Josephian win was the best of the week
View(s):Under 19 Review
By M. Shamil Amit
The end of this week of the Under 19 inter-school cricket season saw 11 outright wins being recorded with the best being by St. Joseph’s against St. Anthony’s Katugastota when they turned a game which was heading for a draw into victory.
St. Anthony’s wicketkeeper successfully makes an lbw appeal against a Josephian batsman at Darley Road. However St. Joseph’s went on to turn the game around and snatch the victory. - Pic by Amila Gamage
The other wins were achieved by St. Sebastian’s Moratuwa, Prince of Wales, Maris Stella, Royal Panadura, Tissa MMV Kalutara, St. Mary’s Kegalle, St. Xavier’s Marawila, St. Anthony’s Wattala, St. Sebastian’s Katuneriya and St. Anne’s Kurunegala.
As mentioned the match between St. Joseph’s and St. Anthony’s was heading toward a draw when play was stopped at the lunch break. The game in fact did not have a full day’s play on the first day, which began only at 1.30 p.m.
But the unpredictability of cricket was displayed after the lunch break when left arm spinner Moditha Weerasinghe claimed a five-wicket haul in the first innings.
Moditha, along with Aravinda Akurugoda and Fabian Fernando, did the impossible as they combined to skittle out the Antonians for a meager 35 runs with Moditha and Aravinda sharing the bulk of the ten wickets which fell with four wickets each.
In fact this was the lowest ever score by St. Anthony’s against St. Joseph’s. According to reliable sources the lowest total by the Antonians was 40, way back in 1909.
St. Sebastian’s innings win against hometown rivals Moratu MV was their fourth of the season. The writing was on the wall for Moratu MV as they failed miserably in both their innings with the match ending just before tea.
Prince of Wales, possessing some talented players, have not performed to their ability as they have had fluctuating fortunes. In spite of that they recorded their third win of the tournament with an eight-wicket win over Mahanama College Colombo.
Maris Stella, who has not been able to record any outright wins, at last found the winning post when they crushed Sri Sumangala Panadura by an innings to achieve their first tournament win from the four matches they have played so far.
Royal Panadura, who has been in the limelight during the past three or four seasons securing wins over prominent schools around the island, has had a low-profile season so far.
In the ongoing season they have been able to remain unbeaten but sans an outright victory until last week, when they achieved an innings victory over Sri Jayawardenapura MMV Kotte.
The architect of the win was right-arm pacie, Asitha Fernando, who ended the match with an impressive match bag of 11 for 43. Asitha had figures of 4 for 20 in the first innings and followed it up with a 7 for 23 in the second innings.
St. Servatius Matara inflicted a second defeat on Mahanama within a week with a six-wicket victory, while Tissa MMV overcame Piliyandala Central, who suffered their third successive defeat by an innings.
St. Mary’s Kegalle, who recorded an innings win over Dharmaloka MV Kelaniya, underwent the same in their match against St. Anne’s Kurunegala while St. Anthony’s Wattala, St. Xavier’s Marawila and St. Sebastian’s Katuneriya achieved wins over Piliyandala Central, Sri Devananda Ambalangoda and Sri Pragnananda MV Raddoluwa by five, three and six wickets respectively.
Most of the other matches during the week ended in first inning wins for St. Peter’s, Maliyadeva, Nalanda and St. Servatius in the top division and Sri Jayawardenapura MMV and Karandeniya Central in the lower division.
Meanwhile, Richmond, who are have seven outright wins under their belt had a free week end and they were to confront Revatha MMV Balapitiya and no doubt that they could achieve their eighth for the season and fifth outright win of the tournament.
This week will see the traditional big matches of top schools taking place and most probably the normal matches will take a back seat. The big match fever got underway on Friday (February 22) with the second Battle of the Golden Lions between Dharmapala Pannipitiya and Rahula Matara at the De Zoysa Stadium.
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