Did you know about Lahiru Kumara’s hard-hitting skills during his junior days? Or, that, Niroshan Dickwella’s shot created a hole in a hoarding? What about Matheesha Pathirana’s pinpoint yorkers in a friendly or Kumar Sangakkara being more into tennis at a young age? Bilal Fassy, who was instrumental in setting up the cricketing structure at Trinity College, has answers to everything you want to know about the institution and its cricketers.
Fassy narrates an anecdote from a school game, where Kumara turned out to be the game-changer with the bat. “Kumara used to be a hard-hitting, middle-order bat and bowled at some pace,” he told RevSportz. “We got him from a different school. Sampath Perera (Trinity College coach) saw his potential and recommended him. He interviewed him, gave him a scholarship and got him into Trinity College. He used to bowl super-fast at that time.”
The tale doesn’t end there. “We were playing St Anthony’s in a 50-over game, where Kumara went in at 90 for 6 or something and started hitting all around the park. We won the match, with him scoring 40-odd. It was one of the best innings I have seen from Kumara. There was another match, where Sachith Fernando was the chief guest for Anthony’s. We bowled them out for 95 before 10.30 am. Kumara, who had just been picked for Sri Lanka, took 4-5 wickets. We scored 95 in six overs. The match was over by 11.30, even before the school crowd gathered.”
The nuggets kept coming through the course of the chat. Fassy pointed out that fast bowlers generally emerge from the southern parts of Sri Lanka. That wasn’t the case with Pathirana or Kumara. “Generally, they consider people from the south as the strongest and fastest, like (Lasith) Malinga, Champaka Ramanayake and others. But these two boys bowling at those speeds, much faster than those from southern parts, is also an achievement I suppose.”
Pathirana was also scouted by Trinity College. “When Pathirana came to Trinity, he was from another school, where we found him at the under-15 level and offered him a scholarship. Then we played a friendly against Sanath Jayasuriya’s school. He took five wickets and bowled amazing yorkers.”
When the discussion veered towards Dickwella, alongside his cricketing skills, Fassy recalled how the southpaw showcased leadership acumen during his school days. “Dickwella used to be an opening batter. We were playing St Joseph’s, another Colombo school. He hit one of the spin bowlers. It travelled the distance and got stuck in one of the hoardings on the street. Today, you can see a hole in that hoarding.
“We also played a 50-over match against Upul Tharanga’s school. They scored 178 in a final, and we were 25 for 6. Most people had given up hope. But Dickwella stood there with Akila Jayasundra and we won with two wickets in hand. He has real leadership skills. He has proven it not just in school cricket but also in domestic cricket. He represents NCC, where he captained them and also won the league. He vice-captained Sri Lanka but due to his form with the bat, lost his place. I would still say he is one of the most brilliant wicketkeepers Sri Lanka has produced.”
While flipping through anecdotes and memories about Trinity College, its rich history and heritage stands out. The college was established on January 17, 1872, in Kandy. The school played its first cricket match in 1893. For a period, rugby was Trinity’s No. 1 sport. The fact that 129 rugby players were awarded the ‘Trinity Lion’ (as of 2004) — the most prestigious award given to a sportsperson at the college — exemplifies the point.
However, in the recent past, Trinity has put in a lot of hard work to upgrade its cricketing system. It shouldn’t be a surprise that they are reaping the benefits of that in the form of producing cricketers of repute, alongside achieving more success. “We had some great cricketers in the past, who represented Ceylon. Then came greats like Sangakkara, who played all his cricket at Trinity College. We were not great in cricket but popular in rugby. We wanted to take cricket to the next level.
“There were some past cricketers, including Sangakkara, who were interested in forming a cricket foundation. Sangakkara was the president of that foundation in 2011. We then brought in one of the best coaches in Sri Lanka called Sampath Perera, who was the main man behind Trinity Cricket’s success. We were in Division 2 at one point, our standard of cricket was going down. From 2009, we started playing good, competitive cricket.
“Our rival school is St Anthony’s. That is the big match we play. In 2012, Dickwella was representing Trinity, and we beat Anthony’s in the penultimate over in a two-day game. After 25 years, we beat them. We then became the treble winners, which include the two-day league, 50-over as well as T20 championship in one season,” he noted.
Although the platform had been laid for young cricketers to blossom, there was work to be done in relation to providing proper facilities. In a few years, Trinity had state-of-the-art facilities so that promising cricketers could visualise their dreams materialising into reality. “We were still lacking in some infrastructure. So, I built the largest indoor stadium for our cricketers. I also built the indoor nets. So, these boys started playing at the age of nine.”
The going was not easy. Game time was not adequate. “These boys didn’t have the privilege of playing cricket for five-six days a week. Once the nets were built, they played five days as well as on Sundays. I then set up an academy for Trinity School students. You don’t need to represent the school. Anyone could come and play there. Their skill levels went up. On Sundays, we used to play other academies in Kandy and Colombo.
“We also made some tours to India, especially Anantpur. We used to travel to Bengaluru and then play a season in Anantpur. That is about 10-15 matches in five-six days. In India, even the level of junior cricket is so high, and these boys were able to compete with them. A cricket system is in place. That’s what we tried to put in place and that’s how Kumara, Pathirana, Sachith Pathirana and so many other boys, who were part of Trinity, came up. There is another batting sensation, Hasitha Boyagoda. He was injured for a while but is now playing domestic cricket after four years. Once the system was in place, we produced the most number of under-19 players.”
The conversation then slowly drifted towards Sri Lankan cricket in general. Over the last few years, barring the occasional silver linings, Sri Lanka have had to navigate through a tricky phase. The island nation had to take the route of qualifiers to progress to the 50-over World Cup. Fassy summed things up on a hopeful note, urging the authorities to branch out the infrastructure to tap into talent from different parts of the country.
“It was sad to see Sri Lanka play the qualifiers. But it was an eye-opener. They got back to winning ways. As long as they invest in young cricketers, there are brilliant talents. Sri Lanka, for some reason, focuses mostly on bigger schools. If they set up proper infrastructure, there is a lot of potential in Jaffna.
“There is so much talent in the north as well as the east. We are lacking in school cricket and turf wickets. Sri Lanka is known for producing unorthodox cricketers. We can continue to produce such players as long as we invest in them and nurture them properly.”
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