JacksonFive

Royal College with two Sri Lanka youth players and several other senior coloursmen in their ranks are confident of producing a repeat performance in the current inter school under 19 cricket tournament.

Last year they emerged as the best team in the country following a tremendous season where they recorded as many as nine outright victories to equal the 1971 College record held by Asitha Jayaweera.


The Royal College First Eleven cricket squad for 2009/10. Pictures by Mahinda Vithanachchi


The team from Reid Avenue also went on to create history when they defeated both Ananda College and Nalanda College in the same year after a lapse of 45 years.

They went on remain unbeaten throughout their 15 matches and had the better of St. Benedict’s, Trinity, Isipatana, Richmond, Dharmaraja, St. Sebastian’s and Lumbini MV.

Royal also rounded up a fantastic season when they took major honours in the 130th annual inter school Big Match against their traditional rivals S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia worked off at the SSC ground in Maitland Place.

In addition there were few other brilliant individual contributions as well that helped them to maintain their superiority throughout the season. The best effort certainly came from the left arm spinner Maneesha Tantrigoda who became only the sixth Royalist to claim more than 70 wickets during a season.

The fourth year coloursman who is also the acting captain for the current season finished with a rich haul of 72 wickets and joined a select band of players in the caliber of C. R. L. Chitty (87), J. Kudahetty (71), A. R. Jayaweera (71), H. S. Yapa (71) and J. Amarasinghe (72).

Not only that last year they had two top batsmen Bhanuka Rajapaksa (1184) and Kithruwan Vithanage (1090) who went pass the one thousand run mark. The pair carried the entire burden on their shoulders and put up a magnificent performance while scoring heavily both at home and away. However this season Royal will be minus these two players almost the entire season following their commitments with the Sri Lanka Under-19 team which is currently touring New Zealand for the ICC World Cup. Even then both players are expected to return home in time for their all important Big Match which is scheduled for March 11 to 13 at the SSC ground in Maitland Place.

Despite the absence of these two top players, Royal College have already made their presence felt with two outright victories to their credit. The best effort was certainly the six wicket triumph over St. Joseph’s College which they achieved after a lapse of 16 years.


Maneesha Tantrigoda (Acting captain)

Their success on their home grounds at Reid Avenue had even more significance considering the fact that they were minus five of their regular players. But yet they proved their capabilities with a couple of new players grabbing the opportunity to steal the limelight.

They produced two centurions in the same innings which was another feat as they piled up over three hundred runs before dismissing their opponents for 152 and 204 in the two innings respectively.

Second year coloursman and left hand top order batsman Ramith Rambukwell and Charutha Rajaratne both went on to make splendid hundreds and also figured in a massive 204 run partnership for the fifth wicket.

But the cynosure of all eyes have been on their acting captain Maneesha Tantrigoda who is now just one wicket away from completing fifty wickets for the current inter school season. The left arm spinner seems to be continuing from where he left last year where he emerged as one of the top wicket takers. This time he has led from the front and has been the key player in the line up with some outstanding bowling performances in their nine matches played so far. He had a matchbag of ten wickets on three occasions against St. Anthony’s, Zahira and St. Joseph’s and also had the rare honour of claiming four wickets in four successive deliveries.

Third year coloursman and left hand opening batsman Chalaka Bogoda is their acting vice captain for the current season having accumulated over three hundred runs inclusive of three half centuries.

But the top run getter this season has been Charutha Rajaratne who has already amassed over five hundred runs including one century and two fifties against Nalanda and St. Anthony’s.

Left hander Ramitha Rambukwella has also reached the five hundred run mark for the season having scored one century and two half centuries against St. Anthony’s and Nalanda.

The Royal team also includes a number of under 15 players who have been given the opportunity of obtaining valuable experience by playing in the first eleven side. Among them right arm fast bowler Imran Khan has been impressive having bagged a five wicket haul against Zahira and two four wicket hauls against Thurstan and St. Benedict’s respectively.

In addition left hand opener Imal Liyanage is a promising batsman having hit a top score of 78 against Richmond College Galle. Another left hander Savinda Edirisuriya hit a superb 80 against St. Anthony’s while Charith Devasurendra also made 80 against Nalanda.

Wicket keeper batsman Milan Abeysekera struck an unbeaten 76 against St. Benedict’s and left arm opening bowler Lakshan Landawela took a five wicket haul against the same opposition.

Right hand batsman Sampath de Silva, Madusha Rajaratne, Tharindu Abeysekera, Dhanika Rajakaruna and 14 year old Devin Padmananda are the rest of the members in the First Eleven squad.

Chris Dhambarage(Sri Lanka Sports News | Online edition of Daily News - Lakehouse Newspapers

ishanr111

Sounds like a great team. Thanthigoda should play for SL U-19 soon. Hopefully we can win the big match this year in the 175th Anniversary of this great school!

