Nimnaka a veritable bundle of deception

A very small, thin youngster, fifteen years old and four months old, stands out among his much bigger team-mates when the Katugastota Anthonians are on the field. As his exploits at senior level show, this left arm spinner who hails from Kadugannawa, is a veritable bundle of deception. He has played all six matches this season and has become the “kingpin” of the attack.

Nimnaka Jayatilleke, for that is his name, played in this year’s Anthonian Under 15 team and took 32 wickets in 11 matches. The highlights were figures of 6 for 19 against St. Anne’s and a six for against Maliyadeva, belatedly included in the Central Province squad for the Prima Trophy he made his presence felt.

His career really took off when he represented the Under 19 team. For starters, he had figures of 4 for 59 and 6 for 50 against St. Sebastian’s Katuneriya in a match where his team suffered a first innings loss.

Nimnaka will always remember Wesley, for in that game he followed up a 4 for 40 with a second innings bag of 9 for 48 (13 for 88 in all – mind boggling for a 15-year-old!). The wickets kept coming as he ran through Kingswood (5 for 63) and Vidyartha (6 for 58). Thirty six wickets in six matches and in two of them he bowled little due to his stock leg-break. Nimnaka also bowls an arm ball. He also varies his deliveries by changing the speed and the angle. Left arm spinners usually don’t like to see a left hander at the other end. But this leftie has no qualms about bowling to a southpaw.

Nimnaka, who credits coach Sampath Perera for having made slight modifications in his delivery, has his sights set on a hundred wickets in the season.

What is most impressive about this lad is that he vary good control. This was a spinners’ boom in the late eighties at St. Anthony’s when Ruwan Kalpage, Piyal Wijetunga and Muttiah Muralitharan plied their trade. There were also left armers of quality in Pradeep Fernando (early 1980s). This could be another such.