Senadheera twins serve Trinity well
Ten members of a family turning out for their school cricket team in the course of a few years, is quite something, and stands to the eternal credit of the Ananda brothers from Mahinda.
Kavishka Senadheera
Moving to the Central Province, the Jayasundara twins of Dharmaraja take pride of place. Amanda, the elder, was one of the fastest bowlers in the country. Upananda, the younger sibling, was a canny left arm spinner. Playing around the same time (the mid 1960s) were the Vethecan twins from Kingswood.
The De Alwis twins Birchman and Joy of St. Joseph’s also come to mind.
The scene shifts to Trinity and the Senadheera Twins. Kavishka, the elder, is a right hand batsman who likes to tonk the ball all over the park. Possessed of a good sense of timing, he transfers the pressure on to the bowlers with his aggressive stroke-play. Avishka is far more sedate in his approach, but is just as effective. The younger, Avishka, also bowls medium pace and was found good enough to open the bowling for his school on a few occasions.
These two youngsters, backed by a Cricket mad father, have served the school well. This is especially so in the case of Kavishka, an off spinner of great potential, who, according to unconfirmed reports, set a record for the most number of wickets in a season by a Trinitian. The previous holder of the record, Rushan Jaleel, by a quirk of circumstances, is part of the Coaching staff of the school.
Strangely enough, it was Avishka who represented the School first at senior cricket. He made half-centuries against Nalanda, Moratu Vidyalaya and St. Joseph’s in the 2017/18 season. He missed some games in the season just completed, but was able to make 60 against St. Sebastians. He has been playing in the shadow of his twin ever since.
Kavishka’s rise is nothing short of meteoric. In the 2017/2018 season, he picked up 6/32 vs DS Senanayake and 6/86 vs Thurstan. Good efforts against worthy opponents. He reserved his best for the 2018/19 season, his last. His magnum opus was a match bag of 11/83 against Nalanda. Match bags of 13/54 vs St. Annes and 13/59 vs Kingswood, confirm his rising maturity.
The Kavishka Saga contains efforts such as his 7/69 vs Dharmapala, 6/67 vs St. Sebastians, 5/24 and 5/80 vs Wesley.
Avishka Senadheera
The ability to bowl long spells, without his accuracy and length suffering, and the few that he is constantly at the batsmen, account in large measure for his success. Coming fairly low in the order, (in itself a bit of a surprise) Kavishan has weighed in with 30s and 40s. He made 37 against Ananda, 43 against St. Peters and 48 against S Thomas’. More than the quantity of runs, it was the ease and manner of his run-making that was impressive.
It fell to Kavishka’s lot to captain his school to victory in the annual limited over match against St. Anthony’s. The way they regrouped under him, after the battering 7 days previously, was noteworthy.
Kavishka’s biggest disappointment is that, despite his success and talent, he has never been picked for a District or Provincial team. Avishka went one better, bagging the award for the Best All-rounder at Trinity at Under-15 level.
This is not the end of the road for the Senadheeras, given their commitment and ability. Much more will be heard of them in the future.