Composed Wanninayake shows promise with century

Rex Clementine in Chelmsford

Chelmsford, the home of English county cricket team Essex, is where outstanding England opening batsmen like Graham Gooch and Sir Alastair Cook came from. An half-hour drive from capital London, the county ground gave us a glimpse of another opening batsman who could go onto make an impact in the game. The difference is this opener doesn’t come from Chelmsford or its nearby cities – Colchester, Southend-on-Sea or Brentwood. He hails from the far off Kurunegala. Asitha Wanninayake is his name.

Opening batting in England is no fun unless you are a Sidath Wettimuny or a Marvan Atapattu, sound technique and solid temperament. The lesser mortals struggle here as the conditions are overcast and the Duke ball swings an awful lot. So Asitha Wanninayake’s effort is no mean one.

Making his debut for Sri Lanka Under-19, Wanninayake came up with a fine effort batting for over seven hours for a superb 132 in which he faced 315 deliveries. The conditions were so overcast that floodlights had to be put on soon after lunch on day two, but that didn’t bother the rookie. He left and defended well and more importantly was patient.

Kaushal Silva is another Sri Lankan opener who had played a pivotal role when the team won a Test series in England. But he wasn’t an overwhelming favourite as his shots were limited. The left-handed Wanninayake however while batting deep cashed in when loose balls were on offer. His 19 boundaries are poof for that.

The 143 run stand between Wanninayake and Ranuda Somaratne, an elegant batsman from Trinity College, Kandy, steadied the Sri Lankan innings.

Wanninayake of course is from the rival St. Anthony’s and on a cold English afternoon the Kandy boys were making merry.

Wanninayake was determined to carry on on day three but was dismissed for his overnight score of 132. Lancastrian Thomas Aspinwall cleaned him up with a beauty and stumps were all over the place. In fact, he got two in two balls when wicketkeeper Lahiru Dewatage was trapped leg before wicket for a golden duck.

Sri Lanka lost just those two wickets in the session as captain Raveen de Silva added 78 runs for the fifth wicket with Vinuja Ranpul. The two Nalanda boys, who were part of the history making side that won the Battle of the Maroons after 69 years, ensured the scorers were leveled at lunch.