National team mental makeup won us the title – Colts coach Ridee

• “We actually prepared them mentally as if they were playing for the national team”

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Former first-class cricketer with 6,534 runs and 302 wickets Anil Rideegammanagedera’s (a.k.a. Ridee) career as a cricket coach reached a pinnacle with him guiding Colombo Colts CC to win the plum of domestic club cricket – the Major Club 3-Day League – after a gap of 14 years.

Colts last won the title in 2011-12 under the captaincy of Malinda Warnapura, and overall, it was their seventh success, having won it in the years 1991-92, 1999-2000, 2001-02, 2004-05, and 2008-09. Their Captain in the current year is Dhananjaya Lakshan.

Enlightening on Colts’ success, Ridee said: “More than coaching, it was the making up of their mindset; how to play when you are in a strong position and cope with situations etc. We actually prepared them mentally as if they were playing for the national team, so that when they go to play at that level, it comes naturally to them. That was my plan as a coach. I received a lot of support from past Captains Angie [Angelo Mathews] and Chandi [Dinesh Chandimal]. They also came and played a lot of matches for us. Their experience helped us immensely. Whenever a senior batsman failed, there was someone to put his hand up and contribute.”

“We missed qualifying for the Major 3-Day League final by a small margin last year. Our goal at the start of the season was to win at least two of the three Major Club formats – T20, 50-over, and League. We lost in the semi-finals in the 50-over and lost in the quarter-finals of the T20 under the DLS method. Having missed out on both white-ball formats, we planned out how we can become champions in the 3-Day League. We worked towards achieving that success. Our goal was to become champions. Everything went according to plan and the young cricketers performed well. That was the secret to our success,” continued Ridee.

When questioned at which point of the tournament that Colts felt they had a chance of becoming champions, Ridee answered: “We qualified for the Super Eight but we started from 8th position with the least number of points (19.190). The team that was on top [Moors SC had 31.750] was our first opponent. What we planned was not to do anything big, but to win our four matches in the first innings, which could make us champions. In the midst of achieving that, we managed to pull off an outright win as well [against Ace Capitals by 7 wickets]. In our bid to qualify for the Super Eight, we lost ground when our match against Nugegoda SWC ended in a no-result due to bad weather. But still, we did not give up but managed to squeeze through.”

Ridee pointed out that if Moors SC had not beaten Bloomfield outright in a match that raised concerns about Bloomfield’s second innings declaration, Colts would have been assured of the title by the third weekend.

“In the end, it all boiled down to us having to somehow beat NCC in the first innings in our final game to win the title. We decided to field first so that we could plan out the run chase. NCC was a strong batting side but we chased and won.”

“There were talks about how some of the other matches panned out, which led to a close finish for the championship. We stuck to our plans despite at times umpiring decisions also not going in our favour. We went on to win the championship against such odds.”

Continuing further, Ridee said: “We had what the national team lacked—a strong reserve bench that kept the players on their toes. We always had a player to replace another equally well. If your bench is strong, the performances will follow. It was a truly professional outfit where the competition for places was strong. Hard work, team unity, and a strong reserve bench were the ingredients that made us champions.”

After retiring from first-class cricket in 2013, Ridee was involved in a coaching capacity first with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and then with Mahinda College (although he was an old Richmondite), champion team Galle in the National Super League (NSL), Canberra premier league (as player-cum-Assistant Coach), and NCC for two years, helping them become joint T20 champions before undertaking the role of Head Coach of Colts in 2024-25.

Colts had a group of 25 players for the season, but at least five players were unavailable because of national duty.

The awards and the trophies for the tournament were presented by Tournament Committee Chairman Nalin Aponso and Secretary Kasun Fernando. Colts as champions received the trophy plus a cash award of Rs. 3.5 million, Ace Capital CC as runner-up received Rs. 2.5 million, Lahiru Udara (NCC) as Best Batsman – Rs. 1 million, Dilum Sudeera (Police SC) as Best Bowler – Rs. 1 million, and Wanuja Sahan as Most Valuable Player – Rs. 1.5 million.