Deneth Peiris
Third year coloursman, right hand top order bat, right arm leg spinner, safe fielder in any position, under 13, 17 and 19 school cricket captain, member of the District and Provincial squads, Sri Lanka under 19 poolist for the tour of England,, third player from his school to pass the magical 1000 runs for the season, man of the match in 2023 Big Match and Best Batsman of the 2024 Big Match Deneth Priyanga Peiris has brought honour and immense glory to his two schools Sugatah Dharmadara Vidyalaya Egoda Uyana and St. John’s College Panadura with his deeds in the field of cricket.
Deneth who hails from Egoda Uyana Moratuwa was born on 9th April 2006 and admitted initially to the Sugatha Dharmadara Vidyalaya in 2012 and after passing the Grade Five Exam he was drafted to his present school in 2017. When he joined the Johnians in 2017 his parents Thusitha Peiris and Sulochana Peiris noticing that their son’s forte is cricket made arrangements to hand over their son to the school coach M. Sriyan in 2017.
He was selected to the under 13 team in 2017 and in his first year in 2018 he scored 220 runs with two half centuries in five outings. In his second year he captained the team and scored 280 runs in five matches with three fifties and claimed 10 scalps and in 2021 in the under 17 he passed the 300 run mark in five matches with a century and two fifties and claimed 12 wickets and in the following year captaining the team he scored 350 runs in five matches with two centuries.
His first eleven debut was in 2022 and in five one day matches he scored 319 runs with four fifties and in 2023 in eight one dayers he scored 420 runs with a century and three fifties and in the two day game in nine outings he scored 864 runs with three centuries and four fifties and bagged 21 wickets with one five wicket haul and in the Big Match versus their arch rivals Royal College Panadura he was the Man of the Match and in 2024 captaining the team in 10 one dayers he collected 864 runs with two centuries and five fifties and captured 17 wickets and Johnians were the joint Champions with St. Anthony’s College Wattala and in the two day games playing in 13 matches he scored 1045 runs with three centuries and seven half centuries and claimed 34 wickets with two five wicket hauls and reached quarter finals and also he became the highest scorer in the Big Match series with 148 runs and became the third player for Johnians to notch up magical 1000 runs for the season. He earned an Award for his 620 runs at the most number of runs in the limited over tournament and won the Award in the Big Match for the Best Batsman and Man of the Match . His coach is Udara Maddumage and was in the under 19 Sri Lanka pool for the tour of England
Dilwin Mendis -Moratuwa Sports Special Correspondent
