In the longest format, Sadeera Samarawickrama is a dashing wicketkeeper-batsman who plays in the middle order. In limited-overs cricket, he has routinely set his teams off to fast starts as an opener. In any case, few school leavers of his vintage have made such a successful transition to the senior level. The national selectors have taken notice.

Having begun his cricket at Colombo's Thurstan College, Samarawickrama moved to St Joseph's in his final years, and prospered in the school system, even hitting a memorable 126 in St Joseph's biggest fixture of the year. That performance propelled him into Sri Lanka's Under-19 squad, where he again impressed, making 265 runs at an average of 44.17 in the 2014 Youth World Cup.

While Kusal Mendis - his team-mate from that U-19 side - was fast-tracked to the national side, Samarawickrama would have to earn his place through first-class performances. His first season with Colts Cricket Club was modest, but his second was good, and his third outstanding. Samarawickrama topped Tier-A run charts with 1016 runs at 59.76 in the 2016-17 season. On his debut for Sri Lanka A in February 2017, he cracked 185 runs off 223 balls against a strong England Lions attack.

On the back of those runs, Samarawickrama earned a maiden Sri Lanka call-up in September of the same year, for the Tests against Pakistan.
Andrew Fernando