U-19 Cricket: Inter-schools performance indicator out

The Sunday Times in collaboration with Batsman.com takes yet another initiative by teaming up to publish the Top 10 ranked players in the ongoing Inter-School Under-19 Division I Cricket Tournament. 

The rankings, which are totally based on statistics released by the Sri Lanka School Cricket Association (SLSCA) to its official stats provider Batsman.com, will be published in the Sunday Times every fortnight. 

As at official statistics available on January 13, Pathum Nissanka of Isipathana College and Hareen Buddhila Weerasinghe of St. Aloysius' College Galle lead the batting and bowling rankings respectively. 

The rankings will set off with batting and bowling and will be developed further with more inclusions in the coming weeks. 

In batting, Nissanka, the right hand batsman of Isipathana College is in front with a total of 728 runs in seven matches. 

His impressive record, from 12 innings, includes the top score of 205, which came in the opening week of the competition. 

So far he has made up three hundreds and three fifties and claims a healthy batting average of 72.80. 

At second place is Nipun Perera of St. Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa, a southpaw who has accumulated 652 runs in six matches off 11 innings. 

His average however sits slightly lower than of Nissanka, which is 72.44. 

At third place is Hiruna Sigera of Presidents College Kotte, who has a tally of 546 runs in eight matches and 13 innings. 

With an average of 49.64, Sigera claims a ton (141), and four half centuries. 

Lasith Croosepulle of Maris Stella College Negombo is at No.4 in batting with an average of 59.78 and a total of 538 runs in seven matches off nine innings. 

At fifth is Krishan Sanjula of De Mazenod College Kandana. 

He claims the best individual knock of 253 runs this season and has an average of 72.14 in six games off seven innings. 

The rest of the lineup include Deshan Gunasinghe of Dharmaraja College, Shanogeeth Shanmuganathan of Trinity College, Sasiri Adikari of Bandaranayake Maha Vidyalaya Gampaha, Madushan Ranatunga of St. Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa and Kaveesha de Silva of St. Peter's College. 

In bowling Hareen Buddhila Weerasinghe of St. Aloysius' College Galle takes the top position with a tally of 55 wickets in six matches. 

The left-arm spinner becomes the first bowler to reach the 50-wicket mark this season and is on the run to claim 100 wickets with a fine bowling average of 9.71. 

Next to his at second in the rankings is Dyan Vimukthi of Lumbini College, who has a tally of 40 wickets in eight matches. 

Unlike Buddhila, who already claims six 5-wicket hauls and two match bags of 10 wickets, Vimukthi, also a left-arm spinner, runs a bit slower with an average of 15.93. 

Ameen Miflal, another left-arm spinner, of St. Peter's College sits at third position with 38 wickets from eight matches. 

He averages 13.39 per wicket and claims eight 4-wicket hauls so far. 

Trinity College left-arm spinner Sanogeeth Shanmuganathan has claimed 37 wickets in 10 matches and is placed at fourth ahead of Dileepa Jayalath of Ananda College, who is two wickets short of Shanmuganathan. 

Others in the list are Harin Cooray of St. Joseph's College, Pavith Ratnayake of S. Thomas' College, Kanishka Maduwantha of Lumbini College, Dellon Peiris of S. Thomas' College and Vimukthi Nehumal of Trinity College. 

These rankings have the highest possibility of changing places before the next rankings come out in two weeks, as the stats provider Batsman.com is updating its base with the up-to-date scorecards, flowing in from schools. 

In two weeks the rankings in both batting and bowling will be a different list as more information is on its way from schools through SLSCA. 

But as at now, these players take the honour of taking the Top 10 slots in batting and bowling from a potentially longer list wih good performers.