Sri Lanka's Teen Turning Twins, and an English Giant

[Aislabie]

This thread is about three highly promising teen cricketers. Two of them made it into their National squads before they'd even played a First Class, List A or Twenty20 match, while one broke into his county side aged just 17, and didn't just hold his own but starred.

Tharindu Kaushal
Age: 19
Role: Off spin bowler

|M||Balls|Wkts|Ave|Econ|Best
First Class|1||145|7|11.14|3.22|5/65
List A|13||609|22|18.63|4.03|5/27

Kaushal had a starring role in the Under-19 World Cup, and was called straight into the Test squad. He did not make his debut, but has since made rapid strides for Wayamba and Nondescripts.

Akila Dananjaya
Age: 19
Role: Mystery spinner

|M||Balls|Wkts|Ave|Econ|Best
ODIs|1|
T20Is|5||84|7|13.57|6.78|2/9
List A|9||306|10|22.30|4.37|4/31
Twenty20|11||216|16|14.68|6.52|3/18

Akila Dananjaya impressed as a net bowler so much that Mahela Jayawardene called him into both the Wayamba United and World Twenty20 sides. He impressed in both with his calm use of variations.

Reece Topley
Age: 18
Role: Left-arm pace bowler

|M||Balls|Wkts|Ave|Econ|Best
First Class|12||2010|45|25.57|3.43|5/46
List A|4||168|7|22.14|5.53|4/46
Twenty20|9||192|17|14.47|7.68|3/19

Reece Topley had to play his first season for the Essex first team when he could get time around his exams. But he impressed both for Essex and in the Under-19 World Cup where he was a class apart from any other paceman.

My argument is that all three players should be drafted straight into their national ODI teams. The Sri Lankan pair could be the two leading spinners in the country for the next fifteen years, so it is vital that they are handled well now. Meanwhile, Ajantha Mendis seems to have lost his mystery in anything longer than a Twenty20. Also, as England persist with Jade Dernbach, Reece Topley was whiling away his time in Australia, dismissing teenagers with some world class deliveries.
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[sifter132]

The more I watch cricket, the more I think that every team should have a spot or 2 reserved for a young player eg. 23 or under. Not to guarantee them a spot for the next 15 years, but to give them experience. In Australia we've seen so often a young player get a go, then get dropped after failure and come back twice the player because he's had a taste of top level cricket and knows what he needs to do to improve his game. Most of Australia's top batsmen in recent times were like this eg. Hayden, Langer, Steve Waugh, Martyn, Clarke etc. Now Phil Hughes is showing signs of doing the same.

 

[Aislabie]

I agree completely. Someone like Reece Topley may not be ready yet, in which case he'll go back to Essex, but if he's handled well then he'll be a colossus for us. Look at James Anderson, who was brought into the England side before he was completely ready. He left, then came back and now he's our leading seamer.

On the other hand, we don't want to keep persisting with Dernbach when we've got Topley in the wings.

Same sort of thing with the Sri Lankan spinners. They won't play every game at the moment, but they need to be playing some and soon.

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Oh, and Dananjaya is a steal at 20k for the IPL

 

[VC the slogger]

I remember watching Topley break an Aussie batsman's middle stump into half during a match in the 2012 U-19 World Cup. He was very consistent throughout the tournament and looks like a potential fast bowling great in the making for England.

 

[Aislabie]

I remember watching Topley break an Aussie batsman's middle stump into half during a match in the 2012 U-19 World Cup. He was very consistent throughout the tournament and looks like a potential fast bowling great in the making for England.

That was a brutal ball - full, straight and swinging in at pace from a fast, six-foot-seven left armer.

What more could you want?