Coca Cola Cricket Pathway for young cricketers

Anushka WITHANAGE

It seems like a bright future is ahead for the young Sri Lankan cricketers who have not got any opportunity to shine so far. The Aravinda de Silva Cricket Foundation in collaboration with Coca Cola Beverages (Sri Lanka) Ltd. came forward to make this dream a reality by conducting the inaugural three-day coaching camp from February 12 to 14, 2010 under the 'Coca Cola Cricket Pathway' program at Bloomfield ground. Seventy-two young cricketers from Northern and Eastern provinces, Jaffna, Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Ampara, Batticaloa, Mannar and Trincomalee are participating in this camp.

This was a whole new experience to most of the lads as the event was assisted with speed metres and video analyzing. In addition to the formal ground training consisted of sessions of latest bowling, batting and fielding techniques, the organizers brought in video presentations, review sessions and camp fires. This camp was a great stage for the Sri Lanka Cricket officials too as it helped identify highly talented lads from the far corners of the Island.

"We need to find a new good batsman, bowlers and fielders. We are hoping to hold a super camp at the end of this series with the selected players," said Aravinda de Silva who came up with the concept of the 'Coca Cola Cricket Pathway'. "We hope these kids will pass their knowledge they gained at this camp to their colleagues in schools," added Aravinda.

The success of these programs is well displayed by the inclusion of the many pathway players in this years under 19 cricket team with represented Sri Lanka at the under 19 world cup tournament- such as Banuka Rajapaksa, Akshu Fernando, Andri Berenger, Lahiru Jayaratne, Charith Jayampathi, Udara Jayasundara and Kithruwan Vithanage