Santhush Gunathilake bowling style, school and background – We take a look at one of five uncapped players called up by Sri Lanka for their upcoming Test series’ against South Africa and England.
Santhush Gunathilake was born in Colombo on 14 September 1999, making him just 21 years old.
He attended St Peter’s College in the capital where his prolific run-scoring earned him recognition at Sri Lanka U19 level.
Santhush Gunathilake bowling style
Gunathilake is a right-handed top-order batsman who bowls right-arm medium pace.
The budding allrounder is still very inexperienced at senior level, only making his first-class debut for Ragama CC against Negombo CC in January 2019.
Since then, he’s played nine first-class matches, scoring two centuries and four fifties from 15 innings at an impressive average of 45.33. His highest score is currently 130.
Gunathilake hasn’t yet had quite as much success with the ball, but he has taken six wickets at an average of 43.16, with best figures of 2/36.
The exciting young talent may at first glance look like a token inclusion in the 22-man Sri Lanka Test squad.
Yet, Angelo Mathews’ absence for the South Africa series through injury means there is an opening in the team and the Lions’ coach Mickey Arthur previously admitted that he was ‘very impressed’ with Gunathilake. Therefore, a debut is a possibility.
His most recent first-class outings came in August, but he showed strong form for Colts in those games, scoring a pair of fifties against Chilaw and a century against Saracens.
It’s a big ask for the tourists to repeat their heroics of 2019 in South Africa, but perhaps a rare commodity in Sri Lankan cricket, a seam-bowling allrounder, will be key to their efforts.