Avishka and Tilan put Lanka 'A' in strong spot

Channaka de Silva reporting from Galle

Sri Lanka 'A' made full use of a bright and sunny day, playing themselves to a strong position by stumps on the second day of the second cricket Test against Zimbabwe 'A' here yesterday.

Having raced to an impressive 431 for 8 in 111 overs at a positive rate, after beginning the day on 164 for 1, Sri Lanka captured four Zimbabwe wickets for 62 by close. The visitors need another 170 runs to avoid a follow on.

After morning rains ruled out three hours of the first day's playing Avishka Gunawardena had already set the tone for a convincing total with a blistering century.

The dashing left hander who had scored a similar blockbluster century in the first Test at Kurunegala as well, began the day on 114 and continued in his usual fashion treating the bowlers with disdain and sending the ball to all parts of the picturesque Galle Stadium.

The attendance was disappointingly low but those who were present were treated to some breathtaking batting as Gunawardena and Indika de Saram extended their overnight second wicket alliance to 127 in 31 overs.

Gunawardena was the first to go for 140 having smashed 21 boundaries and a six in 163 balls.

De Saram who was 18 overnight, made 61 with six fours in 116 balls.

After his departure skipper Tilan Samaraweera batted brilliantly to register an unbeaten century to hold the middle order together.

The right handed all-rounder cracked 10 boundaries in 160 balls in a clinical chanceless innings of 106 not out and shared three half century stands of 54 with Chamara Silva for the sixth wicket and 58 with Dinusha Fernando for the eighth wicket.

The local team finally declared on 431 for 8, nine overs after tea, giving the visitors two hours to bat.

Zimbabwe wickets tumbled regularly to put them on 62 for 4 after 27 overs with schoolboy Kaushalya Weeraratne picking up two for 21 in eight overs.

Sri Lanka A first innings (164 for 1 overnight)

Avishka Gunawardena c Campbell b Mckay 140

Pradeep Hewage c Campbell b Mckay 27

Indika de Saram c Price b Peacock 61

Kumar Sangakkara c Rennie b Mckay 1

Chamara Silva c Campbell b Price 34

Tilan Samaraweera not out 106

Prasanna Jayawardena b Peacock 19

Kaushalya Weeraratne c Mavillier b Price 1

Dinusha Fernando c Mutendra b Peacock 25

Extras (b-6, 1b-5, nb-6) 17

Total (for 8 wkts, 111 overs, 456 mts) 431

Fall: 1-96 (Hewage), 2-223 (Gunawardena), 3-227 (Sangakkara), 4-246 (de Saram), 5-300 (Silva), 6-367 (Jayawardena), 7-374 (Weeraratne), 8-432 (Fernando).

Bowling: Andy Blignaut 12-1-54-1; David Mutebdera 25-3-120-0; Angus Mckay 26-1-100-3; Daniel Peacock 21-1-70-3; Ray Price 23-6-64-2; Gavin Rennie 4-0-13-0.

Zimbabwe A first innings

Gavin Rennie lbw b Weeraratne 3

Neil Ferreira lbw b Dinusha Fernando 0

Mark Vermeulen b Weeraratne 10

Craig Wishart not out 38

Daniel Peacock c Jayawardena b Dilhara 5

Andy Blignaut not out 4

Extras (lb-1. w-1) 2

Total (for 4 wkts, 27 overs, 120 minutes) 62

Fall: 1-1 (Ferreira), 2-4 (Rennie), 3-19 (Vermeulen, 4-44 (Peacock).

Bowling: Dinisha Fernando 6-3-12-1; Kaushalya Weeraratne 8-3-21-2, Randi Dilhara 8-2-22-1; Rangana Herath 6-3-6-0.

Thurstan smash Nalanda

By Ravi Nagahawatta

Thurstan scored a smashing 38-0 win over Nalanda in a lop-sided Inter-School rugby fixture at Thurstan grounds at Bullers Road yesterday.

The winners crossed the visitors goal line on six occasions and led 7-0 at the breather.

Lahiru Madusantha led the way for the winners with the first try which was converted by Saliya Silva.

Thurstan opened out in the second half,and scored tries through Saliya Silva (2),and Winger Kasun Mallawarachchi(2), before J. Athukorale crossed the last line to boost the score.

Royal down Peterites in close encounter

By Jatila Karawita

Royal College made it ten wins in a row over St. Peter's, when they withstood a tremendous onslaught by St.Peter's College, to record a close 6 points ( 2 penalties) to 3 (1 penalty) win, in an evenly matched Milo Trophy Inter-School rugby fixture, in front of a massive crowd at Havelock Park yesterday.

Thus Royal continued their domination over the Peterites during the past decade with the last reversal suffered by the Reid Avenue boys, being in 1990 when they went down to St.Peter's led by Harendra Wijesena.

The winners also accounted for their third successive win of the on-going season following victories over Dharmaraja and Zahira respectively during the past fortnight.

At half time Royal led by 6-3.

In a game where no quarter was asked nor given, Royal led from the front by line out specialist lanky Suranjan Perera, with a less experienced pack, took the game up to the Peterites who possessed heavier mobile forwards, right from the word go and rattled the Bambalapitiya boys through- out the game.

