Ratnayake brothers Sanjeewa and Diluk shone in four sports at Dharmaraja College from1985 to 1991. Sanjeewa Ratnayake and Diluk Ratnayake were known as “Raththa”brothers in Kandy during that time. Both contributed immensely for Dharmaraja College in sports and went up to club and national level.
Sanjeewa represented the college cricket teams from under 13 to under 20. He captained the under 15 and 17 teams and was the vice captain of the senior team in 1988. Due to his good playing he was awarded colours in the years 1987 and 88.. He had the privilege of playing in four big matches. Sanjeewa was a good right arm opening bowler and pocketed the highest number of wickets in the year 1987 and 1988 and won the best bowlers award at the big match in 1987. In batting, he was a left hander and was a hard hitter who scored many runs. He was a member of the 1985 team which became runner up in all island Coca Cola trophy 50 over knockout tournament. He gave his best with the bat and the ball as the first change bowler in capturing wickets. The team was led by one of the promising all rounders of that time Priyantha Talwatte. He was also a member of Rajans side who won central province best school cricket team award in 1985 and became first runner up school cricket team in 1986 and 87 at “Bata Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year award ceremony. He also played for Kandy cricket club and police cricket team. Now he is a member of Selection Committee of Seychelles Cricket Association. He was the coach of Seychelles under 15 cricket team, which played in the ICC tournament in 2010. He was awarded a certificate by the former president for the development of cricket in Seychells. Sanjeewa and his brother Diluk Ratnayake played together for the college 1st xi team in 1988.Diluk was also a right arm fast bowler and left hand batsman, he captained under 13 team and took match bag of13 wickets against Gatambe Maha vidyalaya in1984. He represented college under 15 team in 1987 and he won the “astral”award for bowling in 1988 as an under 17 player,
Sanjeewa also represented the Rajans 1st xv Rugby team in 1987/88 as a wing three quarter with Ravi Rajapakase on the other wing. The two outstanding cricketers played as wingers in Rajans 1st xv Rugby team during the year 1987. He as the goal kicker gave his best with the boot and helped the team to a great extent in the 1988 season. He won colours for rugby in 1988. Later played as fly half for Kandy sports club in 1989 under the leadership of Anil Jayasinghe.
Sanjeewa’s brother Diluk played1st xv rugby in 1990 and 1991. He captained under 13 and under 15 teams in 1985 and 1987 respectively, He represented under 17 team in 1989, Diluk and top class wing three quarter Indrajith Bandaranayake played as the two wing three quarters in 1990. Diluk scored a crucial try in the last minute against Ananda college, which helped to draw the game in a schools “A”division match in 1990, Diluk scored the highest number of tries for the Rajans against the other teams in 1991.
He also scored tries against schools like Royal College, Wesley College, Thurstan College, Lumbini M.V. Science College, St Benedict’s College and St Anne’s College. He was a member of the seven’s team when they won the plate runner trophy in the all island school rugby sevens tournament in 1991. He won too won colours in 1992 and was in the Sri Lanka school squad in 1991. Both brothers were also good Football players, from under 12 to under 16. Sanjeewa played as a right half and Diluk also played as a right half and took part in many tournaments. Both were also members of the athletic teams and represented the college in central province meets and invitation relay carnivals. Diluk a top runner won individual events and 4x100 and 4x200 relays in 1990 to 1992 and won college colours.
Sanjeewa joined Sri Lanka police as a sub inspector in 1990 for his outstanding sporting talents and currently he is functioning as General Manager of security in a hotel in Seychelles. Diluk was recruited by John Keells to play rugby for the organization in 1993 and played for John keells rugby seven a side team in mercantile rugby sevens in 1993 and 1994. Currently Diluk is functioning as a Director of a pharmaceutical company.
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