Gayana (left) with his brother Matheesha during the big match
(pix by Vijitha Senaratne)
Maliyadeva College captain and right handed middle order batsman Gayana Weerasinghe plundered a classic 145 in just 98 balls with four towering sixes and 19 fours against St Anne’s College Kurunegala in their 40th ‘Battle of the Rocks ‘ encounter which was concluded at the Welegedara Stadium in Kurunegala recently.
His brother Matheesha Weerasinghe also scored 113 for Maliyadeva against same opposition in the Battle of the Rocks encounter in 2020, thus they became the first and only pair of brothers to score centuries for either school in this traditional series which began in 1959. It was a very rare feat in the annals of schools’ big matches in Sri Lanka.
In the ‘Battle of the Rocks’ encounter in 2020, opener Matheesha Weerasinghe scored 113 runs in 234 balls with 13 fours and added a useful 60 run partnership for the fourth wicket with his younger brother Gayana (58 in 98 balls with 9 fours), who played as an 15 year old fresher. Infact under Matheesha’s captaincy Maliyadeva College recorded their last victory in the big match series in 2022 by 7 wickets. Brother Gayana has been shining with the ball (3/16) in that match.
In the 2023 encounter Gayana impressed with the ball once again by recording his career best figures of 6/35 against the home town rivals after bowling 24.4 overs. In the ‘Battle of the Rocks’ one day series Gayana scored 41 in 2023 and captured 4/33 in 2024 and guided his team to victory on both occasions and also bagged man of the match award for his match winning performances.
Within ten days after the big battle this year he proved his all round capabilities again by cracking another superb 152 in 189 balls with 4 sixes and 16 fours for his college after taking 6/99 with his medium pace bowling against their neighbours St Anne’s College in the inter school under 19
division I Tier A relegation match at Polonnaruwa Royal College grounds.
In combined he scored 312 runs and captured 11 wickets in 3 matches against their home town rivals St Anne’s this season. (4, 145 & 1/62 in the big match, 11 & 4/33 in the one day match and 152 & 6/99 in the relegation match)
Gayana rated his innings of unbeaten 135 against Royal College Colombo in the 2022/23 season as his best during his career. In that match, he added 97 runs for the last wicket with number 11 batsman Taveesha Balasooriya, who gave good support facing 41 balls without scoring a single run. Gayana was unbeaten on 61 in the second innings and also took 4/76 against Royal in that memorable match.
He owe much of his success to his coaches Ananda Bandaranayaka, Rohan Dheerasooriya, Prageeth Chanaka, Janaka Seneviratne, Malika Hunukumbura, Jaliya Madusanka and also for his parents, The Principal and the staff of the college, his colleagues and also for officials of the Maliyadeva College Old Boys Association.
He topped one thousand run mark for two consecutive seasons in 2023 and 2024 and ended the ongoing season with 1317 runs from 15 matches with 4 centuries and 5 fifties and also took 34 wickets.
Vijitha Senaratne