Batting star Nishan Madushka Moratu Vidyalaya’s ‘Mr Reliable’
With a load of experience as a Junior National cricketer and as a 5th-year coloursman, Nishan Madushka Fernando of Moratu Vidyalaya, shone with the bat during the 2018-19 schools Cricket season to guide his alma mater to the Super 8. In the process, he reached 1,000 runs for the season.
Nishan Madushka is a senior run getter for Moratu Vidyalaya - Pic by M.D. Nissanka
This wicket-keeping, right-handed opening batsman reach the 1,000-target with five centuries and seven half-centuries. He has totalled 1,238 runs from 12 matches. His centuries are 162 against Joseph Vaz College, 172 against Prince of Wales, 121 against Maris Stella, 114 against St. Mary’s College and 106 against S. Thomas’. He just missed his 6th ton against Mahanama College, when he was dismissed for 90 runs.
As he is a wicket-keeper, this superb opening batsman finds it easy to get into stride early, as he is able to ‘read’ the wicket from behind the stumps and to judge the way the ball moves and spins from the moment it is released from the bowler’s arm.
With his experience in touring and playing on different types of wickets, Fernando finds no terrors on home wickets. He has represented the country at the Junior World Cup, 2 Asian Junior Championships and in an Indian Juniors’ tour to Sri Lanka. This gutsy cricketer shares the experience he has gained as a national cricketer in advising the juniors how to play the game with a straight bat. He intends to score as many runs as he can to end the season with a total of 1,500 runs.
The backbone of Moratu Vidyalaya’s batting, this cricketer, who, more often than not, scores the bulk of his school’s totals, some times stands as a lone warrior.
His ability in adjusting his batting style to suit the wicket is the secret behind Fernando’s success with the bat. A batsman with a sound technique and sweet timing, he prefers to keep the ball along the ground, and is a treat to watch when in full stride.
The high-points of his career so far have been the centuries he scored against Zimbabwe in the Youth World Cup in New Zealand, and the one he scored at home in the recently concluded Indian Youth Series.
In a very respectful manner, this Moratu Vidyalaya lad praised his coach Prasanna Dissanayake in helping him to reach this standard. It was Dissanayake who took Fernando under his wings from the very beginning. Not only in cricket, the coach has also guided him to be a gentleman on and off the field.