By M. Shamil Amit

Moratu Vidayala Batsman Sanka Ramesh in action against St.Benedicts at Moratuwa.

Royal minus their two top players - skipper Bhanuka Rajapakse and Kithruwan Withanage - turned tables on St. Joseph’s to tame them in their own den with a six wicket victory in their Under 19 inter-school cricket encounter concluded at Darley Road.

It was sweet sixteen for Royal who are recording the outright victory against St Joseph’s after a lapse of 16 years. Interestingly the team that year (1993) was led by the present Royal coach Gamini Perera. The Royalist who came in as underdogs without their top players deserved this victory as they dominated from the time they got into the field.

Royal put themselves in a strong position at the end of the first day by posting a massive score of 306 for 6 before declaring. It was the two centuries that came off the bats of Charutha Rajaratne and Ramith Rambukwella that laid the foundation for this win.

The pair added a valuable 204 runs for the fifth wicket enabling Royal to make a massive 306 for 6 before declaring with Charutha slamming a 132 ball knock of 127 which had 14 boundaries and seven towering sixes. Ramitha, though a bit slow, made 110 in 201 balls and gave his partner ample support to accumulate the score.

Royal having made the challenging score had the home team in tatters and had them struggling on 79 for 6 on the opening day. Resuming on day two they finished off the Josephian tail with left arm leggie and acting skipper Maneesha Tantrigoda doing the damage taking four wickets and restrict them to 152.
Josephians made to follow on with a deficit of 154 runs were making steady progress before Maneesha struck again with a seven wicket haul to finish with a match bag of 11 for 143 which was his second ten wicket match bag.

Royal’s left arm spinner Maneesha Tantirigoda who finished with a bag of 11 for 143 Josephian wickets in action at Darley Road.	Wesley medium pacer Daniel Bartholomuesz in a fiery mood at Campbell Park yesterday. (Pic by Ranjith Perera)

With the home team mustering 204 the Royalists were set 51 runs for victory with plenty of time on their hands and they reached the target in 9.2 overs to secure their second outright win for the season.
Royal 306 for 6 declared (Charutha Rajaratne 127, Ramith Rambukwella 110, Shavinda Edirisuriya 22: Rosco Thatil 3 for 82, Supechala Jayatilleka 2 for 39) and 53 for 4 (Charutha Rajaratne 27 n.o., Tharindu Abeysekera 17 n.o.: Rosco Thatil 3 for 16)

St Joseph’s (79/6 o’night) 152 (Rosco Thatil 42, Jaan Jayasinghe 26, Enrico Silva 19, Chathuranga Kumara 19: Maneesha Tantrigoda 4 for 45, Charutha Rajaratne 2 for 9, Lakshan Landewela 2 for 32) and 204 (Sadeera Samarawickrama 68, Enrico Silva 25, Supechala Jayatileke 20: Maneesha Tantrigoda 7 for 98, Ramith Rambukwella 2 for 28)

Wesley home for tea crush Kingswood

Wesley were home for tea as they crushed Kingswood by an innings and 44 runs win in their Under 19 inter-school cricket encounter concluded at Campbell Park yesterday. This was Wesley’s second outright win for the season as they came back after undergoing two outright defeats.

Wesley’s win was initiated by skipper Dulanjana Wijesinghe who ended with impressive figures of 5 for 7 as Kingswood, batting the second time, faltered for the second time. After being bowled out for 93 in the first inning they failed to make any amends the second time. Needing 137 runs to avoid an innings defeat, the batsmen just threw away their wickets.

Supporting skipper Dulanjana was Daniel Bartholomuesz who bagged three wickets.

Earlier in the day Wesley having dominated the opening day’s play and ending day one on 142 for 6 went on to make a modest 206 with the late order batting chipped in with some useful knocks to give the Campbell Park boys the advantage.

Kingswood 93 (Lahiru Gannoruwa 20 n.o.: Raninda Sooriyakumara 3 for 15, Dulanjana Wijesinghe 3 for 23, Basith Muzammil 2 for 18) and 69 (L. Madushan 18: Dulanjana Wijesinghe 5 for 7, Daniel Bartholomuesz 3 for 44)

Wesley (142/6 o’night) 206 (Ashen Fonseka 37, Sachin Jayawardena 33, Basith Muzammil 29, Denuwan Dassanayake 27, Dulanjana Wijesinghe 25, Ashel Kariyawasam 23, S. Sivakrishnan 18: S. Premaratne 3 for 38, S. Sandaruwan 3 for 58, L. Madushan 2 for 30)

Udara shines in drawn game at Moratuwa

A knock of 116 by Udara Munasinghe was the highlight of the second days play in the drawn encounter between St. Sebastian’s and Thurstan concluded at Moratuwa yesterday. Udara’s knock comprised 17 boundaries and three sixes helping Thurstan resuming from their overnight score of 29 for 1 reach 258.
This was in reply to the home team’s score of 354 which came on the back of a fine 193 n.o. from Oshada Fernando. Oshada’s third ton for the season had 23 boundaries and three sixes and in the process put on a 163 runs stand for the sixth wicket with skipper Anuk de Alwis making 92.

