Richmond’s year of glory
View(s):Under 19 Review
By M. Shamil Amit
Richmond College Galle are living up to their new-found fame. In the 2012 season they pulled off two wins against top schools in the likes of Maris Stella and Prince of Wales’ which showed signs of what to expect and they have not slacked since.
Allrounder Chemila Obeysekara was in perfect form as he helped St. Peter’s College record their fourth win last weekend. - Pic by Ranjith Perera
This time out their opponents come into the games with no idea of what to expect from the Galle boys who are going from strength to strength.
They are the talk of the town and most probably must be having their best inter-school cricket season in their history of cricket. The ending week saw them chalk up their sixth outright win for the season.
By this weekend the Galle boys would have pulled off their seventh win as they will be meeting the first timers to the division S. de S. Jayasinghe MMV Dehiwela and looking by the wins they have achieved against S. Thomas’ and Ananda speaks volume of what the outcome of this match is going to be.
However the sixth win which they achieved against St. Servatius Matara was not expected as they turn round the match which was heading for a draw when play stopped for lunch on day two.
The architect of their eight wicket win was left arm spinner Saveen Nanayakkara who bowled a deadly spell when St Servatius was batting the second time. He ran through the batting to end up with a impressive five wicket haul to skittle the opponents for just 81 which left Richmond just 44 runs for victory.
The Richmondites were second in the points table at the end of last week and with this win they go up the ladder. So far they have recorded four tournament wins against Ananda, Dharmasoka MV, Maliyadeva and S. de S. Jayasinghe MMV Dehiwela with the other two being against S. Thomas’ and Kingswood which are traditional matches.
Another team from the outstation Dharmasoka MV Ambalangoda who are celebrating their centenary this have recorded four wins so far which includes four tournament wins but they have played six tournament games to the five by Richmond to which team they lost outright.
St. Sebastian’s secured their third outright win which they achieved against St. Anne’s Kurunegala by an innings. The match was a one sided affair as it showed that the lack of turf wickets in the outstation gives a tough time for lesser known teams to brush shoulders with the big guns.
Trinity recorded their second outright win in the ongoing season with a crushing innings win over Sri Sumangala Panadura. This too was a one sided game with the Sumangalians unable to cope up with the experience of the Trinitians.
The same week ending saw Sri Sumangala Panadura after defeat to Trinity record an outright win over Revatha MMV Balapitiya by an innings. In fact Revatha MMV is undergoing one of their worst seasons but with the little facilities they have it’s a great thing that cricket is existing in their school.
In the lower division Taxila Central Horana overcame St. Sebastian’s Katuneriya by a big margin of 106 runs while St. Thomas Matara crushed St Anthony’s Wattala by seven wickets.
Most of the other matches played during the week ended in first inning wins for Ananda, Joseph Vaz, Gurukula MV Kelaniya, Mahinda, Veluwana MV, St. Thomas Matale, Isipathana, Tissa MMV Kalutara and Zahira.
Royal Panadura registered a moral boosting first inning win over Ananda who unfortunately has not been consistent and Nugawela Central while Zahira secured their second first inning win within a space of four days.
Besides all these a rare occurrence took place in the match between Isipathana and Joseph Vaz Wennappuwa where two bowlers of Isipathana claimed a hat-trick in the Vazians two innings.
Both were left arm spinners with the first being achieved by Yomesh Ranasinghe who achieved a rare four wickets in four balls in the first inning as he ended with impressive figures of 5 for 23 while Chameera Dissanayake did it the second innings and ended with returns of 5 for 27.
News comes from the Central Province is that 16-year-old Ahamed Muaaz of Sri Sumangala Kandy achieved another rare feat of scoring twin tons which he did against Nugawela Central with knocks of 110 and 101.
This feat of twin tons in a school cricket match according to sources is rare which has not been achieved for nearly three decades. The bottom line of this feat is that there is hidden talent in the outstations.
With the big match fever getting closer we can expect some exciting cricket as there is no doubt that the schools and players which are involved will be looking forward to build up their confidence with some eye catching performances in the bowling and batting departments.
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