Thurstan's amazing twin brothers Sachith and Harith

Chris DHAMBARAGE

As twins they are unique both on and off the field and their overall contributions to Thurstan College cricket has been quite amazing in the concluded inter school season.

Sachith Arosha and Harith Kanishka Dias have just completed a fantastic Under 19 tournament and have left a lasting impression through their outstanding performances this year.

While right arm off spinner Sachith made his mark as a future prospect with his unique bowling action his brother Harith concentrated on batting where he always provided the team with a solid start to the innings.

Their presence in the side has always lifted the team to great heights as Thurstan College went on to make vast strides against some of the big names in school cricket.

In fact Sachith went on to claim a rich haul of 93 wickets from 21 matches including a ten wicket haul and also captured five wickets in an innings on five occasions.

Even though he may have fallen short of the magical one hundred wicket barrier the 19 year old is yet quite satisfied with the kind of effort he has produced this season for his alma mater.

He is one person who is not concerned on the figures and the statistics alone but it is the kind of damage that he could create on the opposition which always brings him great satisfaction.

That he ended up disappointedly with 93 wickets is one thing but he certainly enjoyed every wicket and every moment on the field despite the tough situations he faced both on and off the field.

Both Sachith and Harith joined Thurstan College from grade five after their early education at Ananda Sastralaya Kotte.

Even then their junior cricket career actually commenced at the Nelson Mendis School of Cricket when the two players had turned eight years.

From there onwards they have progressed along steadily and matured a lot to emerge as promising schoolboy cricketers at Thurstan College. Since then they have come under the supervision of several coaches in the caliber of Galappathy Perera, Gamini Perera, Harsha Gamadhikari, Dinesh Weerasinghe, Darshana Bodiyabaduge and Aravinda Amarasekera. They continued to serve Thurstan cricket in the First Eleven team with a great amount of determination and went on to extend their dominance while representing the Colombo North Provincial and District teams.

Sachith Dias became the Under 17 Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer and won the Best Bowlers award at last year's Big Match against the traditional rivals Isipatana College while returning excellent figures of four wickets for 20 runs.

Sachith's performances this year is even more significant considering the limited opportunities he had throughout the inter school season. This is because he was used as one of the last bowling options in many key matches which prevented him from stealing the limelight. Despite the many challenges and the obstacles he continued to play hard and was rewarded with a rich haul of 93 wickets with most of the support and the backing coming from parents Laxman and Dinali Dias.