The tactical game-plan of the Royalists, in cleverly marking the playmaker of the Peterite side burly No. 8 Mario Oorloff, throughout the entire match, put paid to any chance of the latter making headway in this game.

Oorloff who made some daring breaks from the scrums, was not able to break free from the ferocious tackles, brought upon him by the Royal forwards and backs, and the big made No 8's inability to evade them, deprived the Peterites from making an impact in the game. During the first half, both sets of forwards fought a relentless battle for supremacy, with constant fumbling of the ball, by the respective back divisions being the feature of play.

Royal it was who drew first blood, in the opening half when in the 25th minute of play, their Fly Half and Place Kicker Dave Wijewardene correctly arrowed a 25 metre penalty.

It was followed within minutes by Peterite centre three Lakala Perera, who fired across a 30 metre penalty to draw level the scores.

Following a furious passage of play, the Royalists took the match winning lead, to which they held onto for the rest of the game,moments before lemons when Dave Wijewardene kicked a 30 metre penalty to open out the game in the final half. But it again turned out to be a penalty affair, for the entirety of this half, and two crucial penalties fluffed at the beginning of the second half, by St. Peter's place kicker Lakala Perera meant, that it certainly was going to be Royal's day at the Park last evening. Royal kicker Dave Wijewardene, also bungled with a sitter penalty kick in front of the post, during this period of the game, but it did not cause any alarms to them, as their forwards and backs combined well to keep the rampant Peterites at bay.

For the winners their forwards, such as Prop S Fernando,Locks D.Lewke, Suranjan Perera, flanker K. Athukorala, No. 8 V. Rathnayake along with fly half Dave Wijewardene and centre Harin Kaluarachchi all stood out, though their fast running 'threes' were some what off colour yesterday.

For the winners their rock solid defence, during the entire duration of the match was the key to the victory and the terrific tackling of some of the bigger made Peterite forwards was a sight to behold.

For the lads from Bambalapitiya, whose ten year jinx of not beating Royal continued for another year. Stand in captain, winger Dilan Abeygunawardene, flanker G. Berenger, and full back R.Cooke, were impressive in both attack and defence, but due to poor place kicking on the part of Lakala Perera, the Peterites were made to come second best to Royal.

Referee Dilroy Fernando.

Sri Lanka down Syria at Table Tennis

The Sri Lanka women's table tennis team for the first time in the ongoing 15th Asian Table Tennis Championships in Doha, Qatar when they beat Syria.

D. Rodrigo beat Samaan Rana 21-13, 21-8, Namal Gunasekera beat Beshlawi Man 21-18, 21-9; Dilini Madawela beat Najem Manot 21-13, 21-15.

Earlier the men's team demolished Syria. The results were: Indika Prasad beat Saad Baradi 21-6, 19-21, 21-18; Thilina Piyadasa beat Zahir Koshsosh 21-11, 21-16 and K.S. T. Chalitha beat Moawia Dehsawi 21-17, 21-10.

Sailors lose, but had CH on the hop

By Bernie Wijesekera

The CH&FC had to fire all cylinders against the gutty Navy to earn a hard fought 22 points (2 goal, 1 try, 1 penalty) to 5 (a try) win in their A Division league rugby match at Maitland Crescent last evening.

At the break CH led 12-0. In ideal wet conditions the respective forwards dominated play. The scoreline was no indication how the game progressed.

The CH with a superior back division and better rugby know-how had to sweat hard to earn this victory. During the start of the game the sailors ran into a storm, but with their never-say-die approach, cruised to balmy waters. Navy had a good measure of the good ball coming their way be it in the scrums or the line outs. New comer J. Jayasuriya playing as a lock even out- jumped the experienced Thushara Jayalath.

If Navy failed in their objective, it was due to their lack of finesse and lapses at crucial stages. Prop U.K. Ranjith and hard working skipper Panda Wijeratne, two seasoned players stood out. Of course the forwards with their ferocious tackling had the experienced CH back division backpedalling.

It really did happen in the second half when the sailors pressed the CH defence for nearly 10 minutes, but was unfortunate not to score.

But CH took control playing cohesive rugby. In the process CH under pressure lost their nerves and two players were sent to the sin-bin by referee Aruna Jayasekera.

Saranga Jayakody in the first half and Ravindu Athukorale in the second, for indulging in unwarranted play. In the end CH won the match thanks to their better rugby skills.

CH opened scoring in the fifth minute off a short tap five yards out when lock Duminda de Silva barged over for an unconverted try. Navy fly-half Pradeep made a great attempt to put over a penalty35 yards out but just failed to go over the cross-bar.

In the 25th minute CH scored a pushover try through No 8. Subaullah. Nalin Dissanayake added the extra points.

After the break Navy was on the offensive. But the CH defence stood firm.

In the 15th minute CH went ahead with a penalty by Nalin Dissanayake. 15-0.

It turned out to be a ding-dong battle in wet conditions. The CH earned their third try through prop Ranga Gunawardena off a ruck.

Dissanayake added the extra points.

During the dying stages of the game Navy scored through fly-half Sham Pradeep who crashed over the line off a short tap for an unconverted try.

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