Salgado the first 15?year-old to score a
double ton in Limited Overs cricket
by Reemus Fernando
Skipper Sajeewa Salgado hammered an unbeaten 208 in just 116 balls for Thurstan College to amass a massive 409 for six wickets and guide the team to a huge 262 run victory over St. John?s College, Nugegoda in the Inter School Under-15 Division I tournament match played at Thurstan College Grounds, on Saturday.
The 15-year-old scored 28 fours and seven sixes in his record setting knock which is the first double century scored in a limited overs match of the particular age group tournament.
The number four bat, combined with Ashan Wanigaratne, his deputy, for a valuable 150 run partnership for the third wicket and helped his team score the highest score of the on going Under-15 Inter School Limited Overs tournament. Thurstan scored 409 for six wickets, which is the highest score in the Limited Overs tournament in this age group.
“I am delighted to have scored the double ton,” said Salgado when ?The Island? contacted him. “I was asked by our coach Wasantha Sir (Warnasuriya) to go for a hundred. When I reached 150 I knew I could go for the double ton,” said Salgado.
“I achieved it only in the last over. My double century and the team?s 400 runs were at stake in the last over but I managed to pull both off with some big hits,” said Salgado.
Hailing from a cricketing family with his father (Thissa Salgado the former Thurstan opener) and elder brother (Charith Salgado former Royal batsman) having excelled in cricket at school, young Sajeewa Salgado too wants to make his mark in cricket. “I want to do well in cricket. If I could bat well and take the team to the tournament final, that would be fantastic,” he said.
Incidentally, it was Salgado?s second score of over 100 runs after he scored 102 not out against Mahanama College in an Inter School Under-13 tournament match in 2006.
Salgado represented the Sri Lanka School Cricket Association?s Under-14 and Under-15 in Malaysia in 2007 and 2008 and was the Man of the Match in the final in the 2007 Malaysian tour. In the Under-14 tournament in Malaysia Salgado picked up six wickets and aggregated 72 runs.
Salgado is incidentally the third school cricketer to have scored a double century in a limited overs match and Thurstan?s score is only the fourth score of over 400 runs in an Inter School Limited Overs match. In the Under-15 age group, their aggregate is the highest score and the only score over 400 runs.
pic
Name: Sajeewa Salgado
Date of Birth: 8 February 1993
Height: 5?5″
Weight: 60 Kgs
School: Thurstan College, Colombo
Batting Style: Right hander
Bowling: Right arm off spin
Team position: Captain Under-15 A team
Relatives: Thissa Salgado (father-former Thurstan opener)
Charith Salgado (elder brother-former Royal 2nd XI bat)
Cricket idols: Sanath Jayasuriya and Misba Ul-Haq
Highest score: 208 not out against St. John?s College Nugegoda
Junior Club teams: NCC and CCC
Current Junior Club team: CCC Under-15
Tournaments:
Under-13 Tournament 2006
Aggregated 367 runs with 102 not out against Mahanama College
Scores:
Thurstan College 409 for 6 in 50 overs (Sajeewa Salgado 208 n.o, Ashan Wanigaratne 72, Kavinda Wimalasiri 25, Manoj Perera 29; D. V. Jayashan 2/83)
St. John?s College Nugegoda 147 all out in 41.2 overs (G. R. Wanniarachchi 37, G.L. Udara 22, M. T. M. Fernando 32; Sajeewa Salgado 2/15)