Maris Stella College Negombo with five senior coloursmen and several other promising junior players in their ranks will continue to strive for success while making another determined effort to emerge as a major force in the current inter-school Under 19 cricket season.
In fact last week they nearly created a major upset when they fell short by just three wickets from pulling off a sensational outright victory over the more fancied St. Peter’s outfit in a thrilling encounter played at the FTZ ground in Katunayake.
On that occasion Maris Stella College came out with a superlative bowling performance and had the strong Peterite batting line up struggling at 127 for 7 wickets while chasing a modest target of 150 runs.
Overall this was easily one of their best efforts for the current season as they recovered magnificently to grab major honours at the end after been bowled out for a dismal 47 runs in the first innings.
Maris Stella College of course made a promising start to the new season when they triumphed by an innings in the match against Dharmapala College Pannipitiya and also took major honours in the fixtures against Holy Cross College Kalutara, Thurstan College and St. Aloysius College Galle respectively.
This has been a tremendous performance from an outstation school which has continued to produce some outstanding cricketers in the recent past despite going through many difficulties and challenges on and off the field.
Their main concern and drawback for many years has been the non-availability of a turf wicket of their own to conduct their home matches and to continue with their regular practice sessions during the season.
As a result their top order batsmen have faced some tough situations and have always been under pressure while performing away from home. Despite this setback they have still managed to come on par along with some of the more elite schools in the country.
In fact two years ago they enjoyed one of their finest seasons because they were able to maintain an unbeaten record and also did well to reach the semifinals of the inter-school knock out limited over tournament.
In the recent past Maris Stella College Negombo has produced a number of top cricketers in the calibre of Graeme and Wendell Labrooy, Ranga and Sandun Dias, Shantha Fonseka and Mevan Fernando.
And the latest sensation to join this select band of elite players is elegant middle order batsman Angelo Jayasinghe who became the first player from Maris Stella College to captain the Sri Lanka Under-19 team.
In addition they produced one of the most elegant stroke makers during the 2011 inter school cricket season where former captain Dasun Shanaka had the credit of reaching the one thousand run mark with three centuries and five fifties.
Incidentally Dasun Shanaka went on to represent the SSC in the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) organized Premier League cricket tournaments and also made his presence felt in last years Sri Lanka Premier League Twenty20 tournament.
All rounder Ashen Silva is another outstanding cricketer to emerge from Maris Stella College Negombo during the 2006/07 inter school cricket season having turned up for the Sri Lanka ‘A’ side with distinction.
In addition opening bowler Dushmantha Chameera also had quite a fruitful stint for Maris Stella College and he later went on to represent the NCC in the inter club division one cricket tournaments with a great amount of success.
This season their highest run getter has been opening batsman Chaturanga Rajapaksa with over 250 runs to his credit including a fighting half century in the game against St. Joseph’s College at Darley Road.
Even then their key batsman in the lineup is the former Sri Lanka youth cap and middle order batsman Prasansana Jayamanne who produced his best innings this season so far while compiling an unbeaten half century in the match against Dharmapala College Pannipitiya.
The other top batsmen in the team is Vihanga Ravishanka with a top score of 72 against St. Aloysius College Galle and skipper Shehan Chaturanga who came into the limelight by smashing a sparkling half century in the match against Holy Cross College Kalutara.
Maris Stella College bowling will be spearheaded by the two spinners skipper Shehan Chaturanga and Shakila Basura who has impressed by capturing over 20 wickets each during the current season.
Maris Stella College coach Harsha Gamaadikari was really pleased with the performances of the team and hope that they would continue to impress in the more important games ahead of the season.
“I think we have done all the hard work at the start and now we need to consolidate our position and keep the momentum going which will be important for us to qualify for the limited over tournament”.
“We had few setbacks in the beginning of the season but I think the boys have really turned things around and they should be complimented for a tremendous all round perfoemance” added Gamaadikari.
Maris Stella College Negombo First XI Cricket Pool for 2013/14 season:
Shehan Chaturanga (captain) – Right hand batsman/right arm off spinner
Shanaka Fernando (vice captain) – Right hand opener/right arm off spinner
Shakila Basura – left hand bat/left arm spinner
Prasansana Jayamanne – Right hand batsman
Sajith Peiris – Right arm fast bowler
Rasanjaya Silva – Right hand opener/right arm off spinner
Sachindu Colombage – Right hand batsman/right arm leg spinner
Shachindra Gamaadikari – Right hand batsman/wicket keeper
Nalaka de Silva – Right hand batsman/right arm of spinner
Ashan Indrajith – Left hand batsman
Chaturanga Rajapaksa – Right hand batsman/wicket keeper
Niyon Perera – Right hand batsman
Vihanga Ravishanka – Left arm fast bowler
Rajindu Peiris – Right hand batsman
Pathum Silva – Right arm off spinner
Viraj Jayamaha – Right hand batsman
Sudesh Lakmal – Right hand batsman/right arm fast bowler
Capistran Cooray – Right hand batsman/right arm fast bowler
Dilan Gamage – Right hand batsman/right arm off spinner
Sanka Poorana – Right hand batsman/right arm off spinner
Coach – Harsha Gamaadikari
Assistant coach – Roshan Jayasinghe
Assistant coach – Dishanth Shaminda
Master in Charge – Lalantha Fernando
Prefect of Games – Susan Thamel
Remaining fixtures:
January 20/21: v Zahira College at Negombo
February 6/7: v De Mazenod College at Kandana
February 10/11: v Mahanama College at Katunayake
February 20/21: v Gurukula College Kelaniya at Negombo
February 25/26: v St. Servatius College at Matara
