Santhush shows promise
View(s):The incumbent captain of St. Peter’s College Colombo, Santhush Gunatilake can be named as an allrounder with future potential. He will take pride in leading the Peterites this season and keep his school’s flag flying high in the arena of school cricket as St. Peter’s boasts of a rich history of the game.
Santhush in action
St. Peter’s have produced top cricketers such as Dr. H.I.K. Fernando, Clive Inman, Tony Opatha and Rohan Buultjens, who donned the national cap in the pre-Test era.
Cricketing greats like Roy Dias, Vinodhan John, present National Bowling Coach Rumesh Ratnayake, Amal Silva, Russel Arnold, Kaushal Lokuarachchi and Malinda Warnapura made the school proud by representing the country with distinction.
With such a rich cricketing background, the Peterites have come out this season with this future potential cricketer Santhush to lead their side during this season. He will also be eligible to play in the next season as well.
The tall and lanky lad who is 6 foot and 3 inches in height, opens batting and takes the new ball when bowling, a rare ability at present. In addition to his school career, Santhush has represented district and provincial teams as well.
Santhush comes after a few good seasons in junior cricket. He captained the St. Peter’s Under-15 side in 2014 and his performances paved the way for Colombo District, Western Province and the Sri Lanka Under-15s teams that season.
In 2016, he captained the college Under-17 side and guided them to the semi-final stage in the Inter-School Division I Tournament. He even went on to play in the First XI team in the two previous seasons and in the concluded season Santhush scored 1095 runs, picked up 40 wickets and held 33 catches, a rare feat. He was appointed vice captain of the Western Province Central team following that achievement.
Santhush eagerly looks forward to represent the country and is hopeful that he will end up in the final squad for the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2018 to be held in New Zealand next month month. To justify his cause, Santhush has already raked in 539 runs at an average of 49.00, including a century and three half centuries, and claimed 13 wickets.