A majority of Richmond College first XI cricket team may be youngsters, but the performances of these gritty cricketers on the field does not depict so. From last season Richmond lost two of their top performers, namely Yasoda Lanka and Dhananjaya de Silva. Richmond could not make much use of both these players who went on to represent the Sri Lanka Under-19s and as a result the school from Richmond Hills was compelled to rely on their youngsters. These youngsters today had turned out to be a dominant force in the school cricket circuit thanks to the commitment, desire to win and most of all their unity.
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| Pabasara Waduge (Captain) |
“Last year we were an average team in comparison to other school teams. But this year it’s a totally different story. We have a young but competitive team. So far our performances have been very moderate and we wish to be more competitive as the season progresses,” said the coach, Dhammika Sudarshana.
Proving Sudarshana’s comments, Richmond did perform extensively well this season. Handing Royal their first defeat after playing against them for 99 years was a great achievement for the youngsters from the southern capital. Richmond scored their second win against Isipathana, taking their tally to two wins, six draws in eight matches.
To make the atmosphere better, Richmond has a strong cricket squad off 22 players with five seniors namely Pabasara Waduge the skipper, Hasitha Madushan, Sithara Gimhana, Thisara Bhanuka and Kasun Chamara. Madushan stands in as deputy to Waduge and contributions from both these players will be very vital for Richmond. But according to Sudarshana they have a heap of all-rounders in the side.
“We have batsmen who can bat right down to number nine. And most of them are all-rounders. That’s our plus point for this season. This combination has done wonders for us in our two wins. We could have won at least three more games if not for the inclement weather during the third term. With this team catching up with the winning trend will not be a hard task,” Sudarshana continued.
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| Hasitha Madushan (Vice Captain) |
This season Richmond has given a great kick-start for a better season whereas they were only able to record two wins and two defeats in 16 games last season.
The team will definitely have the edge in their outings with five senior members but youngsters too are fairing up pretty well. The skipper, right-handed Waduge and left handed Sithara Gimhana open the batting for Richmond followed by Kelum Shehara, Hasitha Madushan and Damith Lakmihiran. Next to follow in are Prabath Nishantha, Kasun Chamara, Saveen Nanayakkara and Thisara Bhanuka who are dependable batters. Out of the lot, Waduge is a member of the Sri Lanka Under-19 squad and is in good shape this season. Other batsmen in the order are too dependable and have the capacity to rise up to the occasion and play a solid knock.
They have a well balanced bowling attack with two seamers and two spinners who are in the capacity of wrecking a side at any given chance. This was evident against Royal who was shot out in their twenties while batting in their second innings with two hours of play remaining. Richmond has proven their might with their bowling attack many a time this year but most of the time they have been unfortunate not to record wins.
Damith Lakmihiran and Prabath Nishantha are right-arm medium pace bowlers and they are extraordinary. Manula Gunawardena is their third paceman. In the spin department off-spinner AK Tyron and left-arm spinner Thisara Bhanuka are the key bowlers. Apart from these four, Richmond has a brigade of seamers and spinner who can act as part timers.
“Damith (Lakmihiran) was brilliant against Royal with his variation of in, out and air swings. Prabath, Tyron and Thisara are bowlers who can make sudden impacts. At the same time we have others who can fit into the boots,” he added.
Richmond after a good start has set themselves a humongous target which also has all the possibilities to become a reality. Their goal is to record eight wins this season and set the pace for the coming years by grooming youngsters along with seniors as perfect replacements in time to come. In their present squad, players from the Under-13, 15 and 17 teams have also earned promotions to train with the first XI squad. Depending on their developments youngsters are given opportunities to play in the big team.
“At the beginning it was considered as a massive challenge to groom these youngsters. But their commitment and unity while training and at matches has proven that we can go beyond limits. We don’t aim on the future with high hopes but we do have a goal of recording certain number of wins. We are confident of reaching that target,” the coach said.
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| Richmond cricket squad. (Pix by Amila Prabodha) |
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