By Jonty Ralphsmith
‘Do they sell popcorn here?’
That was the apt call from one of Hasindu Waduge’s Fountain Gate teammates on Saturday after he took Lynbrook spinner James Kellett for 22 runs en route to an unbelievable century.
Waduge brought up three figures with a six which sailed 15 metres over long-on, stationed right on the fence, a shot which captured the essence of his fearless innings.
“(Teammate) Rodni Kumara told me I was on 99 so there was no point of knocking and getting a single so I thought I would have a crack,” Waduge said.
“And I think that probably sums up Hasindu and what he brings to our side and the way he bats,” president Justin Smith added.
“He’s not afraid to attack the bowlers, hit shots and get us off to good starts.
“He’s got us off to some really good starts and taken the pressure off.”
“It’s one of the best innings I’ve seen this year and one of the best I’ve seen at Fountain Gate for a long time.”
Waduge is the second highest run-scorer in the DDCA Turf 3 competition behind Jackson Marie – the only player who could argue he has played a better knock this season.
It captivated, entertained, intimidated and undoubtedly worried fellow premiership aspirants given it’s the finest of a long line of important knocks the Gators’ bat has played this season.
The century came off 66 balls at a strike rate of 152 – excluding his knock, the aggregate run rate on a tricky Marriott Waters Reserve wicket was 2.78 across the course of the match.
The opener’s last 44 runs came off 17 balls; once he was set, he was swinging to try and clear the carpark at Marriott Waters Reserve.
After bringing up his 50 with a sweeping cover drive for four, Waduge had a 15-minute period and the sort of momentum cricketers dream about: a willow crunch echoed around the venue after every ball he faced.
He forced the fielders to run to the rope more than he had to run between the wickets.
Underlining just how splendidly he struck the ball, his knock contained just two singles.
Alongside 15 boundaries and three maximums were a series of twos and threes, most of which were shots which plugged metres inside the rope.
Opening with the patient Karan Singh, Waduge gave himself time to assess conditions, his first 11 balls yielding just two runs before he exploded.
Waduge pounced on anything short or straight throughout his innings, swinging hard knowing he only needed to clear the infield to get value for his shots.
At the other end for most of his innings was skipper Chanaka ‘Ted’ Sampath, whose productive 35, built off brute strength, released the pressure and complemented his partner well.
Most runs in the first half of his innings came through the cow corner to mid-wicket region, before he sprinkled in elegant strokeplay through the ‘V’ with the same damaging effect.
Lakers skipper Jay Walia continued attacking with his field settings to try to thwart the right hander’s momentum which allowed him to inflict maximum pain in the first 23 overs.
After taking Kellett’s first over for five fours, all swinging straight through the line of the ball, Waduge tried to repeat the dose in his second, only to be caught and bowled.
It was an anticlimactic end to an innings which showed the very best of DDCA power hitting, and brought a grinding halt to the Fountain Gate onslaught.
From 1/145, the Gators slipped to to 192 all out, keeping the door ajar for Lynbrook.
The Lakers lost three wickets before stumps on day one but remained in the hunt thanks to a deep batting order which has been on show on several occasions this season.
Despite falling to 7/73, Walia, batting at 10, nearly dragged his team over the line on Sunday with a brave 44 off 46 before the nagging consistency of Rodni Kumara proved too much.
Kumara finished with 5/31 off 20.1 as the clear standout bowler of the innings.
Fountain Gate’s tail was then forced to dig in to stave off the brief threat of a reverse outright when Lynbrook all-rounder Sithara Perera reduced them to 6/64, just 76 runs ahead with plenty of time in the game left.
The Gators ultimately held on, getting their fruits and cementing a finals spot off the back of a jaw-dropping batting display.
Waduge now has 509 runs for the season including two centuries and four 50s.
“At the start the pitch was a bit tough, some balls stayed down,” Waduge said.
“When Ted came to the wicket, it was really easy to bat because I had no pressure – he was hitting shots as well
“I was backing myself to clear the field and was hitting it very well.”
