Cricket has caught up in the foothills of the famed Knuckles Range where Amupitiya National School, Udispaththuwa, in the Rangala area, have taken to the game quite recently. They have acquitted themselves in their maiden year.

This school lies close to the Knuckles Range and no school in the area has ever played the game except watching it on the television or playing a bit of softball cricket on the road. There is no playground in the area and a little deeper into the locale takes you into the virgin jungles where there is a plenty of fauna and flora which is indigenous to this island home.

It all started this way. One day the former Vidyartha College cricketer, Sam Gunaratne, who has a small hotel in Rangala, was driving along when he saw some boys playing cricket on the road. They showed exceptional talent. He thought if he could only persuade them to play hard ball cricket, the school could field a leather ball team one day.

But there was no playground. The children were very poor and they traveled to school from far off places often trudging many miles on foot to board a bus. One of the children said that if he missed the 6 a.m. bus, the next bus, if at all it turned up, was at 10 a.m.

Likewise in the afternoon too the same problem existed. If they missed the bus, they had to walk their way back home in the silence of the darkness.

Gunaratne, who plays a little club cricket in Buckinghamshire in England and a reputed golfer at Victoria, toyed with the idea before deciding to take fling. He had to start everything from a scratch and the finances had to be found with difficulty in an era where even the urban schools are finding it difficult to play the game.

Gunaratne wanted to share his success in business with the children of the area and got the support of the Principal of the school, Gamini Kulathunga, and a member of the staff, Saman Kumara, who later became the Master-in-Charge of cricket.

Gunaratne, having gathered the boys, first constructed a cement wicket on the volleyball court of the school and equipped it with nets using his own money. Next, he purchased the cricket material using his own money partly, and also getting assistance from his friends. Thus a start was made. Gunaratne’s services were, of course, honourary as the school has no funds to spend on an elite game like cricket.

It was a great day for the school when the matting was brought and the wicket was opened. The ground was so small; a cover-drive could result in the ball getting lost in the shrub jungle.

But despite all these difficulties, Amupitiya National College entered the schools Under-15 cricket tournament and had achieved reasonable success. They will have to travel 35 miles to Kandy to play their home matches as that is the closest locality where you could get a cricket ground.

Times are difficult but yet they have the grit and the determination. They look to some benefactor to help them out to continue playing the game.

The cricket team is led by Ruwan Chamara. Madushanka Ranaweera – a good all-rounder bowling off-spinners and a hard hitting bat. Mohamed Ashraff – a slow medium pacer and a stubborn bat is the vice captain of the side.

The rest of the pool is made of Madushanka Ranaweera (captain), Mohamed Ashraff (vice captain), Lahiru Thilakaratne, Susantha Wickramaratne, Dhanushka Bandara, Tharindu Dananjaya, Madushanka Niroshan, Viraj Chinthaka, Lahiru Pradeep, Amila Ranathunga, Pradeep Kumara, Ruwan Manjula, Heshan Ariyathilake, Kaushalya Jayakody, Kelum Madushanka, Chandima Dissanayake, Isuru Rajapaksa and Manula Ranasinghe.

There are around 20 attending practices and they have displayed a lot of keenness and enthusiasm. They hope to field an Under-13 side too if the finances permit them.

Ambanpitiya National School, Udispaththuwa Under-15 Cricket Pool:

Lahiru Thilakaratne, Susantha Wickramaratne, Madushanka Ranaweera (Captain), Gamini Kulathunga (Principal), Sam Gunaratne (Coach), Mohamed Ashraff (Vice Captain), Dhanushka Bandara, Tharindu Dananjaya. Madushanka Niroshan, Viraj Chinthaka, Lahiru Pradeep, Amila Ranathunga, Pradeep Kumara, Ruwan Manjula, Heshan Ariyathilake, Kaushalya Jayakody, Kelum Madushanka, Chandima Dissanayake, Isuru Rajapaksa and Manula Ranasinghe.