Kandy led by Kamindu Mendis emerged the champions of the National Super League four-day cricket tournament and their successes has been described by coach Malinda Warnapura as a “great team effort”.
Earlier Kandy entered the final of the National Super League limited overs tournament.
The former Peterite skipper and Sri Lanka opening batsman who played 14 Test matches and three ODIs and is now a high performance coach at Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) also credited his team with maintaining very high standards on the playing field never letting their guard down at all times.
“We had some professional players from two leading clubs NCC and Chilaw Marians. Most of them were with experience in playing domestic level as well as National level such as Emerging, Sri Lanka A and National teams,” said Warnapura.
“As a coach I didn’t need to make any technical changes of the players and they all had good potential to play the higher level games. I wanted them to feel free about how they play and most importantly it was the player-management factor that stood out throughout the tournament.”
The former left hand opening batter said maintaining physical fitness levels was a huge challenge that had to be overcome.
“I have to give credit for my support staff with assistant coach Shanuka Dissanayake, spin coach Dinuk Hettiarachchi, team manager Shamsheer Jaleel and physiotherapist Lasantha Ekanayake making a huge effort towards the fitness of players.
“I had a good team led by Kamindu Mendis the 23 year old left hander .The senior players like Oshada Fernando and Niroshan Dickwella gave good support to the young leader Mendis and all the players had good commitment during the two tournaments. The batting was the strength of our side and that gave good confidence to the bowlers,” said Warnapura.
He said the National Super League tournament is very important as it gives players the much needed exposure to reach a higher level.
“It is very much different to club level and we should give credit to SLC for organising this type of tournament for the players,” he said.
Mendis showed his real potential throughout the tournament scoring more than 800 runs with four centuries to earn the player of the tournament award.
“He (Mendis) was the most consistent batter I have seen at recent domestic level,” said Warnapura.
Apart from Mendis, Oshada Fernando scored more than 700 runs to finish second among the batters while Lahiru Udara Igalagamage with over 400 runs also played a vital role in the batting as Kandy scored over 400 runs in team totals on four occasions.
“If one player failed we had back-up support and Mendis was there to take it upon himself and never allowed the pressure to set in. He wanted to prove himself in the longer format of the game and that was exactly what he did besides his captaincy,” said Warnapura.
Warnapura also singled out fast bowler Asitha Fernando as the best paceman of the tournament as he posed a threat to all opposing batters.
“He maintained his fitness throughout the tournament and managed his capacity on and off the field with physiotherapist Lasantha Ekanayake doing an excellent job.
“He used the new and old ball with good variation and I am sure he can find a permanent slot in the Sri Lanka team,” said Warnapura.