St Sebastian’s 354 (Anuk de Alwis 92, Deshan Dias 29, Oshada Fernando 193 n.o.: Praboda Arthavidu 2 for 66, Sachith Dias 2 for 68, Shihan Kamileen 2 for 82) and 146 for 7 (Oshada Fernando 41, Ashan Fernando 18, Deshan Dias 17, Viroshana alwis 31 n.o.: Sachith Dias 3 for 24, Praboda Arthavidu 3 for 74)
Thurstan (29/1 o’night) 258 (Udara Munasinghe 119, Shihan Kamileen 46, Javed Siyambalapitiya 33: Anuk de Alwis 4 for 43, Oshada Fernando 2 for 43, Amila Aponso 2 for 46, Anoj Gayashan 2 for 49)

Pasindu and Sachin steer Ananda

Pasindu Madushan and Sachin Dewage cracked half tons to steer Ananda to safety and dominate their match against S. Thomas’ concluded at Mt Lavinia. The duo put on a stand of 103 runs for the fourth wicket helping the side to make a recovery after being 6 for 3 at one stage to end their innings making 238.

The opening day saw the home team batting first and making a modest 189.

S. Thomas’ 189 (Ashen Fernando 41, Nuwan Kavinda 36, Kavinda Perera 25, Brian Dharmasena 21: Sachitra Perera 3 for 51, Ruvinda Shamen 2 for 43) and 52 for 6 (Mateesha Perera 4 for 12)
Ananda (40/3 o’night) 238 (Pasindu Madushan 54, Sachin Dewage 51, Ruvinda Shamen 43, Madumal Jayaratne 42, Mateesha Perera 26: Chamod Pathirana 5 for 50, Dinesh Walpita 2 for 8)

Match drawn at Wijerama Mawatha

The Under 19 encounter between DSS and Nalanda at Wijerama Mawatha yesterday ended in a tame draw. A knock of 52 by Madumal Weerasinghe saw DSS make 225 in reply to Nalanda’s 222. Nalanda’s Nipun Karunanayake who made 98 in the first inning followed it with a ton before retiring.

Nalanda 222 (Nipun Karunanayake 98, Primesh Dasanayake 25, Dinuk Jayasinghe 22, Prashan Wickremasinghe 20: Akila Weerasinghe 3 for 37, Mohamed Ijaz 3 for 50, Malshan Gunasinghe 2 for 19) and 292 for 4 (Adeesha Nanayakkara 88, Gayan Medawatte 49, Chandimandu Rodrigo 33, Nipun Karunanayake 100rtd: Mohamed Ijaz 4 for 65)

DSS (99/4 o’night) 225 (Madumal Weerasinghe 52, Charith Satharasinghe 49, Akila Weerasinghe 40, Thusitha Silva 25: Dinuk Jayasinghe 3 for 26, Nipun Karunanayake 3 for 59, Suranga Tennekoon 2 for 19)

Another draw at Moratuwa

The inter-school match between Moratu MV and St. Benedict’s concluded at Moratuwa too ended in a tame draw.

St. Benedict’s (230/9 o’night) 239 (Rukshan Weerasinghe 60, Sandun Sampath 50, Imal Fernando 36: Sanka Ramesh 4 for 65, Kalhara Peiris 3 for 48, Chathura Vithana 2 for 23) and 2 for no loss
Moratu MV 215 (Kalhara Peiris 54, Sanka Ramesh 54, Janida Devinda 32, Avishka Peiris 28: Dinushan Wanigasuriya 5 for 22, Dilshan Perera 4 for 76)

Raddoluwa MV amass 426

Raddoluwa MV thanks to tons from Sohan Rangika and Lakshan Madusanka with support coming from Supun Jayakody amassed a massive 426 for 6 declared in their Under 19 inter-school match against St. Peter’s Negombo which began at Raddoluwa yesterday. St Peter’s in their turn ended the day on 167 for 4. The match will be continued at 10.00 a.m. today.

Raddoluwa MV 426 for 6 declared (Sohan Rangika 121, Lakshan Madusanka 105, Supun Jayakody 85, Samitha Eranda 26 n.o.: Nimantha Peiris 2 for 101)

St Peter’s Negombo 167 for 4 (Mahesh Kumarasinghe 40, Sukith Appuhamy 51 n.o., Nimantha Peiris 26 n.o.)