The boys from Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda will be looking to upset a few big name schools in their quest to become an elite name in the schools cricket arena.
A Bit of History
The institute was established way back in 1913 by its founder Mudliar Santiago Thomas de Silva who spent his own wealth to establish and develop the school that started with just 15 students.
Dharmasoka have the distinction of producing a few quality cricketers, with Sri Lanka Test, ODI and T20 representative Upul Tharanga being perhaps the most famous one to have come from the school. Another immensely talented batsman, Dinesh Chandimal was groomed at Dharmasoka before leaving for Ananda College in Colombo.
Saman Jayantha was yet another good batsman who schooled at Dharmasoka, making his debut for Sri Lanka in 2004; Jayantha went on to play 17 ODIs, scoring 400 runs at an average of 26.66.
2016/2017
Dharmasoka will be pleased having been drawn in group C and will look to make an excellent impression by going as far as possible in the tournament. The team began this season with a draw against Dharmaraja College but two outright wins against Gurukula and Moratu Vidyalaya and a first innings win against Zahira College gave them an excellent start to the 2016/17 season.
Key Players
Ushan Imantha will be the man with the arm band for Dharmasoka in 2016/17. A 4th year coloursman with 31 wickets from 9 matches last season under his belt he will look to use his past experience and lead his team towards victory.
Last season’s captain, a 5th year coloursman and with 600+ runs behind him last season, Kaweesh Kumara will look to better his performance this time around as Dharmasoka aims to go forward and better last season’s performances.
Dinuka Dilshan will look to go better than his last year’s run tally of 600+ as he aims to add solidarity to the Dharmasoka batting.
Leg Spinner Kavindu Nadeeshan with over 60 wickets last season, will shoulder the spin bowling attack this season.
Ravindu Rashantha who captained his provincial team and was also the Sri Lanka U15 vice-captain will look to make use of his National know-how to help Dharmasoka this season.
Photo Album: Dharmasoka College Cricket Team Preview 2016/17
Coaching staff
Isuru Anushka will be in charge for the 3rd year as coach at Dharmasoka and is a gentleman who knows the culture, strengths and weaknesses of the players.
Thilan Maduranga an old boy and a very able assistant will help out Isuru in the dugout.
Dasan Naiduwawadu the long serving Master in Charge will be at the helm of Dharmasoka cricket for the 9th year.
Final Say
With a very good start to the season (two outright wins in 4 games) Dharmasoka will look to trouble some big name team and will be looking to proceed to at least the round of 8 in this year’s U19 cricket tournament.
