Madushka knocks on the door with epic double ton
Opening batter Nishan Madushka has proven himself to be a great asset to the Test side - Pic courtesy SLC
Right-handed opener Nishan Madushka has continued his sublime form with the willow by crunching back-to-back centuries against the visiting England Lions, pushing himself towards a national call-up during the next month’s Test series against New Zealand.
Madushka–a wicket-keeper batter who represents Ragama CC in the domestic circuit–hit an impressive 150 (retired out) for
Sri Lanka Board President XI in a warm up game against the England Lions. He backed this up with a masterful double century that is expected to force selectors to open the national team’s doors to the 23-year-old youngster when they sit down to finalise the Test squad for Sri Lanka’s last two games in the current Test Championship cycle.
Having said that, whether the former Moratuwa Vidyalaya boy can make his Test debut does still remain doubtful as Sri Lanka could choose to field its tried-and-tested combination during the series in New Zealand. They need a difficult whitewash to keep their chance of entering the World Test Championships final. Sri Lanka is currently at number three behind Australia and India, who are fighting to book their berths in the final.
“The way he has been scoring runs, we cannot turn a blind eye,” said Chief Selector Pramodya Wickremasinghe.
“He has been very consistent with the bat since last year and we, as selectors, will look at him very closely as we sit down to decide the team for the New Zealand series. We have a more-or-less settled batting unit in Tests at the moment but we cannot ignore this lad’s performances.”
“Since he is a wicket-keeper batter, we are discussing how best we could fit him into the side. It’s not easy for a wicket-keeper to open batting and then do the glove work in a five day game. But definitely we will bring him to the national side as he is in very good form,” he explained.
This means Madushka could travel to New Zealand with the Test squad. This would place pressure on wicket-keeper batter Niroshan Dickwella, the number one pick for glove work in Test cricket.
Madushka made a statement with his knock in the warm up game and, despite scoring just one run in the first innings where Sri Lanka was bowled out for 136 runs, he came up with a superlative batting performance to make a strong case for selection in the first drawn unofficial four-day game concluded on Friday in Galle.
His 241 had 25 boundaries and four sixes as he punished the England Lion bowlers effortlessly to put Sri Lanka ‘A’ in a strong position. His ability to play long innings was in display as he faced 423 balls in his marathon knock, including two 200-plus run stands and two stands of 100 and above.
“He reminds me of Pathum Nissanka,” said ‘A’ team Head Coach Avishka Gunawardena.
“He played a scintillating inning against a very good bowling attack on a tough wicket and I would like him to do this more consistently.”
“What I like the most about him is his temperament and ability to change gears according to the situation. He has proved he can bat long innings and I think he has a bright future ahead,” predicted Gunawardena, himself an opener during his playing career.
Just last year, Madushka became the fastest Sri Lankan batter to score 1000 first class runs accumulating 1025 runs from nine innings (six matches) which included five centuries, including a career best unbeaten triple ton (300n.o.) scored against Sebastianites.
He also hit three fifties and maintained an excellent average of 146.42. He scored 150 and 100 not out vs Galle CC, 300 not out. vs Sebastianites, 62 vs Kurunegala Youth C.C, 107 vs BRC, 125 and 81 vs Police SC, and 30 and 70 vs Kandy Customs Sports Club this season.
Madushka has scored 10 first class centuries and 14 half centuries aggregating 3267 runs from 37 matches (58 innings) averaging 61.64.