U-19 Cricket: S. Thomas' win Festival of Cricket of the Prince Alfred College in Adelaide

S. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia crowned the Best Schools Cricket Team at the Sunday Times-Dialog 4G cricket contest lived up to their reputation on their tour to Australia as they emerged champions in the 1st XI Tournament Festival of Cricket of the Prince Alfred College in Adelaide, Australia. 

They won the 'Chappell Brothers Challenge Trophy', competing against five leading cricket playing schools in Australia including Prince Alfred College and St. Peter's College, Adelaide that have played the longest uninterrupted cricket fixture in the world spanning 143 years. 

In the finals against St. Peter's College which was scheduled to be played in the T20 format was shortened to 10 Overs due to inclement weather. 

The Thomians got off to a flying start with Dulith Gunaratne scoring 31 and Shalin De Mel scoring a lusty 51 to help the Lankan school to reach 131 in 10 overs. 

In reply the Aussie school started on the wrong foot by losing their first wicket off the second delivery of the inning bowled by fast bowler Tehan Schaffter who ended with 2 for 9. 

Dulith Gunaratne bowled a brilliant spell to capture 3 for 12 to restrict St. Peter's to only 21 for 5 wickets in the first five overs. 

As wickets started to fall in regular intervals, S. Thomas' College cruised to victory by restricting the Peterites to 75 for 7 in their allotted 10 overs to secure the 'Chappell Brothers Challenge Trophy' with a 56 runs win. 

On their way to the finals Thomians defeated Prince Alfred College by three wickets with 10.5 overs to spare 

Prince Alfred College 179 all out (49.1) (S. Bennett 81, M, Thile 52, Shannon Fernando 4/23, Tehan Shaffter 2/27) 
S. Thomas College 184 for 7 wickets (39.1) (Kalana Perera 43, Dulith Gunarathne 25, Dellon Peiris 24n.o., Shalin de Mel 23, Dilmin Rathnayake 20, K Barnett 3/36, W Wilson 2/26) 

S. Thomas College vs Anglican Church Grammar School, Brisbane by 238 runs 
S. Thomas College 362 for 5 wickets (50) (Sithara Hapuhinna 110 (56 balls ten fours and nine sixes) Kalana Perera 69n.o, Mohomed Ishaq 47, Dulith Gunarathne 45, Gavin Botheju 38n.o.) 
ACGS 124 all out (47.3) Kalana Perera 5/8 Shannon Fernando 3/13) 

S. Thomas College beat Scotch College Melbourne (20 overs match) by 6 wickets    
Scotch College 176 for 7 wickets (20) (Dulith Gunarathne 3/13, Kalana Perera 2/19)    
S. Thomas College 177 for 4 wickets (15.2) (Sithara Hapuhinna 55, Shalin de Mel 50) 

Finals: S. Thomas' beat St. Peter's College by 56 runs (10 over match) 
S. Thomas' 131 for 5 wickets (10) (Shalin De Mel 51, Dulith Gunaratne 31) 
St. Peter's College 75 for 7 wickets (10) (Dulith Gunaratne 3/12, Tehan Schafftert 2/9) 

Kalana Perera of S. Thomas' was awarded with the Best Bowlers of the Tournament. 

The team led by Dellon Pieris, included Dulith Gunaratne (Vice Captain), Sithara Hapuhinna, Kalana Perera, Thevin Eriyagama, Shalin De Mel, Manisha Rupasinghe, Manthila Wijeratne, Shannon Fernando, Kishan Munasinghe, Gavin Botheju, Semal Samarawickrama, Tehan Schaffter, Vinuja Ratnayake, Mohomad Ishak and Dilmin Ratnayake. 
 
Dinesh Kumarasinghe (Director of Cricket STC), Revd. Marc Billimoria (Warden) and Dilshan Mendis (Asst. Coach) accompanied the team to Australia.