Wesley looking to redeem lost prestige

Chris Dhambarage

Wesley College having recorded their first victory in five years this season are determined to put up an impressive performance in the current inter school under 19 cricket tournament.

They have relaunched their entire cricket structure under the supervision of a new head coach, new captain and also they will be performing on a brand new surface at Campbell Park which was prepared by Sri Lanka Cricket.

The motive is of course quite clear as they are hoping to redeem some of their lost prestige and to be among the best at least within the next couple of seasons. They have gone through without a win for five seasons which is quite frustrating and demoralizing to any side.

This means Wesley College who usually play at least 15 games per season have figured in nearly 75 matches under three different coaches before registering their first ever win which they achieved recently by defeating Sri Jayawardenapura MV outright.

They followed up this with another superb all round performance by recording a morale boosting innings victory over Kingswood College Kandy on their home grounds at Campbell Park. This was also a unique effort considering the fact that they had last defeated Kingswood College eight years ago.

These two victories in the early part of the season have certainly given Wesley College new hope as they look to finish off things with at least six to seven outright victories under the guidance of veteran coach Dinesh Kumarasinghe who was instrumental in helping Saracens SC to clinch the SLC Premier League Tier 'B' title recently.

The feature in this year's Wesley team is the presence of five under 15 players who have been given the opportunity of gaining experience for the future. They have moved along with the rest of the senior players and are expected to produce the results as the season progresses.

As a result the team is lacking in maturity, but they are improving tremendously as they look to form a successful combination to meet the future challenges which are ahead of them. They of course suffered a minor setback when they went down to St. Joseph's College by ten wickets at Darley Road.

But they were able to bounce back immediately and went on to beat Kingswood College by a convincing margin. This was no doubt the biggest achievement for the Wesleyites who are banking heavily on their captain and vice captain to deliver the goods this season.

Incidentally skipper Dulanjana Wijesinghe and his deputy Ranindra Sooriyakumara are the two most experienced players in the line up having played a lot of First Eleven cricket between each other. All rounder Wijesinghe is also the only coloursman in the team and will be representing Wesley College for the fifth year.

The right arm off spinner was the architect behind their success against Kingswood College where he returned astonishing figures of five wickets for seven runs. Altogether he has captured over 20 wickets from five outings and has scored over 250 runs inclusive of one half century against Sri Jayawardenapura MV.

Wijesinghe is well set to improve on his last year's performance where he accumulated 885 runs with the aid of seven fifties against Sri Jayawardenapura MV, Kingswood College, Lumbini MV, Isipatana, St. Sebastian's and Prince of Wales College Moratuwa. In addition he picked up 48 wickets and returned best figures against Ananda College.

Third year player and vice captain Ranindra Sooriyakumara has been equally brilliant with both bat and ball having made his presence felt almost every outing in the current season. The right arm off spinner completed an outstanding game against Sri Jayawardenapura MV where he hit a solid half century and followed up with figures of four wickets for eight runs.

The right hand middle order batsman struck another valuable half century against Dharmaraja College Kandy and has so far accumulated over 300 runs from five outings. Last season too he was quite consistent with the bat while scoring over 400 runs from nine matches inclusive of two fifties against Nalanda College (96) and Prince of Wales College Moratuwa. Third year player and left hand middle order batsman Ashane Fonseka also had a successful season last year but is yet to produce a match winning performance for his side. He struck twin fifties in the game against Prince of Wales College and finished with a tally of over 400 runs. In addition he snapped up 18 wickets with a best effort of four wickets for 38 against Nalanda College.

Third year player and right arm opening bowler Daniel Bartholomeusz has shown signs of turning into a fiery fast bowler having captured four wickets for 44 against Kingswood College. Wicket keeper batsman Denuwan Dassanayake and leg spinner Ashail Kariyawasam are two other third year players who are expected to strike form during the latter stages of the season.

Second year player and left arm spinner Sachin Jayawardena is set to spearhead their bowling attack following a very successful inter school season last year where he captured 48 wickets including three five wicket hauls against St. Joseph's College (5/45), St. Sebastian's College (5/52) and Lumbini MV (5/60).

He will be joined by another left arm spinner and second year player Baasith Muzammil who had two five wicket hauls last year against St. Joseph's College (5/56) and Trinity College Kandy (5/38) respectively.

Third year player and left hand opening batsman Javed Bongso, second year player and left arm opening bowler Tharindu Karunaratne, second year player and all rounder D. Sivakkrishnan, second year player and right hand batsman Migara Wickremasinghe, fresher and right arm fast bowler Sadeem Thowfeeq and left arm spinner Rahul de Silva are the rest of the players in the first eleven squad.