Denham Perera

Following in the footsteps of his brother :

Dilanka Mannakkara

The match was hanging in the balance.The acting Peterite skipper Denham Perera walked in to the middle when the score was 63 for 4.The top order had been dismissed and his side needed a captain's knock to repair and rebuild the innings.

He had to defend his wicket as well as to build up a partnership for consolidation. Though the Benedictine bowlers were coming hard at him, Denham displayed the concentration, guts and steel for a long innings and got into the act with some elegant drives. He and his partner Kaushal Ranasinghe complemented each other very well and laid the foundation for a huge first innings score. Finally they put together 168 valuable runs and the Peterites ended the match by winning on the first innings. Denham batted almost the entire day and showed immense concentration and patience to build up a long innings and hit a career best 170, with 17 hits to the rope and one over it.

It was a true captain's knock which he occupied the crease for 300 balls and ensured that his side got the first innings points in the drawn game. Denham who is the brother of Sri Lanka youth cap Angelo Perera joined the elite group of Peterite brothers who have scored more than 150 in an innings.

During his epic knock of 170, he was cool under pressure, was prepared to wait for the loose deliveries and was willing to push the singles to rotate the strike and not to get bogged down.

Denham started his cricketing career at the tender age of 10 years under the guidance of Lionel Mendis. Due to the immense potential and promise he showed even as a young boy he had the honour of captaining the under 12,13,15 and 17 St. Peters sides.

He captained the champion under 15 St Peters side which won the All Island Inter School Division 1 Astra Cup,cricket tournament in 2007.

In the final of the under 15 match Denham showed great maturity and determination to save the match for his team as he carried his bat throughout the 90 overs and was unfortunate to miss out on a well compiled century as he ended up 99 not out.

Denham has also represented the Colombo District and the Western Province in the under 17 age category. In the 2008/09 school season this stylish,right handed opener accumulated over 550 runs with one century and three half centuries.

His century came against a strong Isipatana side where he scored a fine 124. Keerthi Gunawardene who is the current coach of the St Peter's team has helped Denham to be more technically correct and to improve in his shot selection.

Denham Perera is one of those rare school boy cricketers who has potential to be a solid opener in the longer version of the game and one can expect more match winning knocks from him in the near future.