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Denville fields cricket team to highlight Sri Lanka Day

DENVILLE — Even though cricket has been part of the township's Sri Lanka Day for decades, this was the first year that a Denville team played.

Mayor Ted Hussa was part of an 11-man team competing in an exhibition against a Sri Lankan cricket team at Gardener Field Saturday afternoon during the township's 34th annual Sri Lanka Day.

Hussa got his team off to a good start, "balling" or pitching a ball that struck the wicket. That resulted in one out against the Sri Lankan team. The teams used a tennis ball instead of the typical leather ball used in cricket.

After both sides completed a round, similar to a baseball inning, the Sri Lankan team was ahead, 76-52.

The township held its first Sri Lanka Day in 1975 when Denville resident Jay Liyanage, who worked in the Sri Lankan consulate in New York, suggested the idea. Liyanage still lives in the township and attended Saturday's event. Hussa and his teammates said they played a good game, but need more practice. Adam Scholem, of Jersey City, played for the Denville team and said using a tennis ball, which bounces more than a leather call, took some players off guard.

The friendly competition highlighted an event attended by more than 500 people.

"It's a day of bonding, an opportunity to celebrate togetherness," said Bharath Kumar, a township resident who's originally from Sri Lanka and played on the Denville team.

Besides watching the cricket match, visitors feasted on Sri Lankan foods such as lamb and chicken curry, kottu rottie bread, and desserts such as lavariya, kevum and caramel pudding.

This year is particularly notable for the people of Sri Lanka, a South Asian island nation of 20 million people which after years of warfare and natural disasters, including the 2004 tsunami, is hoping to rebuild economically and politically.

Earlier this year, a separatist group known as the Tamil Tigers suffered a major military defeat when government forces killed its longtime military leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, in May. The rebel group had posed a threat to the government for four decades.

Sri Lankans who immigrated to the United States years ago said they hope their homeland's best days are within reach.

"I think the country can finally have some peace," said Ninatha Samarasekera, who moved to the United States in 1974 and lives in Cleveland. He was visiting family and friends in New York and attended Saturday's event with them.

Samarasekera said he visits aunts and uncles once a year in the teeming city of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

As visitors feasted, had their blood pressure checked at a free screening or shopped for clothes at one vendor's tent, Prashantha Ratanayake, who lives in Staten Island, said it was nice to see Sri Lankans from all over in one place.

"They are scattered all over," he said. "This brings everyone together."
 
Minhaj Hassan: 973-267-9038; mhassan@gannett.com