Sri Lanka youths to tour England (27 Apr 1997)

Sunday 27, April 1997

Thomians to tour England in May

From Reggie Fernando in London

ONE OF the most exciting youth cricket teams from Sri Lanka arrive in the UK in May on their first ever tour of this country. The entire 1st XI cricket team of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia will arrive on AirLanka on Saturday May 24 and will be in the UK until June 15.

The age range of the team are 15-17 year olds and comprise some of the most exciting young talent with potential to play Test cricket for Sri Lanka - some of the players to watch are the stylish batsmen, Romesh Fernando, Upekha Fernando, Bathiya Karunaratne and bowlers Naren Ratwatte, Amila Perera and Mahapatuna.

Seventeen-year-old Romesh Fernando played for a club in Leeds last season - he also played for the Horley Cricket Club and a club in Middlesex. Fernando was brought to the UK by the Guardian journalist David Hopps. He gained valuable experience, playing with English sides last year. His visit was also backed by the active Old Thomians. Upekha Fernando and Bathiya Karunaratne have both scored over 1,000 runs in the inter-school cricket season in Sri Lanka. The island has a strong school cricket season. The inter-school cricket competitions always bring to the fore some of Sri Lanka's exciting young cricketing talents.

S. Thomas' College, Mount lavinia is one of Sri Lanka's foremost public schools - S. Thomas' was founded by the Church of England in the 1880s - three former Thomians captained the national side - Anura Tennakoon, Michael Tissera and Duleep Mendis who is at present the manager of the Sri Lanka Test team.

The World Cup win by Arjuna Ranatunga and the Sri Lankan team has aroused a great deal of interest in cricket in the island. The annual cricket encounter between the two schools - Royal College, Colombo and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia is now a major sporting fixture in Sri Lanka - this year S. Thomas' won the three day match as well as the one day fixture against Royal College in Colombo.

The annual Royal-Thomian cricket match attracts more attention than even Test matches with the 3-day match filled to capacity, there is a holiday atmosphere as hundreds make their way to the grounds to see the match. Schoolboys parade the streets of Colombo in their jeeps and trucks waving flags and singing songs - it is a carnival atmosphere in Colombo.

The Thomians will be welcomed by the 100,000 strong Sri Lankan Community in the United Kingdom. The High Commissioner for Sri Lanka His Excellency S. K. Wickeremasinghe, an Old Thomian himself will entertain the team for a dinner, the team will also be watching the England v Australia first Test at Edgbaston.

Some fixtures have been organised for the team, their key date will be against a Surrey county under-25 team at Avorians Cricket Club in Surrey on Wednesday June 11, starting at 10 a.m. This match is being covered by press, radio and television.

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