ABOUT US

When Chris Obeyesekera was the head of HR, HNB was on the fore front of Mercantile Cricket & whilst he was an MCA Ex-co Member at the same time his dream was to set up a Cricket School for the youngsters and was determined to make it a reality during his tenure of office as the MCA President. So it happened in late 2002, his last team in office as head of MCA and done in the smallest way possible with only 03 students namely, Basil Perera’s son Shalindra, Graeme La Brooy’s son Onesh and Rogar Wijesuriya’s son Ryan.

Its first Coach was St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa, 1966 big match winning Captain, Sarath Perera. As Coach, Sarath Perera soon put his new coaching, PR skills & influence into good use, the school grew in popularity, opening the doors to a flood of new students. By 2004 the student population had grown to over 50 students & Coach Perera was given an Assistant, a young budding from Kegalle who had earlier won the Observer Outstation School boy Cricketer of the year, Namal Seneviratne.

This mixture of experience & youth did a world of good to the progress of the school & paved the way to a bright future. Obeyyasekera’s unique innovation was highly taken up by all, inspiring his successors from 2002 up to date, namely Tyrone de Silva, Adel Hashim, Tissa Madigasekera, Neil Perera, Mahesh Wijewardene (Centenary President), Ashley Ratnayake, Gamini Wickramasinghe, Niran Mahawatte, Roshan Iddamalgoda, Rohana Dissanayake & the incumbent, Nalin Wickramesinghe, to preserve and nature the “Cradle” to make it the best Cricket Academy in and around Colombo.

The MCA Cricket Academy provides training for U-13, U-15 & U-17 cricketers, Boys & Girls, currently standing around 250 students. The students are trained not only the basic aspects of the game (batting / bowling /fielding), but going beyond the boundary, teaching them leadership, public speaking, ethics & etiquette, nutrition / table manners & in & behavior in & out of the field.

The latest addition is the Girls Academy, under former SL Womens Cricket Captain, Sashikala Siriwardena in 2015, the brain child of former MCA President, Gamini Wickramasinghe which was an instant hit.

The Academy has produced a number of cricketers who have reached National Level, such as, Vimukthi Perera, Avishka Fernando, Santhush Gunatillake, Vinuja Ranpaul, Harshitha Madhavi & Tharika Sewvandi; It has also produced the higher number of School Captains. From small beginnings, it has moved steadily for 19 years now (2002 – 2021) and under the present Chairman of MCA Cricket Development Committee, Mahesh de Alwis and Secretary, Sanjaya Wijesinghe, whose vision is bound to take the Academy to a new vista.