Sports

Sports

Wesley seventh wkt. pair thwarts Royal
By Bernie Wijesekera
Royal helped by a match-winning all round "double" by Naveen Dias (5 for 36 and a breezy 85 in 97 balls) in the first essay and tantalizing left-arm spin bowling (match-bag of 9 for 63 by Heshan Morawake) put them in an unassailable position in their annual cricket match played for the Sir Frank Gunasekera trophy against Wesley concluded at Campbell Park, yesterday.

Wesley batting first were bowled out for 118 runs. Royal in reply made 227 for 9 dec., - leading by 109 runs. Wesley in their second innings were 57 for one at lunch. Later crumbled for 133 for 6 at tea. The writing was on the wall. But the Wesleyite seventh wkt., pair batting with grim determination Avishka Liyanage 42 (with 6 fours) and Dilan Marasinghe 5 in a 28 run dour stand in 50 mts. Dashed Royal's early hopes of a break through.

Finally Marasinghe was smartly stumped by Janith Jayawardene off Punchihewa. But the last three Wesley batsmen kept Royal waiting until the start of the mandatory overs-all out for 199. Leaving the Reid Av. School 91 runs to be made in 13 overs Wesley opener Manoj Katapearachchi 44 (with 6 fours), impressed.

Royal had a daunting task of making the runs against some hostile bowling coming from Kumara and KatApearachchi. They started disastrously, losing the first wkt. Edusuriya run out. 1 for 1. In the next over opener Dimitri Siriwardene played too early and was hit on his right eyebrow and had to be rushed to the hospital and returned with two stitches. The Wesley fielders gave nothing away on the field. Poor running between the wickets by the Royal batsmen saw two more run outs Gayan de Silva and C. Somapala. This has been the bane for them this season. In the end they were with 46 for 5 with Dias stroking a fluent 25 (with 3 fours). On Tuesday and Wednesday (Feb. 17 and 18) Royal play host to Isipatana.

Wesley - 118 in 43.4 overs (C. Karunaratne 29, K. Seneviratne 33, N. Dias 5 for 36, D. Heshan Moraweke 5 for 27 and 199 in 74 overs. Anoj Kataperachchi 44, Avishka Liyanage 42, C. C. Karunaratne 21 Anura Kumara 21, N. Samith 20, Heshan Moraweke 16-5-37-4, Nadun Punchihewa 3/35)

Royal - 1st innings (196 for 7 overnight 227 for 9 dec. in 56.5 overs (Navin Dias 85, D. Edusuriya 19, Gayan de Silva 39, H. Morawake 20, T. Kottehewa 19, J. Jayawardene 21, Anura Kumara 3 for 51, A. Katapearachchi 2 for 33 N. Samith 2 for 80) and 46/5

St. Sylvester's dominate
Half centuries from Shanaz Najurdeen, Thilina Wickremasinghe and Mohamed Peshal enabled St. Sylvester's to dominate St. Sebastian's before rain at 2.10 yesterday put paid to any chances of a decision in their Lemonade Trophy match at the Police grounds.
The Sylvesterians batting clicked and they ran up a fairly massive total to put the visitors under pressure. Left arm bowler Abeydeera picked up two wickets but went for over a hundred.

The Sebastianites were reasonably placed at 67/2 when the heavens opened.
St. Sylvester’s - 307 in 120 overs (Shanaz Najurdeen 58, Ravi Karunaratne 30, Thilina Wickremasinghe 57, Mohamed Peshal 54, Hashan Gunaratne 20, L. Manchanayake 17, Dunil Abeydeera 2-105, Sijeiva Fernando 3-67, Lahiru Anthony 2-30.
St. Sebastian's - 67 for 2 in 23 overs (Priyanka Soysa 36, N. Fernando 18)

Yohan slams breezy 88
Nalanda winning the toss were helped by their left-handed opener Yohan de Silva, who has been consistent run getter this season. He hit a breezy 88 in 122 balls, with 12 fours and two sixes) which enabled them to score 299 runs against Dharmasoka, Ambalangoda on the first day of their Inter-School cricket match at the Bloomfield Grounds yesterday.
De Silva was involved in an opening stand with burly S. Serasinghe (19) which realised 84 runs. Yohan has made 193 against Isipathana,113 against Sri Summangala, 92 against Maliyadeva and has amassed 758 runs to date.

This match was scheduled at Malalasekera Mawatha but but was later shifted to Reid Avenue. Right-arm 'leggie' K.M. Tharaka (4 for 72) and Anura Madushanka (5 for 76) shared the wickets. The Sokians were 59 for 5 at close.The game will be continued today.

Nalanda - 299 (Tharuindu Attanayake 68 (7 fours,2 sixes), Madawa Warnapura 23, B. Hettiarachchi 23, Gihan Rupasinghe 41, P. Kariyapperuma 18 n.o; A. Madushanka 5 for 76, K.M. Tharaka 4 for 72)
Dharmasoka - 59 for 5 (Nalaka Thenuwara 19; P. Kariyapperuma 3 for 16, Sameera Abeysinghe 2 for 6)

Amidst smoke Ananda win on 1st. innings
By Shamseer Jaleel
The Inter-School cricket match between St. Benedict's College Kotahena and Ananda College had to be stopped prematurely at Kotahena as a heavy smoke enveloped the ground and the organisers decided to call off the match. Ananda secured a first innings lead in the game.The smoke came from the burning of a nearby rubbish dump.

Continuing from their overnight score of 96 for 2, Ananda declared at lunch with the score at 248 for 7 which gave them a first innings lead of 132 runs. Batting a second time Kotahena school were in deep trouble at 33 for 3 but a superb partnership of 62 runs between Lahiru Perera and Illangage saw them through the woods. Lahiru Perera made 51 and saw his side out of trouble while Illangage made a valuable 24. At close St. Benedict's were 98 for 4.

St. Benedict's - 116 (A. Amal 23, C. Wijewardena 21; S. Senanayake 3 for 26, A. Ranasinghe 3 for 27) and 98 for 4 at close (Lahiru Perera 51 n.o, S. Ilangage 24) Ananda - 96 for 2 overnight 248 for 7 dec (P. Boteju 37, J. Sriyapala 51, M. Udawatte 42, R. Wimaladharma 33; L. Perera 4 for 58, E. Karunaratne 2 for 39)

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