The meager income his father incurred was not much enough to keep alive the dream of achieving the heights of a rather luxurious sport for him. Once, his family was a victim of Sri Lanka’s worst natural disaster, the tsunami in 2004. He was not from a flourishing cricketing school. Bowling with a controversial action, his efforts to enter Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda, Under-13 team as an off spinner fell tragically futile.

That was some years back. But today, with a pair of safe hands behind the wickets, as a solid wicketkeeper, he wields the willow for Sri Lanka as the country’s Under-19 vice captain. Dinesh Chandimal has now blossomed as become one of the best wicketkeeper batsmen in the local school cricket arena.

An entertaining top-order bat, Chandimal is probably the highest scorer (in an innings) in the SLC-conducted Inter-Club Under-23 Tournament.

Anandian’s first-XI captain-to-be, Chandimal’s score of 141 in 165 balls against Wennappuwa SC for Old Anandians, which enabled them to secure a first innings win, was a reminder that he had not lost his great apatite for big knocks since the time SL Under-19 team’s poor show in the World Cup some months back.

Chandimal has shown the ability to score big innings from the time he was recruited by Ananda College bringing him down from Dharmasoka, Ambalangoda. A swashbuckling double century in a limited-overs match (against Moratu Vidyalaya), in his debut first-XI season for Ananda, followed by a century in the same tournament and an eventual rich aggregate of over 700 runs in the Two-Day Tournament were some of the highlights of Chandimal’s cameo role as well as of the entire Ananda contingent’s remarkable success during that season.

Chandimal was part of each of Ananda’s victories in 2006/07 season (outright victories against Royal, Dharmapala, Dharmasoka and St. Sebastian’s) and his influence in his debut was so enormous that many considered his absence in a crucial match against St. Peter’s as the reason for their defeat.

Having cemented his place in the side in the very first year, Chandimal did equally well next year too playing, on many occasions, his usual match-saving role. A stubborn 147 runs to save Ananda out of the jaws of defeat from St. Joseph’s at Darley Road and another match-saving performance (143) for Sri Lanka Under-19 against India in a Youth Test at Asgiriya were sheer proof of his grit.

He was included in the Sri Lanka Under-19 pool a year before the Youth World Cup and he produced his best performance for the team in a triangular tournament, also involving England and Pakistan, where he averaged 46 runs while scoring a century and a half ton in five matches. Since then, he was considered to play a key role for Sri Lanka in Youth World Cup. But a ghost of bad luck crippled his bat. His top score was 52 runs in a practice match and his bad patch hindered Sri Lanka’s campaign dearly.

"That is something that I regret very much. I couldn’t do well with the bat. But now I have put that memory back. I am concentrating hard on doing well in the current tournament," says Chandimal who has so far scored 204 runs in three matches in the ongoing Under-23 tournament.

Although he couldn’t contribute well with the bat, he was instrumental in achieving one of the four victories in the World Cup for Sri Lanka with some outstanding glove work. Keeping wickets, Chandimal accounted for seven victims for Sri Lanka to pull out an impressive victory against Australia. He was adjudged the Man of the Match for his wonderful performance.

Although his school cricket performances have been often highlighted after he was enrolled by the Ananda first-XI, his journey from humble beginnings at Ambalangoda is still not known to many.

"My first experience trying to enter Dharmasoka Under-14 team was a bitter one. I was bowling spin and was ruled no balled for chucking in practice matches. Asoka Kumara was my coach then and he advised me to start keeping wickets for the team. That paid dividends and I was safe behind wickets. My school coach Viraj Chaminda also guided me and I was performing well soon," says Chandimal. During his first year into cricket, Chandimal was adjudged the Best Fielder in an Inter-Provincial Under-14 Cricket Tournament in 2003.

"I also was fortunate to be coached by Kusum Nandasiri, the first-XI coach of Dharmasoka. I was playing first-XI cricket from a very young age. But I was not a batsman then. It was Nandasiri who encourage me to play in the top of the batting order. The first-XI batting experience then helped me to do well in the Under-15 tournament later. I lost my fears and started scoring freely. I aggregated nearly 500 runs in seven matches in the 2004/05 season."

His outstanding performances that season in the Under-15 tournament helped him find a place in the Ananda team. From the time he was included in the Ananda side, he has developed well as a fine cricketer. However, while Chandimal’s cricket has grown from strength to strength, his family has undergone numerous hardships in the tsunami aftermath. Chandimal’s house was swept away by the tsunami and the disaster also affected his father’s livelihood. Chandimal is the eldest son in a family which has five children.

Currently, Chandimal is playing for Old Anandians SC and he is sitting for his Advanced Level Examination in Arts within a few days’ time. He is also eligible to play in the upcoming Inter-School Under-19 Tournament. Having Romesh Kaluwitharana as his cricket idol, Chandimal’s future prospect is to represent Sri Lanka one day and excel both in batting and in wicket-keeping.

Name in full: Lokuge Dinesh Chandimal

Born on: 18th November, 1989 (at Balapitiya)

Age: 19+

Residing at: Ambalangoda

Schools: Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda 1996-2006 andAnanda College, Colombo 2006 to date

Studying: AL (Stream of Arts)

Family: Eldest of five boys

Teams Played: Dharmasoka Under-13, Under-15, First-XI, Ananda First-XI, Sri Lanka Schools Under-16 (Malaysia Tour 2005), Sri Lanka Under-19, Old Anandians Under-23

First:XI season 2006/07

Two-Day tournament

722 runs with one century and 45 victims

Limited-Overs Tournament

475 runs with a double century and a century and 18 victims

First-XI season 2007/08

Two-Day tournament