Misfortunes have been following them during the recent months as the Wesley College first XI cricket team attempts to progress on their way to the top of the schools cricket arena in the country. The ongoing schools cricket season as well as the previous season has been not up to their liking. But Wesley cricketers are determined as ever to barge into the peak. According to their coach, Shanthi Peiris, a veteran of the sport, Wesley cricketers have all the possible aspects in achieving their goals if not for a mishap which is most vital for wins.
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| Wesley College cricket squad. (Pix by Amila Prabodha) |
“The side as for me is really good. They needed a little time to get along with each other including me and my methods. Now their communication level is coming to a very good level. But they lack the finish which is causing us much trouble in recording wins at this level. We are working on it and our aim is to overcome this problem as soon as possible,” revealed Peiris, who has been coaching the side since last season.
This season, so far, Wesley has played 12 games but they have been denied of a win. They are improving after each game looking forward to register a badly needed win at least in the next five matches they are set to play before ending the season. Wesley has been not in the winning ways during their last 25 games or so but they have been performing reasonably well. During last month, they drubbed S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia and St. Peter’s College Colombo. But as Peiris mentioned earlier their failure to finish off a game prevented them from wins. On both occasions they fell short by 15 runs which is a serious matter to ponder from the point of a leading cricket team in the country.
“My assessment about them is that the team is doing fine. Had they clicked well as expected, then by this time we could have won at least five games. Apart from the two games which we failed to win, this was evident in the matches against Ananda, Prince of Wales’, Kingswood and Mahanama. We came on top against these four teams but then again ran out of luck. But we could have done a lot better I suppose,” Peiris added.
The present set of Wesley cricketers have been playing together as a unit in the past couple of years or so. While Wesley’s batsmen have continuously struggled to score big knocks their bowlers have been playing their part as expected. Though it has cost a lot to the team’s steady progress, in whole they have made genuine efforts individually to overcome the bad patches.
Technically sound batsmen in the calibre of Sadeem Thawfeeq, Lahiru Perera, Dinuka Jayasinghe, skipper Ashen Fonseka and Ashail Kariyawasam have constantly scored runs but not the knocks needed to guide a team towards wins. The side consists of three seamers and three spinners who are capable of turning tables on any strong team with their prolific bowling. Seamers rated as the big guns are Tharindu Karunaratne, Sadeem Thawfeeq and Jonathan Cadiramanpulle, a youngster to come out from the Under-15 batch. Among the top spinners are deputy skipper Sachin Jayawardhana, Ashail Kariyawasam and Basith Muzammil – all leg-spinners. Wesley will be a strong team the coming seasons as many of its first XI cricketers, as much as seven; still can play Under-17 in addition to a promising cricketer in Cadiramanpulle.
“I’m really satisfied with their techniques and temperament. The way we are tuning up, we should at least win two games out of five. Otherwise we are below par. I don’t know if I’m asking for quick results but by this time we should be winning. The only bad thing about the present state is our boys are not pushing for wins. All are keen to overcome these patches and start winning. Let’s hope we can triumph over,” Peiris noted. |
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