Wennappuwa St. Joseph Vaz College team: Seated from left: Vishwa Rajapaksa (Captain) Mr. Yohan Madhuvantha (Assistant Coach) Mr. Tharanga Liyanapathirana (Head Coach) Mr. Randir Dinesh ( MIC of Junior team) Rev. Father Priyanjeeva (Principal) Ms. Rangika Siribaddana (Teacher In Charge of Senior Team) Ms. Sureka Dilhani (In Charge of Junior Teams) Danuka Peiris (Assistant Coach) Janith Fernando (Vice Captain). Standing from left: Heshan Kawinda, Amal Perera, Hansi Mihilera, Vidavian Thunuwasara, Ravanic Thunuwasara, Raviyy Sawanu, Kaviyya Venonu, Kavindu Seeraratne, Ramesh Matherades, Ramesh Mathesha.
The inaugural Big Match named “Battle of the Golden Blues” between St. Anthony’s College, Wattala and St. Joseph Vaz College, Wennappuwa, will be played on April 26 and 27 at P. Saravanamuthu Ground, Colombo for the “Joseph Vaz Memorial Championship Trophy”. The legendary names of Sylvester Diaz (1962), Chaminda Vass (1994), Manjula Munasinghe (1994) and Thisara Perera (2009) have gone down in the annals of history as representatives of the National Cricket Team being proud products of Wattala St. Anthony’s College. Further, Kamal Rupasinghe has represented Zambia and Samal Udawatta is currently representing United Arab Emirates respectively.
Moreover, Shehan de Silva, Namal Sadikin, Hirantha Perera, Avishka Tharindu, Priyantha Munasinghe, who have performed at the national level, represented the Sri Lanka ‘A’ and Board Presidents teams to their credit. Lal Rodrigo (1964), Harold Sirisena (1962), Mevan Abeysekera (1990), Upul Fernando (1992) and A. Sivanesaraja (1995) and Avishka Tharindu (2018-20) have also represented the National Schools under 15 and under 19 teams from Wattala school.
Minod Bhanuka and Shehan Madhusanka have represented the national team from Wennappuwa St. Joseph Vaz College.
It is noteworthy that Nipun Dhananjaya has led National Schools teams under 15, under 19 and Sri Lanka “A”.
Isuru Perera (1999) Janith Sewvinda (2011), Kasun Vidura (2012), Rukshan Fernando (2013), Avishka Fernando (2016), Kanishka Hasitha (2017) have also represented the under-15 and under-19 national school teams from Josep Vaz College.
The fact that the current team captain, Vishwa Rajapaksa and vice-captain Janith Fernando, have represented the 2023 National Schools Under-19 team brings promise for a bright future.
Joseph Pius -Wattala Special Corr.