Batting records are what sets up super stars and players apart in the glorious game of cricket that is all about thrills and spills. From the yesteryear days of the legendary Sir Donald Bradman to Sir Garfield Sobers, Brain Lara and our own Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara indeed this absorbing game has been adorned by such batting greats who have lit up cricket endearing it to millions of fans for its ‘Glorious Uncertainties’ that such super stars have succeeded in translating cricket to a highly demanding fanfare product.
It is in such transcending days that king cricket has hit an upswing of becoming more and more sophisticated that we hear of our own schoolboy product hailing from Wattala’s St. Anthony’s College namely Avishka Tharindu raising the bar to be counted on the super star hall of fame in the portals of Sri Lanka’s school cricket on his way to a monumental 350 against Lumbini College Colombo in a ‘Singer Trophy’ Under 19 inter-school cricket match which ended in a draw at Wattala yesterday.
Tharindu became the record holder for the highest individual Under-19 schoolboy record in an enduring innings that put him on the everlasting fame of the Mt. Everest of records at that level in Sri Lankan school cricket history as he clobbered a record 56 boundaries and 3 sixes in his marathon effort. Having set about the feat with an unbeaten 278 on the first day, Tharindu translated that effort to bigger things as he blossomed on to went onto 350 that came off 285 balls as St Anthony’s reached 514 all out.
In doing so, Tharindu has smashed the previous records held by Dhammika Vaas’ 310 og Maris Stella College, Negombo against St Peter’s College Negombo in 1996 and Indika de Saram’s 304 for St. Thomas’ College Matara against Devananda College Ambalangoda in 1993. Thus, he became the third schoolboy in first eleven cricket to reach the elusive treble century feat which by all accounts is a success story of sweat, blood and tears. He went on to score 79 in the second innings and is 12 runs short of the magical 1000-run milestone this year.
CHIEF SCORES:
At Wattala: Match drawn. St. Anthony’s College, Wattala: 514 (434/8 o/n) (113.1) ( Avishka Tharindu 350, Kaveesha Dulanjana 59, Kanishka Gimhan 25, Yasiru Yugath 3/131, Prabashana Gamlath 2/88, Tharindu Ekanayake 2/89, Shahan Kaushalya 2/119) and 175/3 (23) (Avishka Tharindu 79 n.o., Gihan Sathmika 33, Dinuk Vishal 26, Kaveesha Dulanjana 21 n.o.)
Lumbini Colombo: 160 (45.2) (Hiru Chethana 41, Chalana Chamod 37, Kaveesha Dulanjana 7/37, Romesh Suranga 2/44)
By Srian Obeyesekere
-The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Sri Lanka Cricket-
