One of Sri Lanka’s shining examples of a future cricketer, schoolboy Shanmuganathan Sharujan who played in the recent Under-19 World Cup in South Africa called on budding players to pay attention to the norms of fair-play and decency and dump the syndrome of win-at-any-cost into the garbage bin.
A heady Sharujan gave out his message in flawless English at the launch of his school’s traditional match with Wesley College and in all his modesty declared at the end of his address: “I am Shanmuganathan Sharujan the captain of St. Benedict’s College”.
But his appeal to uphold the craving for clean sportsmanship was echoed at the start of his speech when he called on school cricketers to play the game in its true spirit.
“We uphold the spirit and unity of both schools with pride that showcases the bonds between St. Benedict’s and Wesley. Our match is not about victory and defeat, but about our shared passion for the sport,” said Sharujan as a packed audience comprising commercial godfathers and old boys of both schools, some of them attired in their Sunday best, listened attentively amid pin drop silence.
He did not speak like a surfer but deep down a leader in the making that cricket followers have heard very little about.
Sharujan was virtually a school-less five year old whose dad took him for a Sri Lanka Test match at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Colombo and playing some shots on the hill the little Sharujan was caught by a curious cameramen that prompted match commentator the late Tony Greig to remark a future Kumar Sangakkara was in the making.
Not a day was wasted and Sharujan found a slot at St. Benedict’s College thanks to the intervention of the school’s past principal, the Rev Brother Director Janaka Fonseka and the pathway for a promising Sri Lanka cricketer was laid.
Sharujan was a member of the Sri Lanka team that played in last month’s Under-19 World Cup in South Africa and batting low down made scores of 41, 13, 21, 14 and 29 for an aggregate of 118 that made him the second best batter behind Dinura Kalupahana who had an aggregate of 196.
Both Wesley and St. Benedict’s have refused to brand their event a so-called Big Match and instead gracefully manifests it as a “Match Made in Heaven” a phrase that refers to a couple receiving the sacrament of Holy Matrimony.
Media photographers jostled for pictures when Sharujan and his Wesley counterpart Sanethu Amarasinghe held the trophy, resembling a World Cup that the two schools will play for on February 23 and 24 and the historic P Sara Oval in Colombo.
The heads of both schools, Avanka Fernando from Wesley and Rev Bro Director Pubudu Rajapaksha from St Benedict’s, shared similar sentiments that their match should be taken as an example by other institutions on how to maintain discipline while upholding values on and off the field.
Both schools boast of a history of 150 years or more in existence.
