Sports
Telijjawila to Chelmsford kasun Rajitha’s dream
There was a time when Sri Lankan parents drummed into their kids that the only ticket out of the rat race was a university degree. Unless you were born with a silver spoon, it was books over bats. But those equations have been rewritten. These days, if you can land the ball on a sixpence and send stumps cartwheeling, the world’s your oyster.
Just ask Kasun Rajitha — the latest poster boy for how far cricket can take you. Hailing from the sleepy hamlet of Telijjawila, tucked away in the heartland of Matara, Rajitha has swapped village gravel for Chelmsford’s green carpets after being roped in as Essex’s overseas pro.
It’s been quite the journey for the lanky quick. From a backwater that barely knew cricket to the hallowed turf where titans like Graham Gooch, Sir Alastair Cook, John Lever, Keith Boyce and Mark Waugh once strutted their stuff. Rajitha’s rise has been more tortoise than hare, but he’s carved a niche with grit, guile, and gallons of sweat.
One of Sri Lanka’s quiet revolutions in Test cricket has been the way our pacers have punched above their weight abroad. Rajitha may not grab the headlines, but he’s been a key cog in the wheel — doing the donkey work while others grab the glory.
The pecking order, though, is a tough dressing room to crack. Asitha Fernando is usually the first name on the team sheet. Then comes Lahiru Kumara — the firebrand with raw pace. If a third seamer’s needed, the variety of Vishwa Fernando’s left-arm angle often gets the nod. Now, with Milan Ratnayake floating around as a seam-bowling all-rounder, Kasun’s opportunities are few and far between.
In fact, he hasn’t played a Test since March last year. And ironically, in that very game, he picked up a bagful — eight wickets — but still found himself warming the bench. At home, selectors rarely go beyond two seamers. Overseas, they look for contrast. Rajitha, it seems, is often the bridesmaid, never the bride.
What he lacks in express pace or eye-popping variations, he makes up for with discipline and doggedness. He’s the kind of bowler who hits the top of off till the batter blinks first. A workhorse who thrives in the long haul, not the highlight reel.
County cricket, meanwhile, is no walk in the park. It’s a marathon, not a sprint — cricket under cloudy skies with hardly a breather. When you’re not sending down overs by the dozen, you’re on a coach to some other ground. There’s little time for nets or rehab — it’s rinse and repeat. But it’s also the best boot camp to turn you into a thoroughbred pro.
Rajitha’s new-ball buddy Asitha Fernando has also boarded the county train, donning Glamorgan colours in Wales. He’s already hit the ground running, bagging four wickets in his first outing. Meanwhile, Vishwa Fernando, after spells with Yorkshire and Durham, is now at Warwickshire, the same county that Kumar Sangakkara represented in 2007.
The trend is unmistakable. Once upon a time, English counties turned to the Caribbean or South Africa when they wanted fast bowling firepower. Now, they’re looking east — beyond Colombo in fact. In far off places like Matara and Katuneriya.
And let’s not kid ourselves — the pay packet isn’t too shabby either. A full season fetches between 80,000 to 120,000 British Pounds. Multiply that by 400 and that’s good enough to buy an apartment over here.
Of course, those in the IPL are in a different financial stratosphere altogether. Dasun Shanaka, who just inked a deal with Gujarat Titans, might carry drinks all tournament, but he’ll return with a cool $87,000 in his account. That’s how the IPL has turned the cricketing economy on its head — what County cricket offer now feels like peanuts.
Still, for the grinders, the grafters, and the late bloomers, County cricket remains a proving ground. And for Rajitha, it’s a well-earned second wind.
by Rex Clementine
We are into the business end of a World Cup that has chewed up reputations, minted new stars and nudged a few old warhorses towards the pavilion for the final time. The caravan now rolls towards a weekend that promises either a fresh name on the trophy or a familiar heavyweight tightening its grip on global supremacy.
Of the four semi-finalists, South Africa and New Zealand have been model professionals in ICC events, always knocking on the door, rarely barging through it. Neither has laid hands on the T20 World Cup yet. Standing in their way are former champions India and England, sides that know how to hold their nerve when the heat is turned up. Whether it is a new champion or an old hand reclaiming the crown in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat will be known on Sunday night.
The first semi-final sees South Africa lock horns with New Zealand at Eden Gardens in Calcutta, a venue where history hangs heavy in the humid air. We Sri Lankans love Calcutta for this is where the great Aravinda de Silva sealed India’s fate in the 1996 World Cup semi-final.
