Ronuka’s twin fifties the highlight
Seven half centuries were recorded with Royal College opener Ronuka Jayawardena taking the forefront with a twin fifties while spinners took major honours at the two Schools Under-19 First XI matches concluded in contrasting draws at different venues in Colombo yesterday.
Royal’s Ronuka Jayawardena gradually gained his form in the match against Zahira to hit back-to-back fifties - Pix by Ranjith Perera
Despite struggling at 111-7 overnight, Royal College took the first innings honours and changed the melody of a dull game against Zahira College, to finish the game off in an interesting position at Reid Avenue.
The hosts took an advantage of 48 runs from the first innings after skittling out Zahira for 128 with Sri Lanka Under-19 cap discarded, Lasith Embuldeniya coming out with impressive figures of 5 for 12.
Royal openers Ronuka Jayawardena and Naveen Pathirana blazed with their bats with unbeaten half centuries in the second innings, to post a commanding total of 108 for no loss before declaring in 9.3 overs. This left Zahira a target of 156 runs in 16 overs, but they were 52-2 at close of play.
Following his 50 in the first innings, Jayawardena, who claimed two of the seven fifties, smashed an unbeaten 64 off 28 deliveries with five boundaries and four sixes. His partner Pathirana, made a quick-fire 52 not out off 29 balls with four boundaries and four sixes.
In the first innings, Jayawardena, who remained unbeaten on 30 overnight, added exactly 20 runs to his tally before being dismissed for 50.
He faced 109 deliveries, hit two sixes and a boundary while most of the Royal batsmen failed to impress. Leg-spinner Ishan Samsudeen captured four scalps while off-spinner Sajith Sameera and paceman Mohamed Najath shared six wickets.
Zahira allrounder Sajith Sameera, took three scalps and hit 26
Zahira enjoyed the satisfaction of bowling out their opponents below a total of 200 but they were outdone by the spinning masterpiece of Embuldeniya.
At Bambalapitiya Isipathana College took honours of first innings against St. Peter’s College, who fell short of their opponent’s first innings total by 30 runs.
At close of play St. Peter’s were bowled out for 232 in their first innings against Isipathana’s total of 262, after resuming from their overnight score of none for no loss.
The top scorer for St. Peter’s was Hashan Wanasekera, who made 66 runs while featuring in two valuable partnerships. The first was a 68-run partnership for the second wicket with Santhush Gunathilake, who hit 37.
Wanasekera then went on to form a partnership of 72 runs for the third wicket with Lakshina Rodrigo, who scored 36. Manilka de Silva made 30.
The pick of the Isipathana bowlers was right-arm leg-spinner Isanka Sanjula, who grabbed four scalps conceding just 10 runs. In addition to the half made by Wanigasekera, this match produced three of the remaining four fifties of the two games, which helped Isipathana post 262 after deciding to bat first.
They came off the bats of Salinda Ushan (50), Vishad Randika (54) and Sanjula Abeywickrama (54).
| At Reid Avenue: Zahira drew against Royal Royal (111-7 overnight) 176 all out in 48.5 overs (Ronuka Jayawardena 50, Tiran Danapala 27, Lasith Embuldeniya 24, Ishan Samsudeen 4 for 42, Sajith Sameera 3 for 28, Mohamed Najath 3 for 64) and 108 for no loss in 9.3 overs declared (Naveen Pathirana 52n.o, Ronuka Jayawardena 62n.o.) Zahira 128 all out in 45.3 overs (Sajith Sameera 26, Thilanka Rupasinghe 26, Ishan Samsudeen 23, Lasith Embuldeniya 5 for 12, Helitha Vithanage 3 for 25) and 52 for 2 wickets in 16 overs at close (Mohamed At Bambalapitiya: St. Peter’s (0-0 overnight) 232 all out in 93.5 overs at close (Hashan Wanasekera 66, Santhush Gunathilake 37, Lakshina Rodrigo 36, Manilka de Silva 30, Iwanka Sanjula 4 for 109, Neranjan Wanniarachchi |