Former Peterite Berenger to emulate Sathasivam’s feat
Andri Berenger
Former St. Peter’s cricketer Andri Berenger is in line of emulating the feat of one of the greatest batsmen Sri Lanka has produced — Mahadevan Sathasivam, who had the honour of representing three national cricket teams. Sathasivam represented Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, Singapore and Malaysia during the famous ‘Bradman’ era.
Prolific batsman Berenger is now on the verge of representing Qatar, where he is presently based. This will be his third national team appearance having represented the Sri Lanka Under-19 team at the ICC Youth World Cup in 2010 and then followed it up by representing the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the Men’s ICC World Cup in 2015.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Berenger’s father Kenham stated that his son’s commitment to the sport has helped him reach this pinnacle which he was fortunate to witness when his son represented UAE during the period he was employed there.
Berenger will be looking forward to represent Qatar at the forthcoming ICC Men’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia ‘A’ qualifying tournament which is scheduled to be worked off next month.
As a bidding youngster, Berenger had a successful school cricket career at St. Peter’s during the latter part of 2000 and his superlative performance saw him make it to the Sri Lanka Under-19 team in 2010 ICC Youth World Cup under the captaincy of his school team mate Chathura Peiris. This team had players in the caliber of Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhansuhka Gunatileke and Kithruwan Vithanage who later went on to represent the national team at various stages.
Later on he went on to represent Seeduwa/Raddoluwa CC, SSC and CCC in Sri Lanka’s first class cricket tournaments. His performances in the UAE saw him being the toast of many clubs in Qatar and he decided to represent Warriors and guided the side with success to clinch the Qatar Premier Division T20 tournament.
During the stint at the tournament, Berenger made a swashbuckling knock of 109 not out in only 56 balls, enabling Warriors win the title. His knock came in timely while his team was chasing 185 runs for victory in the final encounter, Berenger’s knock helped race to the target with five balls to spare. He also succeeded to end the tournament with an average of over 65.
In fact Sathasivam, who was the first to achieve the feat of representing three national teams had the honour of leading all three sides he played for. And for Berenger, who has completed the three-year eligibility for a player to represent a national team, his feat is no doubt going to be something special taking into consideration of players who have to fight their way to achieve tough targets. Berenger’s achievement comes purely due to his commitment and dedication.