera stand out.
The Trinity team failed to set the neighbouring Mahaweli on fire in 2016/17. They beat Dharmaraja, Kegalu Vidyalaya and St. Sebastian’s. On the debit side, they went under to Ananda and S. Thomas’. The last defeat was particularly galling!
Dharmaraja College
Bavantha Udangamuwe (Captain), Rukmal Dissanaike (Vice Captain), Senaka Dissanaike (Coach)
Dharmaraja, the other ‘A’ Division School, had a poor season under Deshan Gunasinghe. They will also miss 2 other stalwarts in Nivantha Herath and Gihan Vitharana. However, all is not lost, as their Under-17 proved a formidable unit, losing in the quarterfinal. Many of those lads showed they are ready to step up.
St. Sylvester’s College
Avindu Herath (Captain), Nimsara Attanagalla (Vice Captain), Jaliya Weerasinghe (Coach)
From the looks of it, the Sylvestrians will be up against it this season, as they will miss many of last year’s players. But skipper Avindu Herath, a 4th-year player who opens batting and keeps wickets, is up for the upcoming season with a string of 50s.
Pace bowling all-rounder Nimsara Attanagalla is his deputy. A fast bowler with the right attributes, Attanagalla came up with a few 50s, in addition to taking wickets. More is expected of him with the ball, as Tusitha Soysa, who had a rich haul of wickets in 2016/17, will not be playing.
Manjith Janakantha, a hard-hitting bat, who had a fair season, is one of the key players. He also bowls medium pace. Manoharan Pavitran opens batting and bowls right arm leg-spin.
Usindu Nissanka, a left arm spinner, performed well, but had limited opportunities. Chandula Jayakodi and Kavindu Munaweera made runs in small quantities. They will have to improve on that. Third year, Kanishka Jayasekera proved a useful off-spinner who took wickets regularly.
Paceman Pasan Hettiarachchi and all-rounder Nadeera Balasuriya also played in 2016/17, and have the experience to improve on their performances. The Sylvestrians are not short of left arm spinners. Hirochan Chandrababu, who plies that trade, should get a lot of bowling this year.
Some of the Under-15 players have shown up well in the Prima Trophy tournament. Among them, Nimshan Wijesinghe and Charith Rajaguru should get a look in.
Their record last season was moderate, beating only Anuradhapura Central, while losing to St. Aloysius, Gurukula and S. Thomas’.