Sampath

Knocking on the door for national honours:

Chris Dhambarage

He sacrificed his wicket keeping abilities to serve the team better and to become a genuine all rounder.

After many years of hard work and commitment Tillekeratne Nishan Sampath has finally come of age to emerge as one of the brightest prospects in the domestic scene.

The 27 year old right hand top order batsman now well set to extend his form into the next level of competition as he waits in anticipation to serve the country in the near future.

Fantastic season

This has been a fantastic season for Sampath who recently took the Man of the Tournament award at the Singer MCA Premier limited overs tournament. The dynamic all rounder produced a sensational performance to score 375 runs and captured 15 wickets that also helped Janashakthi to lift the title.

His success in this tournament had a great amount of significance considering the fact that in the past it has been the national players who have dominated and made their presence felt.

But this time Sampath snatched the opportunity to perform the near impossibile while outshining a host of other top class players who have been in the scene for a long period.

The former schoolboy of Kalutara MV then followed up with a magnificent 154 in his first appearance for Ruhuna in the ongoing Bank of Ceylon Inter Provincial 4- day cricket tournament match against Kandurata.

This means that he has made scores of over 150 runs each during his last two innings having made a career best 158 for Baduraliya CC against Colts Cricket Club in last year's Premier League Tier 'A' tournament.

He seems to be striking the ball as fluently like before having obtained a great amount of experience while performing in English conditions. In fact he has five years of experience having represented a number of clubs in the English Super Premier tournament.

His previous stint there with Manchester turned out to be a highly successful one where he amassed 890 runs and captured 48 wickets from 12 matches. He had a best effort of 146 with the bat and snapped up seven wickets in one inning.

Earlier he had represented Surrey for two years and Lancashire for one year with distinction. He will be shortly leaving for England for his next assignment with Staffordshire for the upcoming season.

Sampath has now become one of the busiest cricketers in the domestic scene with so much of competitions lined up both here and abroad.

High demand

In fact he is in high demand for the next Premier League season with top clubs like Tamil Union, Colts CC and Badureliya CC all keen to obtain his services.

Sampath of course began his cricketing career in a humble manner where he represented Kalutara MV in the under 13, 15, 17 and 19 teams while following in the footsteps of his elder brother Tillekeratne Dilshan.

His forte was his smart wicket-keeping abilities where he remained supreme by winning the Best Fielders award in their annual Big Match against Tissa MMV for four successive years while captaining the team. Sampath's first coach was Sunil Saluwadana but it was under the guidance and influence of Ranjan Paranavithana that he really began to display his prowess both as an attacking batsman and a useful off spinner.

The pair spent extra hours at the nets while working on the strength and weaknesses and more importantly to be consistent in all forms of the game.

Sampath may have shown his talent and potential in the shorter version of the game but he is also keen to play a long innings and his recent form suggest that he is capable of handling any situation.

In fact he is an extraordinary cricketer who could bat at any position, bowl an economical spell and even keep wickets occasionally.

Mahesh Weerasinghe another senior coach who is also in charge of the Ruhuna team predicted a bright future for Sampath who has the potential to last the full distance and make an impact in the international scene very soon.

He stated that Sampath has a clear vision and a target to achieve and has reached his peak form following his recent overseas experience.

The other significant fact that struck Weerasinghe is that Sampath has matured a lot and is always a thinking player whether it is batting, bowling or fielding. He made a sensational start to his domestic career when he took a matchbag of ten wickets for Bloomfield in his Under-23 debut against Saracens SC.

There has never been any doubt about his explosive batting and one of his memorable innings came when he smashed a 43 ball century in a First Eleven game against St. Mary's College, Kegalle.

Witness

Sri Lanka opening batsman Tharanga Paranavithana is a witness because he was on the opposite team and at the receiving end on that occasion.

But the season that actually turned his career from an ordinary player into an outstanding batsman was when he plundered 203 runs from just three Twenty20 matches while representing Singha Sports Club Ambalangoda.

This was incidentally the early days after Twenty20 cricket was introduced in Sri Lanka and Sampath was one of the pioneers to establish the art of pinch hitter in domestic cricket.

He struck an unbeaten 92 followed by another sparkling 88 as he became an instant hero in a game which has now become more popular in the international scene.

This was the only occasion that he has come closer of being selected into a national pool following those heroics with the bat.

But since then he has made every effort to steal the limelight while piling up runs in all forms of the game.

[The fact file: ]
Full name: Tillakeratne Mudiyanselage Nishan Sampath
Born: June 23, 1982
Current age: 27 years
Major teams: Badureliya Sports Club, Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Ruhuna

Playing role: All-rounder

Batting style: Right hand bat

Bowling style: Right-arm off spin

Fielding position: Occasional wicket-keeper

Height: 5 ft 9 inches

Education: Kalutara Vidyalaya

Relation: Brother T. M. Dilshan

First class debut: 2004

First class matches: 41, Innings: 69, Runs: 1549, Highest score: 158, Average: 23.11, 100s: 3, 50s: 6, Wickets: 35, Best bowling: 4/50, Average: 35.05

Twenty20 matches: 26, Innings: 19, Not outs: 3, Highest score: 92 n.o, Average: 20.61, Strike rate: 125.95, 50’s: 2, Wickets: 12, Best bowling: 3/27, Average: 26.66, Economy: 8.00