Three Trinitians awarded 'Lions'
S M Jiffrey ABDEEN-Kandy Sports Corr
Three cricketers from this year's Trinity College cricket team were
awarded the Cricket Lions, the highest award in school at the College
Assembly held at the Trinity College hall on Friday. These awards were
made by the Acting Principal of Trinity College Brigadier Udaya
Ariyaratne.
The recipients of the prestigious 'Cricket Lions' were left arm
spinner Aamil Anas, allrounder Janishka Premasinghe and wicket keeper
opening batsman Niroshan Dickwella.
Allroudner and skipper Akila Jayasundera was awarded his Cricket Lion
in 2009 following his excellent leg spin bowling when he captured 108
wickets and was only the third Trinitian to do so after spinners Sachith
Pathirana and Rushan Jaleel.
D. S. Senanayake College cricket captain Sampath Perera moulded the
school cricket team in a fighting outfit during the 2011 cricket season
during which Trinity achieved a record ten outright victories including
seven of them in a row.
They were also runners up in the school limited over cricket
tournament and rounded off their season by winning the school twenty20
cricket tournament. This was Sampath Perera's third season as Trinity's
cricket coach which has seen at this hill capital school reach new
heights. Left arm spinner Aamil Anas has been troubling the schoolboy
batsmen this season and captured 75 wickets during the season. He is the
grandson of Environment Minister A. R. M. Abdul Cader. He played a
little cricket in the early stages of his school career and later
switched to rugby which too he did not concentrate much and at one stage
he was lost to sports.
It was during a class cricket match coach Sampath Perera
re-discovered him and brought him into the 'A' team and later to the
first 11. He was an instant success. His best performance with the ball
was 4 wickets in 4 balls which included a hat-trick. His haul for the
season would have been much more if not for the fact that Trinity
College had equally good spinners and the spin and the pace attack had
to be rotated in keeping with the situation.
Niroshan Dickwella is a top class wicket keeper opening batsman. He
scored nearly 900 runs during the season including two centuries but
consistency was the hallmark of his success. Though not keeping wickets
regularly he had nearly 40 victims behinds the stumps. Opening the
side's batting and keeping wickets is a tough task. As he will have don
the pads and the gloves for most part of the match.
Third to receive the Lion was allrounder Janishka Premasinghe who
captured 89 wickets with his spinners and also scored over 400 runs
during the season and played a major role in Trinity's success this
season. He turned out to be a match with his spinners and was Trinity's
highest wicket taker this season.
Earlier during the season, he batted lower down but was promoted up
during the latter part of the season and he performed very consistently.
He is the son of former Trinity College wicket keeper batsman S.
Premasinghe who passed away about two months ago.
Skipper Akila Jayasinghe received his collours in 2009 when his leg
spinners brought him a haul of over 100 wickets and this was despite the
fact that he missed four matches due to injury. He is also a very
attacking bat and scored very heavily this season including a century.
Akila Jayasundera has excellent leadership qualities and has the
knack to get the best out of his players. Being a spinner himself, he
did hardly any bowling as there were other spinners who were mowing the
opposing batsmen and he allowed them to bowl and only did so when the
occasion demanded and when others had failed. From how many schoolboy
cricketers can you expect this kind of sportsmanship by putting team
above personal glory. Many tend to over bowl but not Akila Jayasundera
for him the success of the team was more important. Akila Jayasundera
will be playing for the school next season too and he may have to bear
the brunt of the attack as leg spinners are few in the schools cricket.
Apart from the awarding of Lions, colours were also awarded to Kavinda
Jayasuriya, Heshan Wanniarachchi, Kheliya Athugoda, Tissa Sanjeewa
Bandara, Alwin Fernando, Rajitha Jayatunga, Dinuk Wickramanayake, and
Chandragupta. The last four named are from the under 17 team and the
Trinitians could look forward to another season under Niroshan Dickwella
next year, with coach Sampath Perera to guide them again.
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