Tharanga braves tsunami to make it to national team

BY SA'ADI Thawfeeq

FOR Warushavithana Upul Tharanga, the dreaded Boxing Day tsunami left untold scars on his career as a cricketer. It is not that he lost any members of his family - they were fortunate to survive the frightening experience.

But more than that the house he lived at Ambalangoda, just five kilometers from the sea was washed away and along with it all the cricket trophies and tour souvenirs that he had won over the years and so fondly treasured and, some of his cricketing gear.

Fortunately for Tharanga he was in Colombo at that time. Tharanga plays for NCC in the Premier competition and whenever he is in Colombo he is given a room in the club gym to stay. His family does not have a house of their own and they live in the home of one of their uncles.

For Tharanga whose father is a fish distributor in the area where he lives, it was a severe setback. He did not come from an influential family and for him every penny counted. But help was at hand.

Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka wicket-keeper/batsman who plays for the same club NCC helped him financially with a substantial amount of money, which was sufficient to help buy back some of the cricket gear he lost.

Sangakkara has been an inspiration in Tharanga's cricket career. Like him he bats left-handed and he also keeps wickets although his selection to the Sri Lanka team for the IOC one-day tri series will not see him don gloves behind the wicket because he has been picked solely as a top order batsman either to open the batting with the illustrious Sanath Jayasuriya or bat at first drop.

The irony of Tharanga's selection to the national team is that he replaced Saman Jayantha who happens to be his uncle. Jayantha opened the batting with Jayasuriya in the last one-day international played by Sri Lanka against New Zealand at Auckland on Boxing Day. Tomorrow's lung-opener against India at Dambulla will be Sri Lanka's first one-dayer since the tsunami.

The 20-year-old Tharanga showed signs of becoming an accomplished top order batsman from his schooldays at Dharmasoka MV in Ambalangoda.

"I never had a proper school cricket season because I was always selected to represent national sides at home or on tours," said Tharanga.

He was a member of the Sri Lanka under 15 and under19 World Cup squads in England (2000) and in New Zealand (2002) respectively and also toured Bangladesh with the Sri Lanka under 17 team in 2001.

By the age of 15 he was representing Singha SC in the Premier competition. But it was in 2004 and 2005 that Tharanga began proving his mettle as a promising prospect for the future.

In the under 19 World Cup held in Bangladesh in 2004 he won the man-of-the-match award with a superb knock of 117 off 140 balls against South Africa which enabled Sri Lanka to win their super league match by 29 runs.

However in the next game against India, his innings of 61 off 42 balls (10 fours, 1 six) was not enough to overhaul an imposing total of 316, falling short by 56 runs.

Tharanga continued to impress this year too when emerged as the most consistent opening batsman on the under 19 tour to Pakistan completing fifties in every match (2 tests and 2 one-day games) he played and topping it all up with a century.

His performances did not go unnoticed. Sri Lanka Cricket offered him a six-month scholarship to the United Kingdom to play for Loughton in the Essex league. He made over 600 runs from 16 matches and playing for Essex Seconds against Middlesex at Southgate he hit a spectacular 158.

The first signs that Tharanga was being seriously considered for higher honours came with his selection to the Sri Lanka Cricket XI in the 2-day practice match against the touring West Indies at NCC.

Opening the batting with national team captain Marvan Atapattu, Tharanga put on 96 for the first wicket with his share being 41. He continued his good form for Sri Lanka 'A' against West Indies 'A' in the five-match one-day series, which eventually led to his selection to the senior team.

The innings Tharanga treasures most is his record breaking knock of 169 for Dharmasoka against Sri Devananda MV in their traditional 'big match' played at the Galle Stadium in 2004.

He broke the school record of 145 held by H. Premasiri who happens to be one of his cricket coaches, the others being Asoka Kumar and Kumar Nandasiri.

"I am so devoted to the game that I never missed a day's practice. I owe my success so far to my commitment to the game and to these individuals," said Tharanga whose one ambition is to represent his country and cement a regular place in the national team. His brother Nuwan Tharanga is a versatile swimmer.