Three players from the prestigious St. Joseph College, including Dunith Wellalage and two from St. Peters College, who are part of Sri Lanka’s U19 Squad for the Asia Cup, were barred from participating in the traditional two day big match final, Cricket Age reliably learns.
According to sources, the schools management and players were keen to participate in the all important final. On their request, even U19 coach Avishka Gunawardene and manager Mahinda Halangoda also agreed to release the players for the match. However, at the last moment, even after coach and manager’s approval, all five players were barred from playing.
“It was strange. They (Avishka and Halangoda) were agree to release the players. The Asia Cup squad players are in Bio Bubble and we also played final inside bubble. However, last minute players were not released” a source, who was tracking the development, told Cricket Age.
In Sri Lanka, big matches are pinnacle for every school cricketer and visibly the decision left everyone shocked. Big Matches are annual cricket matches played between different schools in Sri Lanka. The same schools have played one another for many years, some for over a century, and Big Matches form an important part of modern Sri Lankan culture with both school children and adults taking part in much of the activity that is part of the annual matches.
“The cricketers represents their schools all these years and dreams of playing in the traditional big matches. Indeed country comes first, but you can’t undermine big matches also. It seems that someone (outside SLC) instructed Avishka to reverse his decision, which is very unfortunate” the source added.
On the other hand, the concerned authorities explained that the decision to stop the players was taken considering the fact that the majority of these two schools players entered into the bubble for the big match final directly from their homes.
“The decison was taken to protect Asia Cup squad players from Covid infection, as the same Asia Cup squad to feature in U19 World Cup also” an insider at one of the concerned authority told Cricket Age.
