Royal out to give a repeat performance this year

Chris Dhambarage

Royal College with two Sri Lanka youth players and several other senior coloursmen in their ranks are confident of producing a repeat performance in the current inter school under 19 cricket tournament.

Last year they emerged as the best team in the country following a tremendous season where they recorded as many as nine outright victories to equal the 1971 College record held by Asitha Jayaweera.

The team from Reid Avenue also went on to create history when they defeated both Ananda College and Nalanda College in the same year after a lapse of 45 years.

They went on remain unbeaten throughout their 15 matches and had the better of St. Benedict’s, Trinity, Isipatana, Richmond, Dharmaraja, St. Sebastian’s and Lumbini MV.

Royal also rounded up a fantastic season when they took major honours in the 130th annual inter school Big Match against their traditional rivals S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia worked off at the SSC ground in Maitland Place.

In addition there were few other brilliant individual contributions as well that helped them to maintain their superiority throughout the season. The best effort certainly came from the left arm spinner Maneesha Tantrigoda who became only the sixth Royalist to claim more than 70 wickets during a season.

The fourth year coloursman who is also the acting captain for the current season finished with a rich haul of 72 wickets and joined a select band of players in the caliber of C. R. L. Chitty (87), J. Kudahetty (71), A. R. Jayaweera (71), H. S. Yapa (71) and J. Amarasinghe (72).

Not only that last year they had two top batsmen Bhanuka Rajapaksa (1184) and Kithruwan Vithanage (1090) who went pass the one thousand run mark. The pair carried the entire burden on their shoulders and put up a magnificent performance while scoring heavily both at home and away. However this season Royal will be minus these two players almost the entire season following their commitments with the Sri Lanka Under-19 team which is currently touring New Zealand for the ICC World Cup. Even then both players are expected to return home in time for their all important Big Match which is scheduled for March 11 to 13 at the SSC ground in Maitland Place.

Despite the absence of these two top players, Royal College have already made their presence felt with two outright victories to their credit. The best effort was certainly the six wicket triumph over St. Joseph’s College which they achieved after a lapse of 16 years.

Their success on their home grounds at Reid Avenue had even more significance considering the fact that they were minus five of their regular players. But yet they proved their capabilities with a couple of new players grabbing the opportunity to steal the limelight.

They produced two centurions in the same innings which was another feat as they piled up over three hundred runs before dismissing their opponents for 152 and 204 in the two innings respectively.

Second year coloursman and left hand top order batsman Ramith Rambukwell and Charutha Rajaratne both went on to make splendid hundreds and also figured in a massive 204 run partnership for the fifth wicket.

But the cynosure of all eyes have been on their acting captain Maneesha Tantrigoda who is now just one wicket away from completing fifty wickets for the current inter school season. The left arm spinner seems to be continuing from where he left last year where he emerged as one of the top wicket takers. This time he has led from the front and has been the key player in the line up with some outstanding bowling performances in their nine matches played so far. He had a matchbag of ten wickets on three occasions against St. Anthony’s, Zahira and St. Joseph’s and also had the rare honour of claiming four wickets in four successive deliveries.

Third year coloursman and left hand opening batsman Chalaka Bogoda is their acting vice captain for the current season having accumulated over three hundred runs inclusive of three half centuries.

But the top run getter this season has been Charutha Rajaratne who has already amassed over five hundred runs including one century and two fifties against Nalanda and St. Anthony’s.

Left hander Ramitha Rambukwella has also reached the five hundred run mark for the season having scored one century and two half centuries against St. Anthony’s and Nalanda.

The Royal team also includes a number of under 15 players who have been given the opportunity of obtaining valuable experience by playing in the first eleven side. Among them right arm fast bowler Imran Khan has been impressive having bagged a five wicket haul against Zahira and two four wicket hauls against Thurstan and St. Benedict’s respectively.

In addition left hand opener Imal Liyanage is a promising batsman having hit a top score of 78 against Richmond College Galle. Another left hander Savinda Edirisuriya hit a superb 80 against St. Anthony’s while Charith Devasurendra also made 80 against Nalanda.

Wicket keeper batsman Milan Abeysekera struck an unbeaten 76 against St. Benedict’s and left arm opening bowler Lakshan Landawela took a five wicket haul against the same opposition.

Right hand batsman Sampath de Silva, Madusha Rajaratne, Tharindu Abeysekera, Dhanika Rajakaruna and 14 year old Devin Padmananda are the rest of the members in the First Eleven squad.