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NCC President Camilus
Abeygoonawardene handing over a memento to Kumar Sangakkara at the felicitation ceremony. |
Amidst a distinguished gathering of past and present Sri Lanka cricketers, officials of Sri Lanka Cricket, family and friends, the Nondescripts Cricket Club (NCC) felicitated Kumar Sangakkara on his appointment as the Sri Lanka Cricket Captain at the Club House on Friday evening.
After a brief welcome address by the President of NCC Camilus Abeygunawardene and a felicitation speech by former NCC President Ranjt Fernando, Kumar Sangakkara captivated the audience with a relatively long but a spectacular speech.
Sangakkara who is known for his eloquent speeches traced back his illustrious cricket career at Trinity College and also recalled as to how he joined the Nondescripts Cricket Club.
“It was my school friend Ashan Welagedara who first invited me to join the Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) twelve years ago. While I was walking to the CCC to get myself enrolled, Asoka de Silva met me and invited me to meet him. I promptly agreed, and at this meeting Asoka invited me to join the NCC. I was delighted as it would give me the opportunity to play along side some great cricketers like Aravinda de Silva, Hashan Tilakaratne, Russell Arnold and a few others. I agreed with Asoka and had to disappoint my friend Ashan’s request. And the rest is history now”.
During his speech the Sri Lanka Cricket Captain paid a glorious tribute to his past cricket coaches Upul Jayasiri, Bernard Perera, and Sunil Fernando and many others for helping him during his early years. However he emphasized that it was Dav Whatmore who provided him with the opportunity of batting at the top that helped him to be the batsman he is today.” It was during a tour in South Africa that Dav called me up and asked me to bat at number three. If you need to play for Sri Lanka for long you need to bat at number three, Dav stressed”recalled Sangakkara.
The Sri Lanka Captain had also a word of thanks to his parents, family members, wife Yeheli and some of his close friends who were all present at the evening. In a lighter vein he quipped: “My father was my first coach and he is also my biggest critic. So much so that he tells me that sometimes I bat like a ‘donkey,” ” even today. |
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