Col. Godewatte heads Cricket Foundation of Dharmaraja

Colonel Thanuja Godewatte, former old boy of Dharmaraja College,Kandy is a talented Wicket Keeper Batsman of the School who was elected as the President of the Cricket Foundation of Dharmaraja College, for the year 2021/22 at the Annual General Meeting of the Foundation held over the week-end at the OBA Headquarters. Thanuja started his cricket career in the Under thirteen level Up-to Under Nineteen level and at the Junior team he was coached by this writer, and then his Coaches were Senaka Dissanayake and David Karunaratne. After playing in the Junior Cricket team he was selected to the First XI cricket team of the School under the Captaincy of Prasanna Dahanayake in the year,1988 as a Wicket Keeper Batsman. He showed his talent in Wicket Keeping to claim twenty five victims behind the stumps as a fresher in the first XI team.

In the following year, in 1989 as a second year player, he played under the Captaincy of Indrajith Bandaranayake ,Thanuja scored his maiden Century with an unbeaten knock of 150 runs against Vidyartha College,Kandy. In his third year under the captaincy of Pradeep Heenkenda he scored centuries against St.Sylvesters’ College, and Sri Sumangala, Panadura and later on he joined the Sri Lanka Army as an Officer Cadet and had his initial training in Pakistan.

Thanuja is still involved in Cricket and he led the Old Rajans’Cricket team for the last Seven years at the Sir Henry Steel Olcott Cricket Tournament played among leading Eight Buddhist Schools in the Island. He led the Old Rajans Cricket team to become Runners-up for two successive years in 2018 and 2019.

He is happy that he was selected as the President of the Cricket Foundation of his Alma mater as his intention is to improve Cricket at Dharmaraja college from Junior level to Senior level and he is hoping to get the assistance of the National Cricket Coaches. His main intention is to make the First XI Cricket team of the college to be one of the Leading Cricket Teams in the Island and to get the support of the past Cricketers of the School as well as some of whom are living abroad. He says that he will try his best to maintain the standard of the School Cricket team and bring it to the highest level.