About the Founder
Built by a Cricketer. For Cricketers.
Ruwan Jayaratne: Founder, Wild Cricket Safaris
Ruwan Jayaratne's cricket story begins at St. Joseph's College, Colombo - a school whose name is inseparable from Sri Lankan cricket, having produced some of the country's biggest names in the game. As an opening batsman, Ruwan played pivotal roles in matches that mattered, representing Colombo district cricket and earning selection to Sri Lanka's National Development Squad at U15 level. At 15, he was awarded College Merits for his performances in U15 cricket, a mark of a cricketer on a real trajectory.
Had he stayed at St. Joseph's through to A Levels, his cricket path might have looked very different, the school has a habit of producing players who go on to represent Sri Lanka. Instead, Ruwan left after O Levels and chose the academic route, eventually studying Aerospace Engineering at the University of Sheffield in England. It was a different path, but not the end of his cricket, just a change of scenery.
At Sheffield, he quickly discovered that the city takes its cricket seriously and that he belonged on its pitches. He played for Shiregreen Cricket Club in Sheffield's Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League, one of the oldest cricket leagues in England,
alongside the University of Sheffield and Sheffield University Staff Cricket Club. It was in this league that Ruwan played against a young Joe Root, before Root went on to break records for Yorkshire and England.
“I didn't know then that he'd become England's all-time leading Test run scorer,” Ruwan recalls. “I just knew he was a very good player. You could see it even then.”
From Sheffield to Uganda: A Career in Cricket and Business
After Sheffield, Ruwan came to Uganda with a reputed Sri Lankan engineering firm, leading its East Africa business development efforts and securing a project portfolio worth over USD 100 million within three years across the region. That grounding in infrastructure and project delivery gave him the platform to go out on his own, founding Serenity Group and building a portfolio of ventures spanning manufacturing, construction, sports, commodity trading, hospitality, and travel and IT. Among them: East Africa Concrete Products, the country's first spun concrete pole factory, and Nile Heavy Engineering, a power infrastructure contractor. That same instinct for spotting a gap and building something real is what he brought to Ugandan cricket.
Over the past decade, Ruwan has become one of the most significant private contributors to cricket in Uganda.
He built Serenity Oval, the country's first privately owned international-standard cricket ground, and Kinetic Sports Arena, home to Uganda's first indoor cricket nets. He also founded and ran Ceylon Lions CC in Uganda. Ceylon Lions became more than a cricket team-it became a community, and it taught Ruwan something he would carry into Wild Cricket Safaris: that cricket, given the right structure, the right people, and real investment, builds things that last far longer than any individual innings.
He personally brokered a landmark USD 1.5 million sponsorship deal with Lycamobile for Uganda Cricket, the largest sponsorship in the sport's history in the country - and coordinated two national team tours to Sri Lanka to help the squad prepare ahead of major tournaments.
NOTABLE: Ceylon Lions CC - the club Ruwan founded played the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) at Serenity Oval in Kamengo, Mpigi District, in October 2022, across two closely contested T20 matches. MCC won both, and the tour doubled as the launch of the Cricket for Development Foundation, with around 100 local children taking part in the day's activities.
Uganda: More Than a Destination
Ruwan has lived and worked in Uganda for over a decade, building businesses across infrastructure, manufacturing, and sport. He arrived as a businessperson and stayed as someone who found the country - its warmth, its wildlife, its extraordinary cricket community, impossible to leave. Uganda became home.
Recognising the country's potential as a sporting tourism destination, Ruwan set about creating something no one else had: a dedicated cricket touring operation built on Ugandan soil, by someone who understood both the game and the country.
He acquired land in Mpigi District and built Serenity Oval, the first privately owned international-standard cricket ground in Uganda. Surrounded by banana plantations and the quiet hills of central Uganda, it became the centrepiece of what would become Wild Cricket Safaris.
Cricket for Development: The Social Mission
Beyond the touring business, Ruwan founded Cricket for Development, a programme that uses cricket as a tool for youth education, community engagement, and social development in Uganda. Every Wild Cricket Safaris tour includes a community cricket day where visiting players spend time with local schoolchildren, introducing them to the game and leaving something behind.
“I've been lucky enough to play cricket in three countries,” Ruwan says. “In Sri Lanka where I grew up, in England where I studied, and in Uganda where I built my home. Every time, cricket did more than just give me sport. It gave me community. I want to give that to kids in Uganda who have never had the chance.”
Cricket for Development has worked with schools and youth groups across Mpigi, Kampala, and beyond. For visiting touring sides, the Day 2 community cricket evening isn't a tourist activity, it's a meaningful contribution to something Ruwan has built over years.
Why This Matters
He Knows The Fame
Ruwan doesn't run a cricket tour company because he saw a business opportunity. He runs it because cricket has been the constant thread through his life, in three countries, across three decades. He knows what a touring cricketer needs, what they worry about, and what makes a tour extraordinary versus merely adequate. That judgment is built in.
He Knows Uganda
This isn't a company run from London that sub-contracts to a local agent. Ruwan lives in Uganda. He built the ground. He knows the Uganda Cricket Association clubs, their captains, their standards, and their willingness to host touring sides properly. When you ask us a question about Uganda cricket, we're not Googling the answer, we already know it.
He Has a Social Purpose
The Cricket for Development programme means that every tour contributes to something beyond the scorebook. Local children get to play with international tourists. Skills are shared. A connection is made. For many touring clubs, this community day on Day 2 becomes the most talked-about experience of the entire trip, more than the lion cubs.