Given the superficial evidence of online biographies relating to Andri Berenger, it might be tempting to think he is flying the flag of convenience by representing the UAE.
He has already sampled what it is like to play at a World Cup, having turned out in the blue of Sri Lanka in the Under 19 version five years ago. So is playing for the Emirates at the real thing just a consolation prize?
Not exactly. Berenger, an attacking opening batsman who could be one of the country’s star turns at the World Cup, was born in the UAE, to long-term expatriates from Sri Lanka.
He learned all his cricket here, under the tutelage of one of the UAE’s 1996 World Cup squad members.
He showed enough talent as a child in Dubai to earn a scholarship to one of Sri Lanka’s leading schools at 14, and he was encouraged to pursue international cricket there.
The plan was going well, too. He played in Colombo’s big matches, the school-festival fixtures that are the staple of Sri Lankan cricket, often in direct opposition to Angelo Mathews, who is now the island nation’s captain.
Then he was selected for Sri Lanka to play at the Under 19 World Cup in 2010.
That was all the encouragement his family needed to finally up sticks from Dubai, where they had lived for 26 years, to return to their homeland to support him.
Then the plan deviated. He drifted away from favour with the Sri Lanka set-up and, impatient for top-level cricket, he returned to the country of his birth to work and play cricket.
Happily, that has coincided with a sharp increase in the UAE’s fortunes on the cricket field, and his dream of playing at the World Cup has come to pass.
“After school and U19, my parents wanted me to come back. I didn’t have a choice,” he said.
“That was fine, because I used to come to Dubai on and off, and in school holidays.
“It didn’t make a difference because I used to keep up with the guys here and come and watch them play when I was back.
“I came back, we qualified for all the World Cups and that pushed me to improve my cricket. I played in a higher grade with [employers] Danube and have been performing well.”
On his return to the UAE, Berenger was sponsored by Shahzad Altaf, a seam bowler in the national team when they last played at the World Cup, 19 years ago.
Altaf had been Berenger’s first coach, as a nine-year-old boy, and had been the one who recommended to his father, Kenham, that he try his luck in Colombo.
“Kenham was very keen for him to play for Sri Lanka,” said Altaf, who has been a successful coach since he retired from playing.
“I took a team there last year, saw him while we were there, and he was so upset because his boy could not play for Sri Lanka.
“He was very upset, but I told him his dream has come true because he will still be playing at the World Cup.”
It is fair to say Kenham has always had high hopes invested in his son’s cricket ability.
He says he flew from the UAE to watch 90 per cent of his son’s matches in Colombo, all while running his own business in Dubai.
Now back living in Colombo, he concedes it was a nervous time for him before he read the official announcement of the World Cup squad online.
“It was the happiest day of my life,” Kenham said. “I was never worried about his performance and knew he deserved to be in. But you never know in Asia.”
And Andri cannot wait to get started as he bids to make a name for himself on the big stage, having found a team of like minds within the close-knit national team.
“I didn’t expect anything like that,” Berenger said of the UAE’s team spirit.
“When I was playing for Sri Lanka U19, you would do your own work then, at the end of the day, that was it.
“Over here, it feels like a family. We eat together, drink together, play together. Everybody works hard and pushes each other.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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