Perera out to showcase his talents at WC T20

Chris DHAMBARAGE

He represented the school First Eleven team while still at the young age of 13. He forced himself into the Sri Lanka youth team when he had just turned 16 years. He then made his one day international debut even before he had reached 20.

For Thisara Chirantha Perera everything seem to have come very early in his life as he will be one of the young brightest prospects to showcase his talent at the upcoming ICC Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies.

He passed another milestone in his personal life when he married Sheromy Dulshika Perera when he had just completed 18. Altogether it has been quite an eventful period for Thisara Perera who is now well set to overcome another challenge in his cricketing career.

The dashing left hand middle order batsman has already mastered the art of accumulating quick runs in limited overs cricket and he is now hoping to extend that dominance into the shortest version of the game.

Thisara Perera of course made a spectacular entry into the one day scene where he hammered a 14 ball 31 with one six and four boundaries against an awesome Indian bowling attack at the Eden Gardens in Kolkatta.

Even then it was by a way of accident that he was forced into the national team following an injury to all rounder Angelo Mathews.

And Thisara Perera was there to snatch the opportunity with both hands not realizing the fact that he had just step into another world.

The pressure was obviously not there in his very first innings as he walked into bat with the team very much in the driving seat. But yet it needed some guts to clear his first big hurdle which he performed to near perfection through a series of aggressive strokes around the park.

From there onwards Thisara Perera has been a regular member of the national team and is now looking forward to carry that outstanding form in the Twenty20 World Cup.

The most fascinating fact in his batting has been the amazing strike rate which is over the 160 point mark which is a remarkable performance from a young cricketer. But he seem to have matured a lot during this short period and he will be remembered for his match winning innings against India in the Tri Nation tournament in Bangladesh.

He walked into the crease with the side in a spot of trouble but Thisara Perera delivered the goods with a stunning performance when he smashed an unbeaten 36 from 15 deliveries inclusive of one six and half a dozen of boundaries.

This was probably the only occasion that he had been put under severe pressure and he was able to overcome the situation quite admirably which is another good sign for a successful career.

He has been performing all these efforts while batting at number six or seven and who knows had he batted up in the order he would have easily notched up a couple of half centuries.

In fact Thisara Perera started his cricketing career as a hard hitting opening batsman at St. Anthony's College Wattala. He was greatly inspired to continue with the game having closely followed Sri Lanka's successful campaign in the 1996 World Cup.

Dashing left hander Sanath Jayasuriya who played a vital role in that champion team is Thisara Perera's childhood hero and he is hoping to imitate the celebrated all rounder in the near future.

He has been an attacking batsman from his young days and one of his heroics came very early in his career when he plundered a sparkling 155 from just 65 balls. He received great motivation from his parents during the early days and learnt the basics of the game from two veteran coaches Joe Saverymuthapulle and Noel Jansz.

The turning point in his career came when he scored a splendid 120 while representing St. Anthony's College against St. Joseph's College in an under 15 inter school encounter.

He was then invited to play for St. Joseph's College from under 17 and came under the guidance of another senior coach Harsha de Silva who is currently attached with the Sri Lanka women's cricket team.

Thisara Perera was able to make vast strides at Darley Road where he improved his batting and bowling skills to emerge as a genuine all rounder. He opted to bat down the order and opened the bowling for St. Joseph's College during a highly successful inter school career.

He turned the 2006 annual Battle of the Saints Big Match against the traditional rivals St. Peter's College into a memorable one while winning a hattrcik of awards the Best Bowler, Best All rounder and Man of the Match.

In the 2007 Big Match he was selected as the Best Bowler and in the following year he took the Best Bowler and the Man of the Match awards. In between he was able to make his presence felt for the Sri Lanka Under 19 team during the 2006 and 2008 ICC Youth World Cup tournaments. In addition he won the Man of the Match award in the Under 19 Tri Nation limited overs tournament final against England held in Malaysia. He then joined Colts Cricket Club and began to make headlines through some superb all round performances in the Premier League Tier 'A' tournament.

But the innings that really changed his career prospects was the unbeaten 113 which he scored against Moors Sports Club which was followed by a five wicket haul in the same match.

He was selected for the Sri Lanka Under 21 teams tour to New Zealand and made a huge impact with the ball while capturing a total of 21 wickets from five outings.

He has certainly improved tremendously as a bowler having mastered the art of delivering the slow deliveries through clever variation which he hope will bring great results in the important Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean.

Thisara Perera also had a short coaching stint with Asoka de Silva and is very much grateful to his mother in law Dhammi Seneviratne for all the encouragement.

[The fact file ]

* Full name: Narangoda Liyanaarachchilage Thissara Chirantha Perera

* Born: April 3, 1989, Colombo

* Current age: 21 years

* Parents: Clement Perera and Swarnamali Rupasinghe Perera

* Wife: Sheromy Dulshika Perera

* Major teams: Sri Lanka, Chennai Super Kings, Colts Cricket Club, Sri Lanka A, Sri Lanka Under-19s, Wayamba

* Playing role: All-rounder

* Batting style: Left hand bat

* Bowling style: Right arm medium-fast

* Height: 6 ft 1 inch

* Education: St. Anthony's and St. Joseph's College

* First class debut: 2008

* First class matches: 14, Innings: 24, Not outs: 6, Runs: 745, Highest score: 113 n.o, Average: 41.38, 100's: 1, 50's: 5, Wickets: 24, Best bowling: 5 for 69, Average: 34.08

* One day Internationals: 6, Innings: 4, Runs: 84, Highest score: 36 n,o, Average: 42.00, Strike rate: 161.53, Wickets: 6,