Next Malinga discovered from Jaffna?
June 28, 2010 07:48 am
The ruins of a once majestic fort built by the Dutch may be
a testimonial to the three decades of civil war that this region has seen, but
With the weight of
the Sri Lankan Cricket Board behind it, associations are being formed in Jaffna
and plans being put in place for matches with other provinces as well as
age-group games, even an own premier division team, and finally, Jaffna’s first
international cricketer. Muthiah Muralitharan and Russel Arnold have been the
only Tamils to have played for
Realising a potential that could one day come handy, the Sri Lankan Cricket Board (SLCB) passed on equipment to the war-torn region through the army.
“We used the army’s help to train some coaches there, and also send some equipment from time to time. We knew that even during war time, there was some cricket going on... So when peace time started, we started going there,” says Malcom Perera, Coaching Manager of Sri Lanka Cricket.
Board officials have an interesting anecdote, of visiting
“Initially we conducted programmes to train coaches and now
there are 25 qualified coaches in
D S De Silva, Sri Lanka Cricket Chairman, says “this in more ways would help people from various sections of the society understand that all are equal”. The response from kids, he adds, has been “huge”.
Among those coaching in
Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara dropped in recently. “We recently found a junior player bowling as quick as Malinga,” says Perera.
Muthiah Muralitharan had visited
“Our priority is to get a few turf wickets ready at the
earliest,” stresses De Silva. They are also planning to build a stadium with
the requisite training facilities, a project in which they are being helped by
expatriates living in
IE