DSS - a blend of youth and experience

Thushan JAYASURIYA

D.S.Senanayake College with a blend of youth and experience under their belt, is hoping that they could come up with a good performance this season. The Senanayakians had an outright win over Lumbini Maha Vidyalaya .They also got the better of St.Joseph’s, Royal, Trinity, St.Sebastians and Nalanda on first innings.

This talented side has gone through many tough situations on the field but every time they have been able to meet their challenges successfully and to stay above some of the more fancied teams in the tournament.The Gregory's Road School has produced several outstanding cricketers who have represented Sri Lanka with distinction.The legendary Aravinda de Silva who was instrumental in Sri Lanka's triumph in the 1996 Cricket World Cup where his unbeaten century and three wickets earned him the Man of the Match award in the final against Australia. Hashan Tillekeratne also another proud product who also captained Sri Lanka in test cricket from 2003 - 2004.

Paceman Kosala Kuruppuarachchi , who claimed a five wicket haul (5 for 41) in his test debut against Pakistan at CCC Grounds in 1986, Wicketkeeper Pubudu Dassanayake , Paceman Pulasthi Gunaratne also represented Sri Lanka in test cricket.Naveed Nawaz who played for the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team is an experienced under 19 Sri Lanka coach today.

Sanjeewa Silva , Ranga de Silva , Batheesha de Silva,Yasas Tillekeratne, Sanjeewa Warusamanne and K.Siriparan were some of the best school cricketers at DSS in the past.

The team is led by third year player Duleeka Brahmanage who is in good form.He cracked around 712 runs last season. This season the stylish right hand batsman made his best score of 116 against Nalanda totaling 300 runs .

All rounder Supun Madusanka is the Vice Captain of the side who topped the 300 run-mark this season from nine outings.He made his highest individual score of 75 runs against Isipatana.In bowling, he has claimed 23 wickets so far with a best effort of four wickets for 32 against Isipatana. Left arm seamer Binura Fernando is the danger man of the side who took a match bag of 11 wickets (8 for 24 and 3 for 39) against Nalanda recently.He has 50 wickets to his credit

They have an experienced opening pair in Kanishka Prashan and Uvin Bandara .Prashan scored 246 runs last year with a top score of 49 runs against Royal College,Colombo.Bandara has given his support to the team while scoring a total of 221 runs for the season.

The new ball will be shared between Suchintha Lakshan, Binura Fernando and Duleeka Brahamanage. The spin attack will comprise of Supun Madusanka, Shifran Mutaliph, Harith Maduwantha, Ravin de Silva, Kanishka Prashan and Nimesh Weragala. The rest of the players in the DSS under 19 first XI squad are Aqueel Inham, Vishal Amugoda , Ravin de Silva, Nadeesha Danushika, Udesh Senanayake, Udith Nanayakkara, Thimila Vidyasekara and Harith Maduwantha.

The School is being coached by former Dharmapala cricketer Pasan Wanasinghe who has build up a strong team this year.

Coach : Pasan Wanasinghe
Asst. Coach : Mohamed Azhar
Master-In-Charge: Nihal Fernando
Physical Trainer : Ananda Athukorala