Kulatunga power and arrogance

Chris Dhambarage

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[The fact file:]

Full name: Hettiarachchi

Gamage Jeevantha Mahesh Kulatunga

Born: November 2, 1973, Kurunegala

Current age: 36 years

Major teams: Sri Lanka, Club XI, Colts Cricket Club, Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club, Maliyadeva College, North Central Province, Sri Lanka A, Sri Lanka Board President’s XI, Uva Province, Wayamba.

Playing role: All-rounder

Batting style: Right-hand bat

Bowling style: Right-arm medium

Height: 5 ft 11 in

Education: Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala

First class debut: 1990

First class matches: 182, Innings: 266, Not outs: 14, Runs: 8014, Highest score: 234, Average: 31.80, 100s: 12, 50s: 48, Wickets: 77, Best figures: 5 for 67, Aver

age: 29.09, Catches: 184

How he fared in the Inter Provincial Twenty20

tournament:

8 in 5 balls v Basnahira South at Pallekelle

38 in 28 balls v SLC Combined XI at Kandy

53 in 34 balls v Basnahira North at Kurunegala

104 n.o, in 62 balls v Kandurata at Galle

(Semifinal): 48 n.o, in 37 balls v Basnahira South at Moratuwa

(Final): 26 in 16 balls v Ruhuna at Moratuwa

Total runs: 277, Highest score: 104 n.o, Average: 69.25, Strike rate: 152.19

Last year he hammered the fastest double century in a three-day domestic match having made his first class debut while still as a seventeen-year-old schoolboy. And last week he established another piece of record by smashing Sri Lanka’s fastest hundred in an Inter Provincial Twenty20 tournament match at the Galle Stadium.

For Jeevanatha Mahesh Kulatunga batting is all about power and arrogance as he keeps on scoring runs at a tremendous rate to emerge as one of the finest entertainers in the domestic scene.

The 36-year-old former all-rounder from Colts Cricket Club produced his latest heroics with the bat to help his team Wayamba retain the Bank of Ceylon Inter Provincial Twenty20 title for the third successive year.

He turned out to be the highest run getter for Wayamba with a staggering strike rate of 152.19 and the reward for his match winning performances was the Man-of-the-Series award.

But the most striking feature in his efforts have been the fact that he has brought a new dimension into the art of batting specially in the shortest version of the game. The aggressive right hander is capable of clearing the boundaries quite regularly and he could repeat that performance whether it is during the power play or even without the field restrictions.

This is a remarkable achievement from a 36-year-old veteran who has maintained a high class of fitness and training throughout his career. Incidentally he has missed out only a couple of first class matches during a span of nearly two decades for Colts Cricket Club which is a clear evidence of his total commitment towards the game.

The other major significance behind his success is because of his consistency which has been a great hallmark throughout his career which has now probably reached a high point.

Kulatunga of course has always enjoyed the game from the moment he stepped into the scene where he made his first class debut for Kurunegala YCC under the captaincy of Ranjith Madurasinghe.

He made a sensational start while scoring 64 and from there onwards he grabbed the opportunity and went on to make a name for himself as one of the most destructive batsmen in domestic cricket.

He has lived upto that expectations until now and seem to be striking the ball harder than ever before while causing plenty of headaches to some of the top bowlers around the country.

He has a number of top innings but yet he would still remember the double hundred which he scored against Ragama CC in a SLC Premier League match during the 2008/09 inter club season.

He walked into the middle after his team had lost four early wickets and immediately went on the offensive to hit a magnificent 200 from 163 deliveries. This innings certainly gave a new meaning to the life of Jeevantha Kulatunga who has the potential to score runs batting at any position even under the most difficult conditions.

His career took a dramatic turn when he was promoted to open the batting for his team Access International in the Mercantile Tournament following the advice of legendary Aravinda de Silva and Niroshan Bandaratilleke.

In the Premier League he faced a similar situation when he was asked to open the batting by Chaminda Vaas after their regular opener Malinda Warnapura pulled out with an injury mid way in the season.

Kulatunga has always accepted the challenges in his life with a smile and he was well prepared to meet the demand despite the amount of pressure building on him. This time he was equal to the task and went on to make a magnificent 160 in his very first appearance as an opener and followed up with another century in the next outing.

He continued in the same way while representing Wayamba in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament in India where he was able to face some of the top bowlers in World cricket.

Kulatunga of course made his international debut for the Board XI against a full strength England team and proved his class by scoring a fighting half century. He came into the limelight as a top schoolboy cricketer from Maliyadeva College and was named Best All Rounder during the 1993 inter school season.

In fact he had the distinction of scoring over one thousand runs in an inter school season twice and as a result he was selected for the Under 19 tours of Singapore and Malaysia.

He then joined the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team and had the opportunity of touring Bangladesh and Abu Dhabi. He made his Twenty20 international debut in Canada but could not make an impact from the limited opportunities.

But in the recent past he has bounced back with a vengeance and as a result runs have begun to flow from his blazing bat in all forms of the game. He has done few changes to his technique and has rectified his weak areas by the way of video clips and computer software. Now he has more time to play his shots through an improvised back lift and could control the pace accordingly and launch an attack after having studied the conditions. But more importantly his regular training at the nets with the bowling machine and the maintaining of physical fitness are the areas that have really made him strong both physically and mentally.

Kulatunga is one player who continue to perform his daily sessions even during the off season and that has certainly helped him to maintain a good rhythm throughout his career. He was inspired to play cricket by his father H.G. Kulatunga who captained Maliyadeva College Kurunegala and later went on to represent the Peradeniya University.

After his fathers’ demise he started to take the game more seriously and then decided to move towards Colombo and joined Colts CC at Havelock Park which has now become his second home.

After learning the basic techniques of the game from his first coach Rohan Dheerasuriya, he was guided and motivated by a number of top professionals of the calibre of Ranjith Samarasekera, Roger Wijesuriya, Roy Dias, Carlton Bernardus, Manoj Abeywickrema, Hemantha Devappriya, Stan Nell, Nishantha Weerasinghe, Romesh Kaluvitharana and Chandika Hathurusinghe.

As he matured into a top class cricketer at Colts CC he was able to continue with the game with a suitable employment and financial assistance through the courtesy of Nishantha Ranatunga, M. Mathivanan and Asoka Pathirana.

His next goal before retiring is to complete the landmark of 10,000 runs and 200 catches in first class cricket.