MCA Cricket Academy / Indoor Cricket Nets Refurbished

The reconstructed & modernized Mercantile Cricket Association Cricket Academy was ceremonially opened by Shammi Silva, President – Sri Lanka Cricket, who was invited as the Chief Guest. Immediate Past President – MCA, Rohana Dissanayake also participated as the Guest of Honour.

The MCA Cricket Academy was inaugurated in 2002 during the tenure of Chris Obeysekera as the President, MCA President with 03 students. Initially it catered to students of 04 age categories – under 10, under 13, Under 15 & Under 19 for boys & later for girls & women. But with the introduction of the over 19 category by the incumbent President, MCA – Nalin Wickramasinghe, the student population skyrocketed from 300 to nearly 450.

By this time, the MCA Cricket Academy was frequently & extensively used by an eager student population. The facility was badly in need of infrastructure development, but the MCA was not in a position to invest for the huge financial commitment. So, a request was made to Sri Lanka Cricket for assistance. It was considered as a worthy investment towards the future cricket development in the country & Sri Lanka Cricket pledged substantial financial assistance to commence the project. The construction work was entirely handled by AKK Engineering Co. headed by Dr. Rohan Karunaratne. His team having worked in an extremely professional manner, completed the ambitious project under a short period of 08 months. They were able to overcome many obstacles during this difficult period due to COVID 19 restrictions.

Sri Lanka Cricket provided additional funds towards fixing state of the art video technology at the MCA Cricket Academy Indoor Nets, which was extended to 04 pitches for practice sessions.

Report assisted by Tyronne Perera, Photos courtesy Chamara Perera