The second semi pits India against England at the Wankhede in Bombay, a ground that has staged more epics than a Shakespearean theatre. That includes Mahela Jayawardene’s stunning hundred in the 2011 World Cup final although Sri Lanka ended up on the losing side. Then it is on to Ahmedabad for the grand finale.
Ahmedabad, along with Surat, Baroda and Rajkot, forms the heartbeat of Gujarat, where Modi once served as Chief Minister before ascending to the top office in 2014. Like Sri Lanka’s Mahinda Rajapaksa, who built a stadium in his home constituency of Hambantota and named it after himself, Modi too has left his imprint. But unlike the Hambantota venue, which has drifted into a white-elephant, the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, with a capacity north of 100,000, is a cauldron of noise and colour. It successfully hosted the 2023 World Cup final and remains very much the jewel in India’s cricketing crown.
For all the talk of upsets in this World Cup, the established order has not exactly been turned on its head. Four of the top five ranked sides have made the semi-finals. Australia are the notable absentees, not for lack of skill, but for muddled thinking. Picking Steve Smith in the squad and then leaving him cooling his heels on the bench was a selection call that left many scratching their heads.
Sri Lanka and West Indies briefly threatened to rattle the cage, only to lose their footing when it mattered most. The Caribbean side were found wanting in bowling depth when the screws were tightened, while Sri Lanka’s campaign unravelled the moment captain Dasun Shanaka pressed the self-destruct button by opting to field first against New Zealand at the R. Premadasa Stadium.
Shanaka’s decision raised eyebrows not just in the stands but, by all accounts, within his own dressing room. Batting second at RPS on a wearing surface is no picnic. To choose to bowl first there was akin to Ajith Nivard Cabraal investing in Greek bonds, one involved a crumbling wicket, the other a crumbling economy. Both carried predictable consequences.
India, meanwhile, look every inch the team to beat. They bat deep, boast a battery of bowlers and possess half a dozen match-winners capable of flipping a contest on its head in the space of an over. To knock them off their perch will require something extraordinary.
South Africa’s attack has been particularly impressive. Their quicks have had the wood over opposition batters, not through extravagant reverse swing or toe-crushing yorkers, but by perfecting the art of the slower ball, cutters and off-pace deliveries that grip, hold and deceive.
New Zealand may not enjoy the luxury of a bulging bench, but they field like panthers and adapt to conditions with minimal fuss. England, on the other hand, bat all the way down and have enough spin options to choke the middle overs and dictate tempo.
One cannot help but wonder, though, why Sri Lanka are not hosting a semi-final in a tournament they are co-hosting. Earlier agreements suggested that even if Sri Lanka qualified, they would have to travel to India for the knockout stage. That clause was later revised, but surely co-hosts deserve a fair slice of the showpiece occasions.
Rex Clementine in Bombay
Holy Cross College Kalutara and St. Aloysius’ College Galle are set to stage the second edition of the Battle of Dreams Big Match on the 6th and 7th of March at the Galle International Stadium.
Holy Cross captained by Hirusha Gimhan and St. Aloysius’ skippered by Oshada Devinda will hope for two full days of cricket to achieve a result after the first edition was affected by rain.
St. Aloysius’ Team (Front row from left) Dinith Malinga (Asst. Coach), Prasad Mihiran (MiC),
Dulshan Nimviru (V. Capt.), S.P. Alawaththa (Deputy Principal), A.J.P. Pubudu Sampath (Principal),
Oshan Dewinda (Captain), Shrinika Gamage (PoG), K. Sampath Perera (Coach).
(Back row from left) Sasindu Madusara Silva, Dihen Sinsith, Manodya Chandu Pabasara, A. S.
Hamsa, Chanul Sanketh, Pulith Banuja, Gimhan Hansana, Sevitha Dumal Weeratunga, Methsan
Lakmina, Vinod Dhanushka, Hiviru Nimtharana, Vinidda Ravishan Bopage, Chanul Nethmina
Karunaratne, Chauka Sadew Uddiipana, Sasindu Randeepa.
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Mr. S. K. Sangakkara, Attorney-at-Law. He was the loving husband of Kumarie, beloved father to Thusharie, Vemindra, Saranga, and Kumar, loved father-in-law to Sanjay, Nipuni, Ru, and Yehali, adored grand father to Thehan, Methvan, Nethya, Vinaya, Kaya, Seth, Kavith and Swyree.
His remains will lie at his residence in Kandy for relatives and friends to pay their last respects. We also ask that the privacy of the family be respected.
The funeral will take place on the 4th of March 2026 at 6.00 p.m. at the Mahaiyawa Cemetery, Kandy. The cortège will leave the residence at 4.30 p.m.
He will be dearly missed by his loving family, friends, colleagues, and all who knew him.
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