It was a show to remember

It was that much looked-forward to big day for the country’s next generation of budding cricketers as the 32nd Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year mega awards presentation took place on a grand scale under the distinguish patronage of Minister of Mass Media and Information Keheliya Rambukwella.

ANCL also says a big thank you to Mobitel for sponsoring this mega event.

Minister Rambukwella, was a versatile sportsman at S.Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia. It would have been an even more significant moment for the Minister as he had a special affection to school cricket as his son was a prolific scorer during the recently concluded inter-school season.

Despite being a distinguish old Thomian, Minister Rambukwella has made the right decision in deciding to send his son to the right royal school at Reid Avenue - Royal College, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year. It was a double celebration for Ramith Rambukwella who passed that magical figure of 1,000 runs with a memorable century against his father’s old school at the Battle of the Blues.

More credibility

The presence of the Minister of Sports C.B. Ratnayake and Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardena added more credibility to the event. It was an honour to have the two subject ministers involving school cricket as the Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year contest is going great guns, strengthening its position as the first ever school cricket awards ceremony in Sri Lanka.

The enthusiasm and keenness shown by the Sports Minister and the Education Minister, despite being invited for a high-profile function at the adjoining venue at the same time involving nearly 25 other Ministers, show their commitment and sacrifice to promote school cricket and inspire the most outstanding schoolboy cricketers.

More importantly, the presence of none other than the first recipient of the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year title in 1978 - Ranjan Madugalle, to launch the exclusive website for the event www.schoolboycricketer.lk was another milestone.

Prestigious title

Since winning the prestigious title 32 years ago, former Royal captain Madugalle has been going great guns, leading Sri Lanka national team with distinction and later becoming the Chief ICC Match Referee. In fact, he was the ideal person to launch the website and it was an honour to have that gentleman cricketer with us for the Mega event.

I could well remember the golden era of Madugalle as a schoolboy cricketer and captaining the Reid Avenue school in the centenary Royal-Thomian cricket encounter. It was a treat to watch when ‘Madda’, as he was affectionally called by Royalists young and old, was in full flow with the willow. He scored a magnificent 65 in Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test against England in 1982 and went on to captain Sri Lanka. His presence at the Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year event was an encouragement to all.

Senior college prefect

Despite going places, it is the very same humble and down to earth Madugalle I see, nearly three decades after I first saw him - when he came to our classes as a senior college prefect when I was in the Royal middle school. The conduct and career of this gentleman cricketer is a classic example to any schoolboy.

Sri Lanka Youth ‘cap’ Bhanuka Rajapaksa was the star attraction as he was crowned the Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year in the main All-Island category.

He is a brilliant cricketer who has a bright future and he has shown early signs of a star batsman. His team mate at Royal and Sri Lanka Under-19, Kithruwan Vithanage was adjudged the best batsman. It was for the first time after Madugalle’s feat that a Royalist was adjudged the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year. It was nice to see the Principal of Royal College Upali Gunasekera making it to the event as a special invitee to see his schoolboys Rajapaksa and Vithanage receiving top honours.

Heartening

It is heartening to see the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year contest going from strength to strength and it is a victory for the game, especially those budding cricketers who are dreaming to become tomorrow’s cricketing heroes of Sri Lanka.

It is a much looked forward to event by all schoolboy cricketers, especially an important one for those who have performed well with both bat and ball. All cricket enthusiasts should feel happy that the Government has put an end to terrorism and schoolboy cricketers in the North too are now playing competitive cricket on a larger scale.

Cricket has been played in the Jaffna District during the hard times, but now there is bound to be more sports activities in the Jaffna district and with cricket being very popular, the schoolboys are bound to relish it.

School cricket

Sri Lanka’s cricket starts in the schools and the standard of our school cricket is considered one of the best in the world.

The ANCL has honoured its social responsibility by organizing an event of this magnitude for over three decades. It is an encouragement and recognition for schoolboy cricketers so that they could perform even better.

These contests cover the length and breadth of the country and it is up to the school authorities to encourage the boys of their schools to play cricket and use their free time in a productive manner to support co-curricular activities.

Many international cricket officials have rated the inter-school cricket structure in Sri Lanka as the best in the world. It was this solid base that enabled Sri Lanka to perform creditably in the international arena and gain Test status in 1981.

International arena

Since then, Sri Lanka has come a long way in the international arena, winning the World Cup in 1996 under Arjuna Ranatunga, who incidentally won the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year title twice in 1980 and 1982.

It is nice to see some of the greatest Test cricketers produced by Sri Lanka start stepping into the big league after being crowned Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year.

Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association is making every endeavour to further promote and popularise the game at the grass roots level and it’s the duty of all sports promoters to support them.