Maliyadeva have the edge over St. Anne’s
Two leading cricket playing schools in the North Western Province town of Kurunegala, Maliyadeva College and St. Anne’s College will battle it out for the supremacy in the 32nd ‘Battle of the Rocks’ encounter which will be played at the Welagedara Stadium Kurunegala on March 13 and 14 commencing at 10.00am on both days.
The 20th one-day limited overs match will be played on Sunday March 15 at the same venue. Both these matches are sponsored by Esoft, the pioneers of computer education.
Maliyadeva College
Maliyadeva is led by dynamic all-rounder Prabash Keppetipola with junior national star Keshan Wijeratne as his deputy. Allrounder Keppetipola has already topped the 500 run mark this season with a top score of 86 and also captured over 30 wickets with his right arm off spin. Deputy skipper Keshan Wijeratne has represented Sri Lanka Under19s against Australia Under19s recently and justified his selection by capturing 4 for 32 in the fourth one day match played at Colts grounds. He also toured England with Sri Lanka Under-17 team last year. He performed well this season with both bat and ball and scored a well compiled 79 against Rahula College last week.
The find of the season was Sachintha Pieris. This right-handed batsman has scored over 800 runs this season with four fifties and also captured 80 wickets with magical figures of 6 for 8 against Mahinda College Galle as his best. He is in top spot in the most valuable players list in the ‘A’ division championship from the beginning this season and he was also added to the Sri Lanka Under19s pool recently.
All-rounder Damitha Silva is another junior national star in the team. He toured to Malaysia with Sri Lanka Under-15 team before representing Sri Lanka Under19s against Australia and Bangladesh recently. He was adjudged best player in the inter provincial Under-17 cricket tournament last year which was conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket. Much has been expected from him in this big encounter.
Wicketkeeper batsman Damitha Perera, newcomers Namindu Somarathna, Sanjaya Wanninayaka and Dinanjaya Premarathna are also capable batsman in the side. Late-order batsman Dilshan Kollure hit a fluent 91 against Zahira College recently.
Left-arm fast medium bowler Lakshan Somaweera and Keshan Wijeratne will spearheaded the bowling attack with spinners Sachintha Pieris, Damitha Silva and skipper Keppetipola will assist them during the middle of the innings. Fast bowler Somaweera has toured to England with Sri Lanka Under-17 team in 2013.
Maliyadeva played 15 matches this season and gained three outright victories over Maris Stella College Negombo, Mahinda College Galle and Rahula College Matara and lost to Thurstan College and Nalanda College after leading on first innings. The rest have been drawn.
St. Anne's College
St. Anne’s is led by hard-hitting middle-order batsman Malshan Perera with allrounder Umesh Massakkara as his deputy. Right-handed batsman Perera has scored over 500 runs this season. He also bagged over 30 wickets with his medium pace deliveries. Right handed top order batsman Umesh Massakkara is also a safe fielder. Left-handed batsman Pasindu Dayananda will open the innings with Tarinda Wijesinghe and followed by Vanitha Wanninayaka and Pubudu Ganegama . Wanninayaka is the most prolific batsman of the team with over 600 runs to his credit which including 67 against St. Patrick’s College and 53 n.o against Kegalu Vidyalaya. He is also in Sri Lanka Under19s pool and much is expected from him.
Allrounder Randeera Ranasinghe will open the bowling with either Malshan Perera and Pasindu Dayananda and followed by spinners Kasun Jayaweera ( 7 for 109 vs Debarawewa NS as his best) and Sudesh Kumarage.
Randeera Ranasinghe has captured over 30 wickets with three five wicket hauls including 7 for 34 against Kegalu Vidyalaya as his best. Sarinda Wijesinghe, Suresh Kumarage, Bawantha Karunasinghe, Sudesh Kumarage, Pyumal Sinhawansha and 15-year-old Nipun Alwis will vie for other slots in the final eleven.
St. Anne’s played 15 matches this season and recorded two outright wins over St. Xavier’s College Marawila and Kegalu Vidyalaya while losing to Royal College, St. Benedict’s College and St. Sebastian’s College Katuneriya.
This series was started in 1959 and out of 31 matches played to date Maliyadeva leads the series 5-nil. After gaining two consecutive wins in the past two encounters under Thineth Manishka and Kusal de Silva. With four junior national poolist in their ranks Maliyadeva have the edge over St. Anne’s in this two day encounter. Old Devans and former national cricketers Jeewantha Kulatunga (two day match) and Eric Upashantha (one day match) will be the chief guests on this occasion.
| The Teams Maliyadeva College: Prabash Keppetipola (Capt), Keshan Wijeratne (VC), Sachintha Pieris, Damitha Silva, Damith Perera, Lakshan Somaweera, Lakshan Chandrasiri,Timira Nimhan, Namindu Somarathna, Sanjaya Wanninayaka, Channa Thilakarathna, Dinanjaya Premaratne, Gimantha Bakmeewewa, Rasindu Bandara, Dinuka Meegahakumbura, Dilshan Kollure, Pinidu Nambuwansa, Dulaj Ranatunga, Sanjeewan Priyadarshana, Kaveen Bandara. St. Anne’s College: Malshan Perera (Capt), Umesh Massakkara (VC), Kavinda Kotuwegedara, Vanitha Wanninayaka, Pasindu Dayananda, Randeera Ranasinghe, Piumal Sinhawansa, Pubudu Ganegama, Vimukthi Perera, Lakmal Jayasekara, Sudesh Kumarage, Tarindu Wijesinghe, Isuru Herath, Kasun Jayaweera, Nipun Ashok, Bawantha Karunasinghe, Suresh Kumarage, Jude Bandara, Nilesh Lakshan, Buddhika Bandara. |