Cricinfo - Players and Officials - Jeevantha Kulatunga

Sri Lanka players and officials - select an initial letter:
A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - Y - Z

Full name Hettiarachchi Gamage Jeevantha Mahesh Kulatunga
Born November 2, 1973, Kurunegala
Current age 34 years 347 days
Major teams Club XI, Colts Cricket Club, Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club, Maliyadeva College, North Central Province, Sri Lanka A, Sri Lanka Board President's XI, Uva Province, Wayamba
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium

At 32 years of age Jeevantha Kulatunga, the Colombo Colts stalwart may find himself on the wrong side to earn a call to the national cricket team. The former Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala cricketer has been a prolific scorer in domestic cricket but like several others has been unlucky not to make it to the national team.

An aggressive right-hander in the middle-order Kulatunga has tightened his game very much after joining Barnoldswick CC in the Ribblesdale league in Lancashire in 2002.

He's had four seasons with them and admits the experience has taught him to tighten his technique by playing the ball close to his body and to occupy the crease for longer periods. Add to that he has also improved his right-arm medium-pace bowling. Twice he has come close to breaking the league record of 203 set by Australian James Peterson in 1996.

Kulatunga made 195 against Whalley and an unbeaten 194 against Cherrytree. He made his first-class debut in 1990-91 at the age of 17 for Kurunegala Youth CC scoring 64 and was soon grabbed by the club he scored those runs against, Colts. With players in the caliber of Romesh Kaluwitharana, Sajith Fernando, Tilan Samaraweera and Chaminda Mendis to bat ahead of him Kulatunga became more or less a permanent fixture at no. 5. In 2001 he got his first big break when he was picked to represent a Sri Lanka Board President's XI against England at Matara and he scored a half century. On and often Kulatunga has got his breaks for Sri Lanka `A' against Pakistan `A' and against touring India where he slammed 35 off 30 balls at the NCC.

Former Colts stalwarts like Ranjith Samarasekara, Roy Dias and Carlton Bernadus along with Kaluwitharana and Chaminda Vaas has played a big influence in shaping up his career, but time seems to be running out for this enthusiastic cricketer who yearns for the day that he will be called to play in the national side. (Sa'adi Thaufeeq)