Ramith a bright prospect

Chris Dhambarage

He launched his career as a promising fast bowler before a severe illness almost shattered his dreams of becoming a top schoolboy cricketer.

He then switched to off spinners as an alternative and continued to make his presence felt in the Under 15, 17 and lately with the Second XI and the First Eleven teams.

After many years of hard work and determination Ramith Lakshan Rambukwella has emerged as one of the brightest prospects for Sri Lanka cricket. Last week, he achieved another milestone in his career when he was crowned Observer Mobitel Most Popular Cricketer of the Year 2011.

This will be a huge boost for the Royal College captain who recently completed a successful inter school career while making some significant contributions both as a batsman and bowler.

Even then it has been his explosive batting that has really helped him to steal the limelight having emerged as a match winner on more than a couple of occasions for his school, club, province and country.

In fact he played a major role in helping Sri Lanka to register an emphatic 3-1 victory in the home one day series against England early this year. He was among the runs with an average of 43.66 and a splendid strike rate of 135.05.

The aggressive left hand opening batsman was also selected for the tour of England with the Sri Lanka Under 19 team. But it was during the youth one day series that he really exploded with some magnificent batting.

His most memorable innings came in the fourth youth one day international when he smashed 68 inclusive of one six and nine boundaries having completed his fifty from just 49 deliveries.

Rambukwella also helped Sri Lanka to win the first Twenty20 youth international against England at Chester le Street by hammering five boundaries and one six during his knock of 36 runs.

He was associated in an opening stand of 75 runs from just 7.4 overs as Sri Lanka cruised to a convincing nine wicket victory over England.

Rambukwella first came of age when he emerged as a Big Match hero for Royal College by scoring a magnificent 165 in the 131st Battle of the Blues cricket encounter against the traditional rivals S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, at the SSC ground.

This performance had a great amount of significance as he joined a select band of cricketers to have scored more than 150 runs and ended up as the joint third highest individual scorer in the Royal Thomian Big Match series.

This was an important innings that no doubt brought a new meaning to his career prospects. He also fulfilled one of his childhood dreams of scoring a century against St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s during last year’s cricket season.

His complete dominance and authority against the Thomian bowlers was quite clear considering the fact that more than one hundred runs came through boundaries in the form of five sixes and 21 fours.

This could also be one of the most entertaining innings in the Big Match history where he faced only 148 deliveries. This has been a tremendous turn of events for Rambukwella from last year where he was considered as an off spinner and a dependable lower order batsman.

No doubt he was vying for honours with a star studded line up and had to be content while playing the supporting role. But once he gained the much needed experience and mastered the art of shot selection he fell into a class of his own as runs begun to flow from his blazing bat.

The sweep shot against the spinners is one of his favourite that has earned him a lot of runs in that area although he prefers to drive through the cover region against the fast bowlers.

Rambukwella has been a consistent run getter even at junior cricket and while representing the Provincial team. He made a sensational start to his school cricket career when he returned amazing figures of seven wickets for five runs in an Under 11 fixture against Trinity College Kandy as a budding fast bowler.

He went on to become the vice captain of the College Under-14 team having first learnt his basics under the guidance of veteran coach Lionel Mendis at the NCC Schoolof Cricket.

Thereafter he came under the supervision of several other reputed coaches in the fame of W. A. N. Silva, U. S. C. Perera, Badra Seneviratne, Nalliah Devarajan, Chulaka Amarasinghe, Nelson Mendis, Hemal Mendis and Gamini Perera.

However tragedy struck for Rambukwella as he was forced to rest for one full year following a serious illness that almost ruined his career. But he came back through sheer determination and regained his form by scoring heavily in the Under 15 and Under 17 limited over tournaments.

He batted at number three and scored one century and seven fifties in the Under 15 tournament and then scored over 400 runs from eight matches in the Under 17 tournament as an opening batsman.

He also had a fantastic average of 89 in the Under 15 Provincial tournament where he scored two centuries and two fifties. Rambukwella has proved that he has got all the attacking shots and also a good defence which is a key area for the success of an opening batsman.

But more importantly he knows where the runs are and so he knows how to vary his shots and he knows where the fielders are which is a good quality for a solid opening batsman.

Ramith Lakshan Bandara Rambukwella

* Date of birth: 1991 September 8
* Place of birth: Kandy
* Current age: 20 years
* Parents: Keheliya Rambukwella and Kusum Rambukwella
* Batting style: Left hand opener
* Bowling style: Right arm of spinner
* Height: 6 feet 3 inches
* Major teams: Royal College, SSC, CCC, Western Province, Colombo District, Sri Lanka Under 19
* First Eleven matches 2010 season: 27, Innings: 26, Runs: 1102, Highest score: 165, 100’s: 3, 50’s: 6, wickets: 26, Best figures: 4 for 43, Catches: 18
* First class debut: CCC v Bloomfield April/May 2011 at Welisara

How he fared last season:
* 72 v Richmond
* 48 v Isipatana
* 58 and 68 v St. Anthony’s Kandy
* 56 and 50 v Nalanda
* 110 v St. Joseph’s
* 37 v Ananda
* 65 v Dharmaraja
* 103 v St. Peter’s
* 100 v Maliyadeva
* 27 and 165 v S. Thomas’ Mount Lavinia

The final voting

Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer 2011 All Island
* Ramith Rambukwella (Royal) 248,702
* Sachithra Perera (Ananda) 199,235
* Bhanuka Rajapaksa (Royal) 197,474
* Neomal Wickremasekera (S. Thomas’) 112,007
* Chaturanga Kumara (St. Joseph’s) 52,921
* Dananjaya de Silva (Richmond) 30,246
* Eranga Ratnayake (St. Benedict’s) 25,406
* Denham Perera (St. Peter’s) 18,229
* Supun Navaratne (Thurstan) 11,701
* Shaluka Demantha (De Mazenod) 6,502