Wesleyites - a confident lot

Thushan Jayasuriya

Wesley College Colombo, is relying on the under 19 cricket team with a ray of hope for more and more victories this season.

They have already had some experience of playing against some of the best in the schools scene including Ananda, Royal, S. Thomas’, D.S. and St. Anthony’s College, Kandy.

The team is led by fifth year player and all rounder Ashen Fonseka, who has had reasonable success with both bat and ball. This left hander has scored more than 800 runs in 16 matches. His highest score was 125 runs against St. Anthony’s Kandy last season. Not only in batting but also he has performed well in bowling by claiming 18 wickets last season. He recorded his best individual performance bagging four wickets for 16 runs against Thurstan College. He has already topped the 300 run mark for the season. Apart from that, he has captured nine wickets in three matches this season.

Sachin Jayawardena, who is another senior player of the side is the Vice Captain of the team. Last season he collected a total of 350 runs with highest individual score of 60 runs against Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala.

This season he did a fine performance in batting with a total score of 225 runs in seven matches. This fourth year player has also proven himself in bowling, having claimed a haul of 48 wickets in 15 matches. And his best performance in bowling was six wickets for 14 runs last season. He has struck a five wicket haul against St. Peter’s College(5 for 22) this season.

Fourth year player and all rounder Ashail Kariyawasam is the key player in the line up having contributed a great deal with both bat and ball. He has shown a great amount of promise with 570 runs to his credit last season including his top individual score of 97 runs against D.S. Senanayake College. This season he passed the 300 run mark. His best batting performance is against Ananda College(54 runs). In his bowling side, he has bagged 30 wickets in 16 matches with a best performance of five wickets for 38 runs against Maliyadeva College last season. This season, he claimed 30 wickets in eight matches. Among the all rounders, Sadheem Thoufeeq has been able to add plenty of variety into the team by batting and bowling having scored 540 runs in 16 matches in last season with his highest individual score of 90 runs against D.S. Senanayake College.

This season he knocked over 300 runs in eight matches with a best individual performance of 70 runs against Ananda College. He was able to capture 30 wickets in 16 matches with a five wicket haul against Royal College(5 for 16) last season. His bowling performance for the current season is 15 wickets in eight matches with a best individual performance of four for 30 against Ananda College.

Tharindu Karunaratne is the next star player of the team, who has been more effective with both batting and bowling, has scored over 250 runs in eight matches with a higher individual score of 51 runs against Ananda College. He was able to pick 15 wickets in eight matches. This season he delivered a fair blow including a three wicket haul against St. Anthony’s College Kandy. This is his fourth year being in the team

The coach Shanthi Peiris says “Our team is a good team. Last term they didn’t have a chance to show their prowess, because some of the matches were washed out. For January this is our fourth match. I am confident about the boys and I’m sure they will perform well this season.”

The rest of the members in the First eleven squad are Baasith Muzammil, Lahiru Perera, Jonathan Caderamanpulle, Shashentha Fernando, Rakeeb Sheriff, Pasas Nonis, Shamin de Silva, Migara Wickramasinghe, Sharika Lakmal, Dinuka Jayasinghe.

The team gets the support of the Principal, Nimal De Silva (Master In Charge), Shanthi Peiris (Coach) and Old Boys Association.