Yeshith, Nathan shine as Lyceum Panadura regain title
Champions
Yeshith Kalupahana’s match winning century paved the way for Lyceum International School, Panadura as they clinched the fifth annual Nikitha Grero Challenge Trophy contest by 164 runs at the De Soysa Stadium on February 24.
Danal Seneviratne of Lyceum International School, Nugegoda won the toss and elected to field on a sunny Monday morning.
Lyceum Panadura (LP) got off to a horrible start as they lost Rusiru Fernando in the first over itself, but Lyceum Nugegoda (LN) could not capitalise on the early advantage that they had.
On the other hand Dineth Amarasekara and Yeshith Kalupahana capitalised as they were able to build a partnership of 182 runs from 189 balls. LN missed four chances during the partnership. Both the batsmen took the maximum advantage and eventually they were able to score according to their instincts.
Meanwhile Yeshith Kalupahana continued to dominate the opposition bowlers and he got his century that laid the foundation for a formidable score.
At one stage LP was 200 for the loss of two wickets but the LN bowlers were able to provide a fightback as they managed to restrict LP to a chasuble score of 287 for the loss of nine wickets.
Duvindu Silva was the standout performer for LN as he took two wickets for 34 runs.
It was a batting paradise so it was always going to be a challenge for Isuru Perera and his boys to defend the target of 287.
Yeshith Kalupahana ( Man of the Match - Lyceum Panadura)
It was a carnival atmosphere at the stadium where the Papare bands were entertaining the crowd.
Chasing a challenging score of 287 LN got off to a cracking start as they scored in a rapid rate.
At one stage, they were 52 for no loss, but the pendulum swung when the skipper Isuru Perera handed the ball over to Nathan Liyanage. He claimed two quick wickets and that eventually affected the run rate.
It is fair to say that both the teams were sloppy on the field and fortunately it did not haunt LP as the opposition kept on losing wickets regularly. Eventually LN was bundled out for a modest total of 123.
This was the second time that LP had won the Big Match and NL has won it three times.
Yeshith Kalupahana was the player of the match for his heroics with the bat in the first innings.
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