Maris Stella aim to remain unbeaten

Chris Dhambarage

Maris Stella College Negombo with a combination of youth and experience have set their minds on making the maximum from the opportunities and to remain unbeaten in the current inter-school under 19 cricket tournament.

They have completed the first stage of the current season quite successfully and are looking forward to improving on that record in the up-coming fixtures.

They have been able to come out victorious on three occasions against President's College, St. Anne's College Kurunegala and St. Servatius College Matara.

The most striking fact is that on all three occasions they have won by an innings and with plenty of overs to spare.

Their next goal will be to see through the crucial final stages of the current season where they will be up against Revata MMV Balapitiya, Kingswood College Kandy, De Mazenod College Kandana and Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa.

High standards

Maris Stella College have always been able to maintain high standards on the field and have produced a number of top class cricketers during the past few years.

Seamer Graeme Labrooy is undoubtedly their most outstanding player who went on to represent the country in both Test and One Day Internationals with distinction while Ranga Dias played for the Sri Lanka 'A' team.

In addition they have produced a host of other quality players who are currently making headway in the domestic scene. In fact Vimukthi Dassanayake was a member of the champion Chilaw Marians Cricket Club which clinched the SLC Premier League Tier 'A' title recently.

Malinda Samarasekera (Negombo CC) and Shanuka de Silva (Leo CC) are two other good players who are currently making steady progress in the SLC domestic scene.

Among the present set of players Angelo Jayasinghe has emerged as a promising cricketer having already made his appearance with the Sri Lanka under 13, 15 and 17 teams with a great amount of success. He also had the credit of been the vice captain of the Sri Lanka under 15 and 17 teams.

Two other current players Nicholo Fernando and Prasansana Jayamanna had the opportunity of touring Malaysia with the Sri Lanka under 15 team that emerged champions in a Tri Nation tournament which also featured the hosts and Singapore.

Successful tour

Jayamanna incidentally had a very successful tour where he also took the man of the Match award in the very first encounter.

This time of course Maris Stella College have lost a number of their key player who played a dominant role in the concluded inter-school season. In fact last year they pulled off five outright victories against St. Servatius College Matara, Lumbini MV, De Mazenod College Kandana, Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa and Revata MMV Balapitiya.

The team will be captained by fourth year player and left hand batsman Malinda Samarasekera who has two fifties to his credit this season against St. Peter's and President's College respectively. Last year of course he amassed over 580 runs and is looking forward to producing a repeat performance.

Second year player and allrounder Dasun Shanaka is the vice captain of the side having already made some valuable contributions with both bat and ball. The right hand middle order batsman has accumulated over 450 runs inclusive of three half centuries against St. Anne's College Kurunegala, President's College and St. Aloysius College Galle.

Five half 'tons'

The right arm fast bowler has also captured over 25 wickets with a best effort of six wickets for 49 against St. Peter's College. Last year too he was among the runs with over 500 runs inclusive of five half centuries.

All rounder Shanuka de Silva is easily their most experienced player and will be representing the First Eleven team for the sixth successive year.

The stylish left hand middle order batsman struck two solid half centuries against Richmond College Galle and Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda having collected over 650 runs in the concluded season.

Meanwhile fourth year player Angelo Jayasinghe is their most dependable batsman having crossed the 500 run mark during the match against Thurstan College on their home grounds in Negombo recently. In the same match the right arm off spinner captured four wickets for 29 in the first innings. Before that he had compiled four half centuries against Richmond College Galle, St. Peter's College, Trinity College Kandy and St. Anne's College Kurunegala respectively. This has been a tremendous improvement considering the fact that last year he managed to score only a solitary half century.

Second year player and right arm fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera is their main strike bowler having captured over 30 wickets including a matchbag of nine wickets in the clash against St. Anne's College Kurunegala. In addition he snapped up a four wicket haul against President's College.

Reliable batsman

Second year player and wicket-keeper opening batsman Sanjaya Silva is another reliable batsman having scored three good half centuries against Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda, Trinity College Kandy and St. Peter's College. He also has 30 victims behind the stumps.

Third year player and last year's Under 15 captain Prasansana Jayamanna has been able to maintain his reputation as a solid middle order batsman with three good half centuries to his credit against President's College, St. Peter's College and Trinity College Kandy.

Among the newcomers allrounder Vishwa Kanchuka has shown a great deal of promise with two fighting half centuries against St. Joseph's College and President's College in addition to capturing 18 wickets as a fast bowler.

The rest of the members of the First Eleven squad are Yasith Dilshan, Matheesha Wijeratne, Satheera Dileepa, Dananjaya Perera, Chatura Dilhan, Shehan Janitha, Shehan Dilasiri, Shehan Fernando, Nicholo Fernando, Dishen Rodrigo and Sajith Peiris.