Timely hundred for Vandort as selectors look on

Sri Lankan Board XI batsman Michael Vandort stole the limelight on the first day's play of a three-day practice match against India with a brilliant century and, by doing so in front of the national selectors, became a serious contender for a place in the Sri Lankan Test squad.

He was delighted after the match: "It was a great achievement. I am really proud of myself and hoping to get more and more hundreds in the future."

Well aware that the selectors are looking out for young talent he said: "It's up to the selectors whether to chose me or not. I am just glad that I made the most of the opportunity."

The rest of the players contesting for places in the national side - Avishka Gunawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Hashan Tillakaratne and Kumar Sangakkara - failed to impress. The only man to rise to the occasion was Vandort.

"The wicket was damp in the morning," he said. "All what I wanted was to spend some time in the middle. There were some rash shots. I thought the most important thing was to concentrate and select your shots.

The batsman reached his hundred with a well timed sweep off left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi two balls after surviving a confident leg-before appeal.

"There was a quite a bit of pressure when I was on 99," he admitted. "I have never felt that amount of pressure, but Thilan (Samaraweera) took the pressure off me and I felt so happy after reaching my century."

Having reached the milestone the tall left-hander stroked a flurry of boundaries off medium-pace bowler Harvinder Singh, but was eventually well caught in the gully.

"The boundaries were hittable balls and I was pretty much set by then, so I went for the shots, but I was very disappointed to be dismissed all the same," he said. "After getting the hundred I should have gone for something like 150-160."

In fact, that's just what he normally does. Just 21 years old, he scored a century on his first-class debut three years ago and has converted two of his five first-class hundreds in double centuries.

Strangely Vandort, unlike many other Sri Lankan cricketers who shoot to prominence in school cricket, did not even play regularly for his First XI at school. In fact, he played in just one First XI match for St Joseph's College in his entire school career.

"I didn't play much school cricket as I was never selected," he said. "I was never happy with their selection policy. I made a half-century in my only game, just before the Big Match, but was then dropped. I was disappointed, as there were some players who failed right throughout the school season, but I was the one left out.

"That was where I decided to give it a go at club level after consulting my parents," he reveals. "I decided to leave school and things worked for me at the Club."

He made a name for himself playing for Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) where he started off playing Third Division cricket, but quickly progressed into the Premier League side and then into the Sri Lanka A team this year.

Vandort gets lots of encouragement from his father Patrick Vandort, a former cricketer for Nomads Cricket Club in the 1970s, who was watching proudly from the sidelines today.

His late development has attracted interest: "People were wondering as to how I could play consistently without playing proper school cricket. Top-level school cricket can be important, but I honestly don't feel that it makes that much of a difference. It depends on your application."

Early this year, Vandort was chosen to tour Kenya with the Sri Lanka A team and for the series against Pakistan A at home a month ago. In the series against Pakistan, Vandort impressed as a classy top order batsman and a quite exceptional slip fielder, attracting high praise from Pakistani coach Mudassar Nazar.

Now though he faces the possibility of national team selection and it is no surprise that his one current ambition is to play for Sri Lanka. If he continues to bat like he did today then it's a question of when rather than if. For Sri Lanka's sake, let's hope it's sooner rather than later.