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by Premasara Epasinghe

My memory goes down to an under-11 cricket match conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association at the BRC grounds in late 1970s. Two tiny-tots, who represented Isipatana Vidyalaya under 11 cricket team created a batting record in this match. Both of them were left-handers.

Each of them scored centuries. Out of the two, one scored a scintillating 154 runs, which remained the highest individual score for few years.

These two tiny-tots represented Sri Lanka in the mid 1980s, together. They graduated to the Sri Lanka cricket team, after representing Nalanda Vidyalaya and D. S. Senanayake Vidyalaya and Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) and Nondescript Cricket Club (NCC) respectively. These two players are Asanka Gurusinha and Hashan Tillekeratne, who became world class cricketers later.

Hashan Tillekeratne's under 11 Sri Lanka batting record was erased by another left-hander - Bhagya Epasinghe. He scored an unbeaten 158 against Zahira College, Colombo in 1980, while captaining Nalanda. Later, he represented S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia in the first eleven in 1988-1989 as the opening batsman and played for the University of Ceylon, Colombo and Nondescripts, Bhagya sacrificed a career in cricket, for academic pursuits. He is presently domiciled in Australia and serves as a Financial Controller in a leading Government Institution in Canberra.

Tillekeratne, scored a brilliant 104 not out against South Africa in the recently concluded Test at the Centurion Park, South Africa. He created history as the first Sri Lankan batsman to score a century in South Africa soil in his 73rd Test. When Hashan scored his 85th run, in this Test match, he became the fourth Sri Lankan cricketer to pass the 4,000 run mark. Presently, he has scored 4019 runs in his Test career.

Others who passed the 4,000 mark are Aravinda de Silva (93 matches - 6,361), Arjuna Ranatunga (93 matches - 5,105), Sanath Jayasuriya (76 matches - 4,789) and Hashan Tillekeratne (73 matches - 4,019).

After the World Cup debacle of 1999, the selection dropped experienced Hashan from the Sri Lanka squad, although his Test average was 44.65. His one-day average stood at 29.64 in 181 matches, 154 innings, with a tally of 3,439 runs. He had two centuries and 12 half centuries in the shorter version of the game.

All games, like life, serve up a variety of up and down, encomium and ignominies! Tillekeratne was no exception. Anyone who has played cricket at any level knows that all players have their days of disaster as well as their days of glory.

Born on 14th July 1967, in Colombo, Tillekeratne blossomed into a fine schoolboy cricketer at D. S. Senanayake Vidyalaya. Late "Charlie" Warnakulasuriya, W. A. N. Silva and P. W. Perera coached him at the school level.

After joining Nondescript Cricket Club, he was very fortunate that he came under the watchful eyes of Ranjit Fernando, who guided him and Aravinda de Silva to greater heights.

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