With one of the strongest batting line ups in the domestic arena, BRC will be looking to make a statement in their first year of promotion to the top league of cricket in Sri Lanka, after the club went down to the lower division during the 2012/13 season.
Bit of history
The club was founded on the 26th of December 1896 known as the Bambalapitiya Recreation Club, with membership restricted to the Burgher community. In 1902 though, the club moved from Bambalapitiya to Havelock Park while also changing its name later on to Burgher Recreation Club. They had a brilliant season during 2015/16 to gain promotion from the emerging category to the Premier League tier A tournament under the leadership of stalwart Indika De Saram.
Key Players
With a healthy first class average in the mid 40’s, Rumesh Buddika, will be a key player for BRC in putting up the big totals on the board. The skipper of the Sri Lanka Emerging team, is also the deputy to Harsha Vithana and will play a key role in the field.
The wily left arm spinner Dinuka Hettiarachchi will be leading a rather inexperienced BRC bowling line up. With over 800 first class wickets in his bag, he will be the go-to bowler for BRC more often than not.
The young and exciting fast bowler Vikum Sanjaya has been hitting his straps more often than not in the recent past, which also booked him a spot for Sri Lanka’s Test tour of South Africa which kicks off on Boxing Day. The lanky right arm swing bowler from Lumbini College was the best bowler of the Mercantile A division tournament and also had brilliant start to the domestic season with a six wicket haul against Army SC during the opening week.
Skipper Harsha Vithana, T.M. Sampath, Chanaka Wijesinghe, Bhanuka Rajapakse, Andy Solomons and the wicket keeper batsman of the side Deshan Dias are the other big names in this strong batting unit.
Photo Album: Burgher Recreation Club | Full Squad 2016/17
New boys
The Royalist pair of Devind Pathmanathan and Hashen Ramanayake will have to play important roles to get the balance right of their batting heavy BRC unit while also getting good exposure playing among experienced domestic cricketers.
With Vikum Sanjaya set to miss a few games due to national duty, the 18 year old wiry quick Neranjan Wanniarachchi has a golden opportunity to trouble a few batsmen with his pace and bounce.
Coaching staff
Indika De Saram will be in charge of BRC once again this season while also not ruling out the chances of him turning up as a player in the shorter formats later on during the season. He has been a great influence to the club after his introduction as a player/coach a couple of season back and he will be looking to keep up to his reputation as one of the up and coming coaches in Sri Lanka.
Dinesh Chaminda will be the assistant to Indika De Saram in the coaching department and is renowned to be a good fielding coach in the domestic arena.
