Rajans have tremendous potential

Hafiz MARIKKAR

Dharmaraja College will be a force to be reckoned with in the current inter school cricket season. They are one of the oldest Buddhist cricket playing schools in the country and this time round have tremendous potential and should emerge as one the best teams this season in the school cricket scene. Rajans play against almost all the leading cricket playing schools and their performances have reached great heights in the past.

This season they possess a young team with many last season players. Their principal S M Keerthiratne, provides the best to the players and gives them the opportunity to reach high standards This time they are led by a hard-hitting middle order batsman and alert fielder in any position, Hemal Munaweera. He has led the side well. Most of the matches had to be postponed due to bad weather. In the matches played he has proved a good leader.

Then there is Sasitha Gunasekara a fine bat. He made a superb 148 not out against Vidyartha College. He is close to the 500 run mark. Viraj Kartaputugala a top class stroke maker bats at no 3, Sadun Weerakkodi, Kavinda Wijekoon, Sasanka Nakkawita, Lahiru Herath and L Deneth are all good bats and capable of scoring.

The good bowlers in the side are skipper Hemal Munaweera and Lahiru Herath opens with Sasanka Nakkawita the first change. Left arm spinner Aravinda Withanarachchi and off spinner Dinesh Lanka have both bowled well. Both have pocketed over 30 wickets. Sasanka Nakkawita is also another fine spinner. Their stumper Kavinda Wijekoon has done well. Viraj Karaputugala too is a stumper.

Rajans main aim will be to break the 29 year old hoodoo, in the 105th big match against Kingswood which will be played on 4th and 5th of March with the one day game on March 13th at the same venue. When these two schools meet in their traditional big match it has produced exciting cricket. They have cherished the annual big match as the fitting climax of the season. The loyal supporters, Old Boys, Parents and members of the public look forward to this fixture with great enthusiasm and excitement.

This time Rajans are coached by Ananda Wijesekara with years experience. The Rajans juniors are handled by the famous cricketer to come out of this school Senaka Dissanayake, there is another product of the school who coached the seniors earlier Priyantha Weragoda and former Antonian top fielder Gamini Debahapuwa is also involved in coaching.

MIC's of all age group teams are P H A Chandrarathne, Ajith Senavirathne, B W H Senaratne and R P Hettiarachchi with Sarath Ekanayake as the Cricket Coordinator.

Rajans have a long history in the field of cricket. In the early days T B Kehelgamuwa was rated as a top class fast bowler. He played for the country before we got test status. He played along with Michael Tissera, Ranjith Fernando, H I K Fernando, Daya Sahabandu. Chamara Kapugedera became the first Rajan to get into the test side.

Some of the finest cricketers who came out of this school are Arthur Alwis the first centurion, T B Talwatte, G B Yatigammana, D de Alwis, Jayasundara brothers Upananda, Ananda and Daya, Shanthi Mendis, Nalin Angammana, D Boyagoda, Bertie Nilagoda, N K Ratnayake, Sonny Yatawara, D D Somasiri, D D Hemapala, Mahinda Pethiyagoda, Senaka Dissanayake the junior coach, and also a double centurian, Priyantha Weragoda, Ravi Rajapakse, Prasanna Dahanayake, Jeevan Gajaweera, Rohan Gunatilake, Gamini Thomas, Siri Ranasinghe. Thilina Tennakoon, Bandula Gunarathne, Ajith Naranpanawa, A S Ekanayake, Vipula Lal Ranasinghe now a city father his son Rameesh Ranasinghe, Indrajith Bandaranayake, Dilaksha Mendis, Prasanna Dissanayake, Pradeep Heenkende, Sidath Tennakoon, M Kapilarathne,

Rajans this year, are yet to win a game, all matches played have been ended in draws, against Thomas' Matale, Dharmasoka, Vidyartha, St. Sylvester's, Sri Sumangala, Sri Rahula Matara, St Thomas" Mt, Joseph Vaz, Mahinda College, and some matches were not played due to bad weather that is the Dharmapala, Zahira, Rewatha, Trinity and St Anthony's games, drew with Royal and the Nalanda game was called off due to wet conditions, today they were to play Ananda if the weather god helps.