Devapathiraja Rathgama defend title
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- Devapathiraja College defended their title for the fourth year in style – Pix by Ranjith Perera
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- Best bowler Kaveesha Dilhari
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- Player of the Series was Janadi Anali of Anula Vidyalaya
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- Best batter and player of the match was Nilakshana Sandamini
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- Rathnavali Balika Vidyalaya emerged runners-up
Devapathiraja College, Rathgama lasses defended the Singer Sri Lanka Schools Under-19 Girls Cricket Championship title for the fourth year in succession with a resounding victory over Rathnavali Balika Vidyalaya, Gampaha at the Thurstan College Grounds last Tuesday.
Giant Killers Rathnavali BV who booked their berth for the finals defeating three years runners-up and two time champions Anula Vidyalaya in the semi finals never lived to maintain the reputation as they faced a humiliating defeat at the hands of a fine allround outfit.
Winning the toss and electing to bat Rathnavali BV were going well with 31 for 2 wickets at one stage. But with the introduction of Kaveesha Dilhari and Sulesha Sathsarani the Rathgama lasses found difficulty in handling the duo. Maintaining a good line and length both spinners brought the downfall of the middle order to claim the last seven wickets cheaply and held Rathnavali BV for 96 for nine wickets at the end of 25 overs.
Amamdi Gunaratne staged a lonely battle to be the top scorer with a gutty 25 runs. Nethmi Gunaratne and Rashmi Silva were the other two main contributors to score 16 and 18 respectively while Dilhari and Sathsarani shared five wickets between them.
Devapathiraja openers started the proceedings in a quite note and once settled played some delightful strokes placing the ball through the gaps to reach the boundary. The openers picked up the runs with ease against a hapless Gampaha attack and reach the victory target with 7.5 overs to spare.
Nilakshana Sandamini stroked a fine half century which included six hits to the ropes while her partner Nuwantha De Silva was unbeaten with 31 runs with two hits to the ropes. – Lakshman Ranasinghe
Individual Awards and Result
Best batter: Nilakshana Sandamini (Devapathiraja College)
Best Bowler: Kaveesha Dilhari (Devapathiraja College)
Player-of-the-Match: Nilakshana Sandamini (Devapathiraja College)
Player of the series: Janadi Anali (Anula Vidyalaya)
Chief Scores:
Rathnavali Balika 96 for 9 wickets in 25 overs (Amandi Gunaratne 25, Nethmi Gunaratne 16, Rashmi Silva 18, Kaveesha Dilhari 3 for 11, Sulesha Sathsarani 2 for 14) Devapathiraja 97 for no loss in 17.3 (Nuwantha De Silva 31*, Nilakshana Sandamini 53*)