Having a Sri Lanka Under-19 cap in their side may seem as a great boon but the Mahanama College first XI cricket team still in hunt for a much anticipated win. Mahanama cricketers over the past couple of years have failed to gather a single win despite poducing admirable performances. The team has a well settled leader in Duleeka Tissakuttige who played in the Youth World Cup and during Sri Lanka’s home series against the England Under-19s. He is a top batsman and an effective off-spinner and to assist him are six other seniors in the side with ample of experience. They are namely Pawan Devinda, Chathura Wanniarachchi the deputy skipper, Janaka Dayananda, Dayan Perera, Nayana Prabath and Chathura Jayasinghe.
The combination of these well experienced players coupled up with promising youngsters make the Mahanama cricket team a well balanced one. The coaching staff has made it a point to include four Under-17 and a couple of Under-15 players in the first XI cricket squad aiming at long term. The coach of Mahanama, Sanjeewa Silva observed that at first XI level it’s all about brushing up the players’ natural patterns while grooming them for the next stage.
“Of course they play at first XI level but there are still more room to improve. Coaches cannot change the players’ playing styles and attitudes towards the game overnight. What should be done is change their errors in a gradual manner so the players will be in a position take on the challenges and cope up with them when they reach the next level. At this point the importance of maintaining a strong junior structure crops up. The entire cricketing structure of a school should be well inter-connected so teams will not face much difficulty in finding proper replacements,” Silva pointed out.
With all the seven senior players in their final year Mahanama are anticipating to make a breakthrough by recording that much expected win during this season. To achieve that feat they have five games to complete the season and the 11 games they have played so far have ended in draws. At eight occasions they managed to earn honours while three encounters finished without much favour to them.
“We had high hopes prior to the season but as it progressed we understood that all our opponents have different specialities, especially at their home venues. We had a well balanced unit, with a fairly good batting line up and an efficient bowling attack, coupled up with seam and spin. But unavailability of a home venue failed to improvise our game plans.
We host our matches at the BOI ground in Katunayake and each time we play there the pitch acts completely different from the other day. That’s one aspect that dodged our win,” Silva who took over Mahanama midway during last season added.
Mahanama’s batting line up comprise of a stream of all-rounders. Chathura Jayasinghe acts as an opening batsman as well as an opening fast bowler. To partner him in batting is Dulanja Silva who is also a medium paceman. Next in the batting line up is skipper Tissakuttige followed by Chathura Wanniarachchi, Pawan Devinda, Janaka Dayananda, Naveen Silva, Subuddhi Kaushalya and Dayan Perera. Two slots are always kept open for promising players from the junior squads or players to suit the conditions and opponents.
Mahanama’s balanced bowling attack is unbolted by right-arm pacies Jayasinghe and Kaushalya. Nayana Prabath and Rumesh Madushanka are the blossoming youngsters in the pace attack. They also are equipped with two leading off-spinners and a couple of leg-spinners who are able to tighten up the grip. Much was expected from this strong set up but they are still behind expectations.
“To be precise we had the target of winning eight games. But the surroundings did not offer us much help and in addition players are rather sluggish in adapting to the game plans or new conditions. It needs time to change or cause a major impact on the team’s performances. Our aim now is to advance to the limited overs tournament but a win on the way will be a bonus,” Silva further stated. - NA |
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