Naweed Ghany a future star

A promising allrounder of whom much should be heard of in cricket in the future is 18-year old Thomian Naweed Ghany.

From the time he was knee high to a bat, Ghany showed good cricket sense and as his career progressed, it was apparent that he was from out of the ordinary.

Earlier in his career he was a fine leg spin/googly bowler and made use of his great height to spin the ball viciously and many were the batsmen who could not read which way he was going.

Ghany was fortunate to come under the wing of former Bloomfield and Sri Lanka batting star Jayantha Seneviratne at the age of 10. Seneviratne now serves in the selection committee of Sri Lanka cricket, saw the hidden talent in the lad and nurtured and guided him to what he is today.

Seneviratne taught him the correct techniques in batting, bowling and fielding and in addition saw to it that he has the correct temperament that would help him progress in the highly competitive cricket scene in the country.

Then when Ghany was blossoming another coach who needs no introduction Nelson Mendis gave him the necessary exposure by taking him on two tours to India with the Nelson Mendis Cricket Academy in 2005/06.

A Thomian now, Ghany first played for the Colombo International School and at the age of 16 captained the school. He played for the CIS from the age of 14.

But he showed his real talent when he joined S. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia and came under two excellent coaches in Ranil Abeynaike and Ajit Jayasekera.

Abeynaike and Jayasekera, two former Thomian brilliant cricketers, were quick to spot the extraordinary talent in the lad and they have now turned him into one, if not eh best allrounder in the schools scene.

Ghany first made his appearance in Thomian colours in the under 17 tournament with some fine allround efforts and it did not take him long to play in Thomian first side. He scored a century and had many five wicket hauls with 8 for 25 being his best.

Unfortunate to suffer a back injury when in his prime, he missed the all-important first term games. Recovering from the injury, he hit back with a vengeance to be named the Best allrounder for STC in the season 2007/08.

In the recently concluded school season Ghany won the Best Allrounder's prize in his school scoring around 500 runs and bagging 70 wickets, despite missing some of the early games.

Ghany now a fast medium bowling allrounder also won the man of the match award for steering his school to victory against Royal in the one-day encounter. Ghany is grateful to his coaches Jayantha Seneviratne, Nelson Mendis, Ranil Abeynaike and Ajit Jayasekera for showing him how and says he is what he is now thanks to their able guidance.

Ghany also attributes his success to Dr. David Ponniah, a former Thomian opener for all the encouragement and guidance. Incidentally Ponniah and Jayasekera were two dashing opening batsmen for the Mount Lavinia school. He also remembers with gratitude, the support of his former principal of Colombo International School Mr. Sanders who is now in the UK.

Naweed is the son of former leg spinning allrounder Ashroff Ghany who played Sara trophy cricket, who was the president of the Nationalised Sports Federation and who also served in the Board of Contro for Cricket in Sri Lanka.

Ghany captained under 16 Jayantha Seneviratne School of Cricket team to India in April 2005, to participate in the Hewlett and Packard Series. He led from the front and had an aggregate of 421 runs in five innings with Knocks of 202 not out against Best Club Cricket Academy, and 115 not out against Imtiaz Ahmed Cricket Academy, to finish with an average of 141.

Ghany was also the highest wicket taker in that series with 14 wickets with the best figures being 5 for 30 against Kanara Blues. He was adjudged the man of the series in this tournament.

The performances of our young JSSC Cricketers there made the Indian past Cricketers say in the Indian Press that our junior Cricket was far superior.

Ghany, playing for CCC against Brighton School of UK in 2004 scored 77 not out and took 3 for 16 to be adjudged man of the match.

He also got a hat-trick against the visiting Moreton Cricket Club of Australia which ended in a thrilling tie.