by Rex Clementine

Wristy batsmen are a unique thing to south Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra. G.R. Viswanath, Mohammad Azharuddin and V.V.S. Laxman are a few of those players whose wrist work are legendary. Not sure of young Sri Lankan cricketer Ranuda Somaratna’s connections to south India, but his sometimes steely and sometimes silky wrists were on show in Chelmsford as Sri Lanka Under-19 pulled off a stunning win in the first unofficial Test on Wednesday.

When the Sri Lankan team was set a target of 273 in 59 overs or in two sessions, the game was evenly poised. But soon, England Under-19 quicks Thomas Aspinwall and Dominic Kelly, who have already featured for Lancashire and Hampshire respectively in County Cricket, reduced Sri Lanka to 98 for five, it was game over.

Somaratne was still out there and he had one responsibility – to bat through the final session to keep Sri Lanka in the series by earning a draw. But he had other intentions and refused to adopt a defensive mindset.

A couple of late partnerships flourished the Sri Lankan innings particularly the 88 run stand for the sixth wicket with wicketkeeper Lahiru Dawatage that came off 80 deliveries. The wicketkeeper also looks a promising player having hit a run a ball 49.

Heading into the last hour, the game was tantalizingly poised with Sri Lanka needing 87 runs in 17 overs. But England believed that they had the game in the hand requiring four wickets in overcast conditions. Somaratne believed in his skill sets and brought up his hundred with a boundary and finished with an unbeaten 120 that came off 115 deliveries to complement his 65 in the first innings.

Hailing from Kurunegala, Somaratne’s talent was spotted at Sanath Jayasuriya Cricket Academy, a place which has produced good talents. Then, former Trinity College cricketer Bilal Fasy took young Somaratne under his wings and urged the Kandy school to give him a scholarship. The move from St. Anne’s to Trinity was made at that point and the young man has not looked back.

Soothing to the eyes, Somaratne pulled off some terrific flicks off Aspinwall giving you memories of Aravinda de Silva’s onslaught on Brett Lee during the 2003 World Cup at Centurion.

The Trinitian’s hundred overshadowed the efforts of first innings centurion Asitha Wanninayake, who is also from Kurunegala but opted to move to St. Anthony’s, Katugastota. The other player to impress was 17-year-old quick Duvindu Ranatunga, who hails from Ratnapura where little cricket is played. He passed the grade five scholarship and came to Colombo for studies and entered Mahanama College and took up cricket as a hobby. #Sri Lanka will now move to Derby where they will play the second Test. There they are set to meet old friends Mickey Arthur and Suranga Lakmal, the county’s Head Coach and overseas signing.