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Schools Cricket Review
Isipathana in historic win over S.Thomas'
By M. Shamil Amit
Isipathana pulled off one of the biggest shocks in the ongoing Elephant Lemonade Cup inter-school cricket tournament when they out-classed S. Thomas' Mt. Lavinia by an innings and 23 runs in the match played at Mt. Lavinia. This was one of the four outright wins to be recorded in the inter-school matches played last week.

The other outright wins were in the lower division where St. Mary's Kegalle who are the leaders in the Group 'B' registered a five wicket win over St. John's Panadura, Gurukula MV Kelaniya coasted to a 38 run win over Asoka MV and Zahira College Maradana getting the better of Carey College by five wickets.

The other matches ended in first innings wins for Group 'A' leaders Ananda over Wesley, Joseph Vaz Wennappuwa over Revatha MMV Balapitiya, Sri Rahula Katugastota over Siri Piyaratne MMV Padukka, and President's Rajagiriya over Raddoluwa MMV.

With the tournament in full swing the standings of the two groups have been released by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association. In Group 'A' the leaders are Ananda with St Joseph's in second and they are followed by Prince of Wales, Lumbini, St. Sebastian's and the defending champs Royal in sixth. St Mary's Kegalle are leaders of Group 'B' followed by Mahinda Galle , St. John's Panadura, St. Anne's Kurunegala and Sri Jayawardenapura MMV Kotte.

Isipathana vs S. Thomas’ at Mt Lavinia Isipathana who have been faring well this season created one of the most sensational win. When they outclassed the Thomians in their own territory and this was their first win over their opponents since they began playing with them. The team led by all-rounder Saman Nishantha possess a well balanced side who also missed an opportunity of recording an outright win in their game against DSS College the previous week.

The Isipathanians laid the foundation on day one of the match when they hit a formidable 278 which was helped by three solid knocks from Tharaka Waduge (67), Gihan Dilruk (54) and Isuru Vindana (50). Then they had the Thomians on the mat at the end of the day on 53 for 4. On day two though the Thomians put in all their effort in being sent to bat again they failed.

St. Mary's Kegalle vs St John's Panadura at Panadura
The high riding St Mary's Kegalle team who have so far had a successful season recorded their second outright win having earlier defeated Taxila Horana when they beat St John's Panadura by five wickets. The highlight of their win was the two bowling performances one by H.N.S. Hettiarachchi and the other by A. Ranasinghe, both had five scalps each. The Marians chasing a target of 125 for a win had no difficulty in achieving it, with L. Wijeratne spearheading with fine knock of 54.

Gurukula MV vs Asoka MV at Kelaniya Gurukula MV registered their first outright win of the season when they beat Asoka MV by 38 runs. In a low scoring game, apart from one good performance from Buddhi Prasanna of Gurukula who made an unbeaten 77 the game turned out to be a good one for the Kelaniya side as they achieved their aim. Gurukula MV having set a target of 187 runs to their opponents succeeded in bowling them out for 148.

Zahira vs Carey at Railway groundsThe Zahirians helped by two solid performances from T. Imran (73) and M.N.M. Mickram (5 for 79) outclassed Carey by five wickets. Set a target of 109 runs the Zahirians reached it with five wickets to spare. The Careyites batting first scored 164 with the Zahirians making 193. The Careyites in their second essay were bowled out for 137.

Ananda vs Wesley at Campbell ParkTable leaders Ananda confronting Wesley had no problem in registering a first innings win. On day one having bowled out the Wesleyites for 162 and finishing on 50 for no loss. They went on to make an imposing 259 for 6 declared on day two with half centuries from Thilina Kumarasinghe and Mahela Udawatte. The Wesleyites batting the second time were 99 for 7.

Joseph Vaz vs Revatha MMV at Wennappuwa
An unbeaten 132 by Saliya Saman for Revatha MMV Balapitiya was too late as their opponents Joseph Vaz Wennappuwa had already secured a first innings win. It was poor showing by Revatha in the first innings being bundled out for just 104 and Joseph Vaz in their turn making 193. Revatha in their second innings made an imposing 251 for 6 declared and then had Joseph Vaz reeling on 47 for 5.

President' Rajagiriya vs Raddoluwa MMV at Katunayake
A fine knock of 91 by skipper Sachitra Kumarapperuma helped President's Rajagiriya make a score of 239 for 9 declared in reply to Raddoluwa MMV's score of 186 and give them a first innings win. Raddoluwa MMV batting the second time were 110 for 3.

Sri Rahula K'tota vs Siri Piyaratne at Peradeniya
The encounter between Sri Rahula College Katugastota and Siri Piyaratne MMV Padukka ended in a first innings win for the former. This was a low scoring game with Sri Rahula batting first making 157 and Siri Piyaratne reply with 129 with A. Gunaratne doing the damage taking 5 for 18.

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