Matheesha, a solid ‘rock’ cricketer from Maliyadeva, Kurunegala
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Matheesha Weerasinghe
Matheesha Weerasinghe, the top-order batsman of Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala has made his school and hometown proud by making it to the Sri Lanka Under-19 cricket squad, the only player from the region.
Matheesha, a hero of the annual Maliyadeva-St Anne’s big match encounter, became the only player from the North Western Province to be included in this year’s Sri Lanka Under-19 squad, which comprise of 26 players.
Matheesha, 18, is a right-hand batsman from Maliyadeva Kurunegala, selected following his performance in the Sri Lanka Cricket organised selection trial camp, a tournament dividing 75 players into five teams at Pallekele recently.
Playing his first year in the school big match, Matheesha scored 113, the solitary century from the two teams in their 37th ‘Battle of the Rocks’ big match against arch rivals St. Anne’s College in the drawn encounter, played at Welagedara Stadium last year.
In the history, the Devans produced its first cricketer for the Youth World Cup in fast bowler Rajith Amunugama way back in 1988 at the Youth World Cup which legendary Sanath Jayasuriya was also included. Maliyadeva College has produced Test cricketers Ranjith Madurasinghe, Rangana Herath, Sri Lanka Twenty20 player Jeevantha Kulatunga and recent wicketkeeper-batsman, Minod Bhanuka.