A 32-year old Accountant from Kandy, Sri Lanka, is rocking the cricket scene in a tiny European country named Malta.
He caught the eyes of ThePapare.com journalists when he smashed 335 in 7 innings in the recently concluded Summer League organised by the Malta Cricket Association. The dashing batsman has a very uplifting tale to tell; how he went from street cricket in Sri Lanka to International Cricket in Malta.
We caught up with him so here goes:
Early days of cricket and how you started?
So, I am from Kandy. I grew up in a neighbourhood where we loved our street cricket. We used to play every day. I did my schooling at St. Anthony’s College, Katugasthota. Tried my hand at cricket in school for a brief time but gave up very early to concentrate on my studies. That’s all about my cricketing background – street cricket with neighbours…
The switch to Malta?
When I finished schooling, I started my Chartered Accountancy and worked in a couple of leading firms in Sri Lanka for about 7 years. I played hardly any cricket during that period. So little that you could even say, I did not play any. So, once I finished my studies, I thought let me try and apply for an overseas job. I got an offer, they wanted me to attend a training program in Dubai for a month and said that my posting was in Malta. In January 2017, I came to Malta.
How did you get into cricket in Malta?
I met this Indian guy at the gym a few days after I came here, and I told him I got nothing to do on my weekends and that I was bored. He is the one who introduced me to Cricket in Malta. He told me that there is a bunch who play cricket every weekend and asked me if I wanted to join. So, we went on a Saturday and started playing at Marsa Sports Club. It is a private member club and you need to pay 340 EU for the annual membership and a match fee of 6 EU per match to use the facilities there. This is the only cricket facility available in the whole of Malta. The ground has an astroturf wicket and almost everyone playing hard-ball cricket in Malta is a member of the club.
About 95% of the players are ex-pats, mostly from India and Pakistan. Only the Maltese who moved to the UK or Australia for studies play cricket here.
So, from there I slowly picked up and started performing well within the club. And there is no such thing like a selection criteria here. Everyone playing cricket here is a member of the Marsa Sports Club. They select the best performers from the club to go on tours representing Malta. The local rule was that one should be in Malta for a year to represent them, after my first year I was selected to tour with them.
How professional is cricket in Malta?
The sport is open for all. But, it is not anywhere like a professional sport here. Mostly, its like a recreational activity. No one is paid here for playing, even if you are on an international tour playing T20Is, you don’t get paid. Malta Cricket Association will provide your accommodation and food, that’s all. Even T20 internationals are organised as four-day tours because we are all working. It is the same with any team at our level. Everyone is doing some other job while cricket is just for passion.
Being an accountant, how do you manage cricket and work?
See, all of us are working, so we only play on weekends, if we are touring then it’s mostly Thursday to Sunday. It is always four-day tours so that everyone just has to take two days of leave. My boss is cool about it too. I only take leave when I go to Sri Lanka, so as long as my job is done, they are fine to let me use up my leave for cricket.
If so, how does the Malta Cricket Association get the money?
Well, we don’t get any grants from the ICC. No affiliated country gets any grants from the ICC. But we do get a grant from the sports ministry of Malta, who usually allocates about 2400 to 2600 EU for cricket and that’s all we have to organise these tours.
How long have you been playing for Malta?
I first played for Malta in 2018, then ICC brought a rule saying that a person should be born in the country or hold a passport of the country or should reside in the country for more than three years to qualify to represent that country. So, had to wait till January 2020 to play for Malta again. So now I am eligible to play for Malta again, but we haven’t had any tours this year due to the pandemic.
How does it feel to play cricket in a country like Malta, where cricket is not popular?
It’s good. Since most of us are ex-pats, it’s like a multicultural thing. Players come from India, Pakistan, Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and many other countries. We have about 10 to 12 Sri Lankans playing in the club system here and I am the only one in the national team at present.
See, in Sri Lanka, we could go to any place and start talking about cricket and connect to it, but here it is possible only within the cricket community. The locals don’t understand the sport. Luckily, I share a flat with a couple of Indians, and we play for the same club, so we always speak cricket here.
Have you ever got into a cricket vs football debate with a local there?
Haha, No not really. They don’t understand the sport, they’ll ask questions like, how are so many runs scored and all. In football its just a few goals, so when we rack up 200 runs they are surprised. I don’t get beyond that point.
What is your involvement in Malta Cricket Association?
I volunteer as the treasurer at MCA. So, even our chairman and vice-chairman are fellow Sri Lankans. Dr Indika Perera is our chairman, he is a Royalist and served in the Sri Lankan Army during the civil war as a medical officer. And vice-chairman is Mr Michael Gunathilake. We got elected last year, we have 6 people in the committee, and we are all working to improve the sport in this country.
What have you all done so far to lift cricket in Malta and what are the future plans?
The ICC is keen on developing cricket at any level. So at this level, they are interested in youth development and developing cricket at the grassroots to enable the locals will start playing the sport. We are working on that, we have spoken to the ministries and we are trying to get cricket into their curriculum in schools. We have two certified coaches; our plan is to get through to the schools and identify natural talents and potential. Once that is done, we will get those kids into the academy and develop age-group teams for the country.
Recently, we started women’s cricket, now we have a team and they will be ready to play matches by next year.
When we came into the association, it was not very active. Two years ago, we had only 4 teams playing in the national league, or the summer league they call it here, last year we managed to get in 9 teams, and this year 12 teams. We are expecting about 20 teams next year and are planning to play the tournament in two divisions. About 200 people have now registered under the MCA. They are all members of the Marsa Sports Club too, All these teams are formed among the members of the club. According to a survey, there are about 600 more people playing tape-ball and softball cricket in university grounds and other small grounds. We are trying to bring them in too.
And what do you expect in return for doing all these?
Hmm…Nothing. We are just doing it for the passion for the sport. We got some time in hand, might as well use it for this. That’s all.