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Bunzz

Thanks for this Article Ishan.

Yes of course we can win it.I hope Bhanuka & Kithruwan will be available for the Big Match.

ishanr111

haha bunzz I didnt post this article. It was Jacksonfive!:P thank him

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JacksonFive

Where are all the Toras gone

Bunzz

oops Sorry J5 ..its was my mistake.

Thanks bro for the Article.

JacksonFive

The salient feature in the Royal College First XI is their ability to fire even without their top guns, in the on-going Inter School Under-19 cricket season.

As two prominent players, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Kithruwan Vithanage, who were called up for National duty with the Sri Lanka Under-19 team at the recently concluded ICC Youth World Cup in New Zealand, Royal had to do without two of their mainstays for a better part of the season.

But their absence was hardly felt as the team performed well against their traditional and tournament rivals.

According to stand in captain Maneesha Tantrigoda and coach, Gamini Perera, the strong junior structure of the college has helped sustain the team, despite the absence of the senior coloursmen.

Royal were also sans two top order batsmen for most of the season, namely Chalaka Bogoda and Waruna Dissanayake who did well in the few matches they played.

Royal have completed 11 matches and have two outright victories under their belt. Incidentally, they did not have their best team when they recorded outright victories against St. Benedict’s College and St. Joseph’s College. Royal tasted an outright victory against the Joes after one and a half decades when they came up with a fine all-round performance under their stand in captain Tantrigoda.

The senior players in the side have taken the bulk of the responsibility upon their shoulders to excel in the absence of their top players.

Ramith Rambukwella and Charutha Rajarathna have taken the responsibility of piling on the runs and as a result, both have crossed the 500 run mark this season. Rajarathna has hit four half centuries and a century while Rambukwella has six half centuries and a century to his credit.

The latter is the leading scorer with over 600 runs. Notably, it was these two left handers who toiled hard in laying the foundation for their victory against the Joes as they compiled a remarkable fifth wicket partnership of 204 runs. Royal amassed 306 for six (declared), against the Joes.

In the batting department, Milan Abeysekera, Shavinda Edirisuriya, Dhanika Rajakaruna, Chirath Devasurendra, Madusha Rajarathna, Imal Liyanage, Prabhath Sampath and Devin Pathmanathan have all contributed well towards the team, when they had opportunity.

However, in the bowling department, there was a bowler who was hogging the limelight constantly. The spinner, Tantrigoda, is on his way to becoming the first Royalist ever to take more than 70 wickets in consecutive seasons. With his impressive eight wicket haul in their match against Dharmaraja College on Sunday, he has a tally of over 60 wickets. Tantrigoda also had a rare feat this season when he picked up four wickets in four balls against St. Anthony’s to become the third such bowler in cricket history of Royal College.

Tantrigoda was ably supported by the other bowlers throughout the season with the pacies, Lakshan Landewela and Imran Khan who did a good job with the new ball. The duo played a key role in their victory against St. Benedict’s as they shared nine wickets between them to skittle out the Bens for a paltry 58 runs in the first innings. The other bowlers to be among the wickets this season are Charutha Rajarathna, Ramith Rambukwella and Dhanika Rajakaruna.

While the young outfit of Royal enjoyed success during the school season, their skipper Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Kithruwan Vithanage did extremely well for Sri Lanka Under-19 in their international matches at the ICC Youth World Cup in New Zealand.

Both were constantly in the spotlight during the World Cup.

While Rajapaksa scored two half centuries and remained unbeaten in 40s twice, Vithanage, who was also the deputy skipper of the Sri Lanka Under-19 team, contributed with scores of over 40, twice. Vithanage’s best performances for Sri Lanka Under-19 came in the Tri-Nation tournament which was played here in Sri Lanka, when he was adjudged the Man of the Match in the final.

Meanwhile, Rajapaksa’s best moment for Sri Lanka Under-19 was his 154 against Australia in the team’s 3-2 series victory down under. That score is the highest ever individual score by a Sri Lanka Under-19 player.

With Rajapaksa and Vithanage back in the Royal team once again come this weekend, they would be ready to deliver at full strength for the remainder of the season.

by Reemus Fernando
The Island-Sports

nuffa

yes!! thank you Jackson for the great articles....

big match heat starting to build up

JacksonFive

Indeed.However there seems to be only one school which is bothered about the big match this year..he he..

Also there is some great news regarding the Royal Thomian this year.Will break that no sooner I get the confirmation.

ishanr111

There is going to be a T20 roytho this time for the first time as well!! should be awesome!

Here are the dates
Royal Thomian – Three day encounter- 11, 12 & 13 March 2010

Royal Thomian – One day encounter- 20 March 2010

Royal Thomian – Inaugural T20 encounter- 27 March 2010

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