Kurunegala YCC recruits six straight from school

Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club (KYCC), one of the semi-finalists of last year's Sri Lanka Cricket Premier League Twenty20 Tournament, has already signed in seven new school cricketers for the forthcoming InterClub season, which will begin from next month.

KYCC already includes wicketkeeper/batsman Gayan Maneeshan, and are brimming with confidence after their new intake of school cricketers -three from the current Sri Lanka Under-19 squad and other four, who had been named in the initial pool of 35 players of the national youth outfit.

Trinity College cricketers Pavan Pathiraja and Vibhath Ehelepola, St Anthony's College, Katugastota Lahiru Abeysinghe who are currently with the Sri Lanka Under-19 squad, are the latest additions to KYCC this year.

Left-arm orthodox spinner Pasindu Tennakoon of St. Anne's College, Kurunegala, left-arm orthodox spinner Sakindu Wijeratne of Maliyadeva Kurunegala, Trinity batsman Ranuda Somaratne, all-rounder Asitha Wanninayake of St. Anthony's Katugastota and batsman Rishi Adhishtan of St. Anne's Kurunegala are the other four players joining KYCC.

Asitha Wanninayake, a promising batsman, who played the number three slot for KYCC in the Sri Lanka Cricket Under-23 Club Tournament last season, is also part of the club's squad for this season.

Apart from these seven new players, KYCC has players who were part of the Inter-Club Twenty20 semi-final the last season. These eight players have been included in the 24-member KYCC squad for the forthcoming season.

"M.G. Malan, 30, will sign with KYCC for the coming season. He is a player, who played in Australia and England and various domestic cricket," said KYCC secretary Manjula Goonesekera.

"When KYCC reached the semi-finals, our opening batsmen and wicketkeeper Gayan Maneeshan was the top run scorer of the tournament," Goonesekera added.

Goonesekara is the secretary of the Kurunegala YCC from 2007. He was a First XI player who represented Maliyadeva from the Under-13 age category and was a regular player of KYCC.

He was a part of North Western Province Cricket Club from the inaugural provincial tournament in 1990. When Pakistan 'B' team comprising Moin Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq toured Sri Lanka, Gooneskera played an unofficial three-day match played at Asgiriya. Later, he served as the Manager of Welagedara Stadium from 2010 to 2016.