In his heyday Asitha Jayaweera was a top batsman for Royal College, Colombo, a former captain Jayweera oozed class on and off the field. He also played for Ceylon Schools. Asitha Jayaweera is now Chairman of the UK Representative Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka, he has thrown his weight behind the cause of Sri Lankan cricket. Jayaweera has been meeting county chairmen on a campaign for greater support to Sri Lanka. Already some useful ideas have come out of these talks with possible youth exchanges.
Another avid supporter is that stylish batsman, Deepal Dharmasekhara, former captain of Ananda College, Colombo. Arjuna Ranatunga played under him at Ananda. Dharmasekhara too is a key member of the UK Representative Committee of the BCCSL. He feels that the world champions are gradually getting acclimatised to English conditions. This was essential before the one day tournament and the single test match against England.
This is view a shared by Old Thomian cricketer Gamini Gunewardena. Last year Gunewardena, sank the Old Royalists led by Dr. Daya Panditha-Gunewardena in the over 40s Royal-Thomian match in London. Gunewardena, a property developer is the son of the former sub-warden of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. He met the team at Sarath Abeysundera's magnificent grounds in Leicester. Gunewardena is convinced that the cricketers will go up another gear after watching them in action against Leicester. Sri Lanka has now beaten Leicestershire and Worcestershire.
Meanwhile Channel 5's ``Live and Dangerous'' sport program paid tribute to the team in a recent program stating they were a marvellous team and how people were looking forward to seeing the world one day champions in the UK