Sri Lanka Schools - Chanaka Wijesinghe achieves rare feat (31 Aug 1997)

Sunday 31, August 1997

Sri Lanka Schools - Chanaka Wijesinghe achieves rare feat

By S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy South Group Cor.

THAT RUN machine from St. Sylvester's College, Kandy achieved the rare feat of scoring over a 1,000 runs in the Horlicks Trophy schools under-15 division II cricket tournament conducted by the Sri Lanka School Cricket Association.

He reached this milestone during his innings of 74 in the second innings of their final round match against St. Mary's College, Kegalle. Thus Chanaka Wijesinghe becomes the first under-15 cricketer from the Central Province to score 1,000 runs in the tournament matches alone. He has now scored 1115 runs and has been dismissed nine times for a fantastic average of 128.33 per innings.

This young cricketer, who is not only attractive to watch, but is also a punishing bat is the talk of the town. It is not known whether any other cricketer in the history of this tournament has reached the 1,000 run-mark. How many of the present day cricketers and even from the national squad could get near this record. May be, Chanaka Wijesinghe is the first cricketer to reach the 1,000 run-mark in the under-15 cricket tournament.

Chanaka Wijesinghe who has so far scored 1,115 runs has seven centuries to his credit and his lowest score has been 65. In every match he has been scoring more than half of side's total and one wonders how the Sylvestrians would have fared if not for Chanaka Wijesinghe's big contribution. His fine achievement, has helped his school to enter the finals of the under-15 Division II cricket tournament.

Chanaka Wijesinghe had an average of 254.5 at the end of the group matches. In the second round and the final round matches, too, he has been scoring heavily and has been the thorn in the flesh of the bowlers.

This little right-hand bat is an accomplished cricketer and has a great future if put in the right direction. His coach Roland Perera who has guided him right from the beginning, has given him the break to play in the senior team alongside the senior cricketers and he has scored heavily for the first eleven team, including a top score 94 vs Dharmaraja College and a string of half centuries which is quite an achievement of a 14-year-old.

He has scored centuries in the under-15 tournament against the following schools: 113 n.o. vs Dharmaraja College `B', 109 vs St. Anthony's College `B', 143 vs Sri Sumangala MV, Kandy, 144 n.o. vs Vidyartha College, 107 and 89 vs President's College, Rajagiriya, 133 vs Ananda College, Colombo, 113 vs St. Anthony's College, Wattala.

His other scores are 65 vs Prince of Wales and 65 and 74 vs St. Mary's College, Kegalle.

At one stage of the tournament, he had scored six centuries in the first six matches. Chanaka Wijesinghe being just 14 and if comes good, he should be a big draw for the next five years in the local cricket scene.

In the current All-Island inter-district under-15 cricket tournament organised by the Kandy District CA and the Cricket Board and sponsored by Milo, he had already scored 65 not out and taken 3 for 26 to guide the Kandy District to a comfortable win over Ratnapura District in their first match.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)