Former Sri Lanka national coach and stylish number three batsman Roy Dias asks why there is a dearth of young school leavers joining the national ranks straight from schools. Speaking to the Sunday Times Dias said: “Sri Lanka has one of the best or one could call it the best laid school cricket system in the World. I can still remember there was a time we could count and say the number of school cricketers that would join the national ranks straight from that platform.
“Cricketers in the caliber of Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravinda de Silva, Ranjan Madugalle, Roshan Mahanama and Duleep Mendis were on line for national honours while still at schools and some of them represented the country while still at school. But, ironically though the national seniors have won the World Cup, our under 19ers are yet to bring home that accolade. I wonder why? I would be very interested to get to the root cause of this if given the opportunity”.
Dias handled the Nepal national cricket which included the under 19ers for the past nine years and has produced a side that have beaten sides like New Zealand and South Africa. Nepal has also won the Plate Championship in the World Cup under 19 tournament. |
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