Poramadulla CC makes progress despite difficulties

S.M. Jiffrey ABDEEN- Kandy Sports Corr

Poramadulla Central College in Rikillagaskada in the Hanguranketha which was the royal refuge of the last king of Kandy, is one of the first schools to take to hard ball cricket from the area which comes under the Nuwara Eliya district. Despite the many difficulties faced by them, they have been fielding a cricket team every year.

This school has produced many distinguished students including one time Sports Minister and present Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake who has done a lot to improve the facilities for sports in the school. They had a good ground and when Thilanga Sumathipala was the President of Sri Lanka Cricket, he provided two practice nets and cricket equipment at the request of Minister S.B. Dissanayake. But the ground after a few years fell into neglect till C.B. Ratnayake became the Minister of Sports and he granted Rs 300 lakhs to rehabilitate and re-develop the ground and the work is still in progress. Now only the planting of the grass is left to be done and with the rains which is expected to fall in April the growth of grass could be accelerated.

But in the meantime the cricketers of Poramadulla Central use the Open Prison Camp grounds at Pallekele as their home grounds and they will have to travel a distance of over 40 kilometres. Poramadulla Central College will be fielding a highly inexperienced side this season as they will be having only four players from the last year's team and this will let them go through a tough time unless the juniors who have come into the team, play a bigger role.

Leading the side this year fourth year player Liyan Wickremasinghe, a good bat and an off spinner, whom the team will expect to come up with good performances.

The Vice Captain of the side is another all-rounder and third year player Eranga Nawaratne. Another reliable bat and a right arm medium pacer, second year player Dhanushka Lakmal and Lahiru Nishantha are the other two players from the last year's team and the rest are 'green horns'.

Apart from the skipper and his deputy, the others who should be among the runs are Hemantha Bandara, Saliya - Ratnayake, Govinda Nadeeshan, Dhanushka Lakmal, Kasun Bandara, Lalinda Nishantha and Sandaruwan Dissanayake.

Govinda Nishantha and Dhanushka Lakmal will open the bowling attack supported by medium pacers Saliya Ratnayake, Eranga Nawaratne and Sandaruwan Dissanayake. Much cannot be said of the spin attack which will have 15 year old left arm spinner Kasun Bandara and off spinner Liyan Wickremasinghe. Thus the pacies will have a big job in their hands.

The others in the pool are Ajith Indika, Eranga Bandara, Buddhika Ratnayake, Gayan Wettasinghe, Dulaj Thillakaratne and Kanishka Wedasinghe.

Their coach Palitha Thillakasiri who has to travel a distance of 100 kilimetres to practice with the boys said that when young, there is a tendency for the cricketers to bowl fast and the cricket coach has a big job in his hands to identify the talents of the young cricketers and guide them whether to remain as fast bowlers or switch them to spin. It is a tough task right from the start. It becomes harder as the cricketers here do not have much exposure to the game as hardly any cricket is played here.

The Amiable cricket master-in-charge of the school Saman Weerasinghe said that with the help and guidance of the school Principal B.G.S. Bandara they are trying hard to develop cricket in the school. Poramadulla Central College is the flagship for sports in the Nuwara Eliya electorate and it has been elevated to the status of Sports School and cricket is one of the sports. As a mixed school, with girls participating in sports like netball, athletics, basketball, volleyball, kabbadi and other sports, the school has a big role to play.

They do not play a big match and hope to have one in the near future.