Features 269

10 Thursday 10th February, 2011 The Island Features 269 17 Earphone that is inserted into the ear canal (7) 20 Policy of the Soviet government (8) 21 Information (4) 23 Relating to or using sight (6) 24 Narrate (6) Down 1 Mongolian priest (4) 2 Char (6) 3 Lacking professional skill or expertise (7) 4 Stage (5) 5 Make a dry crackling sound (6) Across 6 City in central Mali (8) Crossword Solution 7 Part of large intes- – No. 268 12 Sunscreen (8) tine (6) ne day in 1997, I 14 One needs this to 8 Nymphs (6) witnessed an start a car (7) OUnder-11 tour- 9 Animal house (4) nament match, con- 16 Mixture of Indian ducted by the Sri 10 Glass tube closed Lanka Schools spices (6) at one end (4,4) Cricket Association, 18 Male ruler or head of at the BRC grounds. 11 Narrow strip of land Two cute little boys, Lankan opener A. C. M. Lafir. a principality (6) both left-handers He attended Lafir’s cricket (7) from Isipathana school which was held about 19 Exclamation indicat- College, were batting three decades back, at the 13 Household pest (5) ing an apology (5) at their brilliant best. Nomads grounds. 15 Foe (5) They showed maturi- Then he came under the 22 Destiny (4) ty. Their driving, cut- watchful eyes of Nelson Mendis. ting, pulling and spe- Asanka Pradeep Gurusinaha cially the cover drives was born on September 16, 1966, they executed were a in Colombo. Asanka’s father, the treat to watch. I thought late Indrasoma Gurusingha was that they will be champion a highly respected lawyer, who cricketers, when they grew served as the Chief Legal up, if they continued. Officer at Bank of Ceylon for It was a marathon partner- many years. His mother Ira is ship for the first wicket of 247. from a cricketing family - the One left-hander got out, after a Molligoda’s of Ananda College. stylish batting display at 111. Asanka’s uncle, Parakrama The other left hander continued Molligoda was an outstanding the good work. He got out for cricketer, who played in the mid 154, the highest individual score For example, the 1950s for Ananda. Asanka’s in a U-11 tournament. innings that this uncles, the late D. U. Molligoda, Incidentally, in 1980, this Sepala Molligoda, Raja record was broken by another stylist left-hand bat- Molligoda, Parakrama left hander, captaining the ting artist played in Molligoda and Gamini Nalanda Under-11 team, scoring Molligoda were old Anandians. 158 n.o. Later, he played for S. a dismal SL total of Asanka’s two sisters are Thomas’ College, Mount 82, in Chandigarh Anjali and Roshini. Lavinia, in 1987/1988, as an in 1990-1991, scor- Asanka played in 41 Tests opener. He is Bhagya Epasinghe, and in 70 innings, collected 2452 who is domiciled now in ing a half century runs and remained unbeaten on Australia. and the classic seven occasions. His highest Who were these cute tiny score was 143. He scored seven tots? innings he played at hundreds, eight fifties, hit 11 six- Asanka Gurusinha and the Melbourne ers and held 33 catches. Average: Hashan Tillakaratne. Cricket Ground and 38.92. That’s the auspicious start He played in 147 One Day they (Asanka and Hashan) had the 145 runs part- Internationals and in 143 to their distinguished and cher- nership with innings scored 3902 runs and ished cricket careers. These two remained unbeaten on five occa- later went on to represent the Aravinda de Silva, sions. His average was 28.27. He National cricket teams together which helped Sri scored two centuries, and 22 and brought credit and honour Lanka annex the fifties, including 65 in 99 balls, to Sri Lanka. with six boundaries and a six, A notable feature about these World Cup in 1996, On 17 March 1996, in the sixth two magnificent left-handers are still etched in World Cup final against were that they played an impor- Australia, at Gadaffi Stadium, tant and vital role, in bringing my mind. Lahore, in Pakistan, where Sri the 1996 World Cup to Sri Lanka won by seven wickets. Lanka. Great! Asanka scored 65. After the cricket season He held 49 catches. He at Isipathana, the two boys maintained a strike rate of left the school. Hashan 60.88. joined D. S. Senanayake As a Test player, he Vidyalaya. The other, bowled 1408 balls, gave Asanka, joined Nalanda away 681 runs, captured 20 Vidyalaya. wickets, at an average of At Isipathana, these two 34.05. His best bowling fig- were coached by Raja ures are 4 for 68. Atukorala. Premasara In ODIs, he delivered Gurusinaha’s father and Epasinghe 1408 balls, gave away 1354 I worked at the Bank of runs, captured 26 wickets Ceylon. Mr. Gurusingha, for an average of 52.07. the Chief Legal Officer, BOC, under a lot of pressure. When Asanka Gurusingha was the requested me to help him to get this little boy walked out to bat, most technically correct accom- his son admitted to Nalanda. there were shouts from various plished one drop batsman, (No. He told me that he had quarters of the ground ‘Import’- 3). He was like the Rock of already spoken about the matter ‘Import’. Asanka had a bad bap- Sigiriya, solid and strong to Ven. Punahela Saddananda tism at Nalanda as an Under-13 around which Sri Lanka’s bat- Thero, who was residing at their cricketer, a few ‘Ducks’ to begin ting revolved around, for about temple, Shaddharmaramaya, with. The Nalanda coach who 11 years. For example, the Wellawatta. He was a staff mem- produced many Sri Lanka crick- innings that this stylist left-hand ber at Nalanda at that time. eters, Nelson Mendis was the batting artist played in a dismal Both of us, Indrasoma coach of Asanka Gurusingha. SL total of 82, in Chandigarh in Gurusingha and I, met the With his experience and knowl- 1990-1991, scoring a half century dynamic Principal of Nalanda edge, he insisted playing the and the classic innings he Vidyalaya, the late Sugunadasa “out of form Asanka,” as he played at the Melbourne Cricket Atukorala. believed that form is temporary Ground and the 145 runs part- I told Mr. Atukorala that and class is permanent. Nelson nership with Aravinda de Silva, Gurusingha’s son, who is at knew that Asanka was a classy which helped Sri Lanka annex Isipathana is a fine cricketer player. In the final stages of the the World Cup in 1996, are still with a great future, and request- Under-13 tournament, Asanka etched in my mind. ed him to admit the child to scored two half centuries and To begin with, he started his Nalanda and that this young boy from there onward, no one could Test career in 1985, against had the potential to play for Sri stop him. In fact, he scored a Pakistan in the match played Lanka. brilliant hundred in the Battle of from November 7-11, 1985, in The admission of Asanka to the Maroons (Ananda-Nalanda) Karachi. Nalanda became the talking Big Match and he captained His first ODI was in point, with some old boys, who Nalanda. Hyderabad against Pakistan on did not like an outsider joining After leaving Nalanda, November 3, 1985. and depriving the chance of old Asanka joined Nondescripts Asanka is presently residing boys’ children, who were also Cricket Club and later he played in Melbourne, Australia. He is aspiring to play for Nalanda. for Singhalese Sports Club. married to Kushlani. They are At Nalanda, he started play- Asanka learned his basics in blessed with a son - Uvantha and ing for Under-13 team. He was cricket from the legendary Sri a daughter, Orella..

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