With his hands raised to the heavens wearing an overwhelming smile, stood a lad at the center of a boisterous band of supporters at the SSC in 2012.
The milestone he had achieved is considered to be nothing short of remarkable in a schoolboy cricketer’s career. He had just made a match-saving century at the Royal-Thomian. The following year he did one better as he was a part of a talented pool of young men who broke a seven-year hoodoo over their arch rivals to send the Royal College faithfuls into ecstasy. His name is Heshan Kumarasiri
Despite his stature, Heshan was known to be a lad who was technically sound with a wide variety of shots in addition to his staunch defense. Anchoring the batting, he was more than dependable in the middle of order for the Royalists managing to orchestrate many good innings during his school career for the coveted blue and gold.
Sitting down for an exclusive interview with ThePapare.com Heshan took us down the memory to relive his journey in creating memories for a lifetime.
After starting off at the CCC school of cricket under the guidance of Mr. Nelson Mendis Heshan grew into cricket with his parent’s support and encouragement. Sighting the likes of Michael Clarke as a role model, there’s little doubt he emulated the great right handed batsman.
“It’s any Royalists’ dream to play the big match as a cricketer” were Heshan’s words having asked about what inspired him as a Royalists to work towards the goal of being a part of the prestigious battle of the blues.
Expressing his views on the big match itself, Heshan said “As a player it’s a great feeling, it’s amazing. It’s quite hard to explain that in words”. He went on to articulate his views as a spectator as well. “As a player you’ve been there and experienced it from the middle so you know what it’s like. You just got to enjoy the game from outside”.
Having so many memorable moments to cherish, Heshan put his finger on two particular incidents in his century making passage and spoke of how Royalists regained the much aspired Shield the following year. “I had two dreams one is to score a century at the big match, two to win a big match and I achieved both” is how he worded it.
Heshan’s memorable century story starts off as he took the field with his skipper Imal Liyanage in the middle with the Royal College first innings in a spot of bother. That particular year some of the senior players for Royal were suspended from playing due an off- field incident consequently landing more responsibility on the shoulders of the skipper and a young Heshan himself. The scoreboard didn’t paint a pretty picture as the duo slowly but steadily took the Royalists passed a couple of milestones. The confidence grew within the partnership as the duo kept building the innings. Regardless of the fact that Heshan lost his skipper he went on his merry way building up toward a dogged century which was considered priceless under the circumstances. With every single he knew he was edging closer to something special as the Royal advocates who were in full flight gathering around the boundary ropes for their traditional pitch invasion at a significant landmark.
After a slight push on the offside Heshan set off, as he along with the rest of the crowd knew that it was the moment. His team rose from the dressing room applauding this quite remarkable innings, while the pitch invaders carried the young centurion in their shoulders chanting the proverbial R.O.Y.A.L in unison.
The shield remained with the school by the sea despite Heshan’s heroics and undoubtedly the ultimate goal still remained a dream for Heshan and his compatriots. However, things were to change the following year under the leadership of Devin Pathmanathan. It was a game dominated by the Royalists, who scuttled out the Thomians and put on a commanding 260/5 to go on to win the match. The seven year hoodoo broken and shield was back at Reid Avenue.
Following school cricket Heshan went on to play a couple of seasons in domestic cricket turning out for the Sebastianites. At present though he is concentrating on his career as he works alongside his father in their family business. Expressing views on what he has learnt as a schoolboy cricketer, he mentioned the value of teamwork alongside the sense of responsibility one is taught carrying the hopes and dreams of an entire school. “We fought on field but we’re good friends off it” he further stated accenting on another learning which is the value of friendships among opposition members and sportsmanship taught through the beautiful game as a whole.
Heshan’s final words to Helitha and his team ahead of the 138th Battle of the Blues, “Go out there enjoy the game, enjoy the atmosphere because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity”.
