Tharanga should be given a chance

Achala RAMANAYEKA

Tharanga Lakshitha is a fine medium pace bowler who is currently representing Bloomfield cricket club which won the domestic premier cricket one day tournament, where he performed really well with every given chance.

Tharanga reached the highest in the early stages of the career as he was selected for the Sri Lanka team in 2004 to tour South Africa for several test matches. He did well in a warm-up game by capturing three wickets but unfortunately for him he was not picked for a single match during the series.

As he was one of the fastest bowlers in Sri Lanka at the time Tharanga had the ability of achieving something special if he had a chance to play in that series as we all know South African pitches are more suitable for fast bowlers. But unfortunately he was left out.

When Tharanga was selected to tour South Africa in 2004 he had only played 11 1st class matches and was able to capture 27 wickets with an average of 15.07. Most importantly at the time he had obtained training from the MRF Fast bowling cricket academy in India.

He represented the Sri Lanka 'A' team in 2005 and was a proud member of the team which won the Duleep trophy, in the the Indian provincial tournament. Also Tharanga played several unofficial test matches against Pakistan 'A' team in the same season.

27 year old Tharanga has represented many clubs and teams during his career namely Bloomfield cricket club, Chillaw Mariens cricket club, Moors cricket club, Matara cricket club and Ruhunu province team where he played a key role in the bowling department in every team. Also he did perform very well in the England cricket league last year proving his talents.

In the domestic tournaments representing Bloomfield Tharanga did reasonably well in both the one day tournament as well as in the premier three day tournament. In the one day tournament he played 11 matches and captured 16 wickets with an average of 23.30 and the best being 4 for 38 against Chillaw Mariens. Also he captained the team in the more crucial semi finals in the absence of the regular captain. In the premier tournament he played 10 matches and captured 35 wickets bowling 177 overs with an average of 17.71 and the best being 6 for 48 against NCC. Also he took 3 five wicket hauls during the tournament.

He performed really well in the inter province four day tournament last season by capturing 12 wickets in three matches bowling 96 overs which includes 16 maiden overs, conceding only 330 runs with an average of 27.50 and the best performance being 7 for 59 against Wayamba province.

After that he showed his capabilities very well in the inter province twenty 20 tournament by being the highest wicket taker in the first round. In six matches he bowled 15.3 overs and captured 11 wickets with an average of 9.63 which is remarkable in T/20 format. His personal best being 5 wickets for 16 runs against Kandurata.

With performances of this nature recently Tharanga is desperately trying to get back to the Sri Lanka squad in the near future. Tharanga Lakshitha has not been named for any Sri Lankan team or a squad in the recent past.