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by Pelham Juriansz

The old boys of S. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia clinched victory and levelled the series by defeating their counterparts at St. Peter's Bambalapitiya, when they revisited the cricket field on December 8 for the second time. The stars of yore met for the Michael Chanmugam trophy at the Thomian grounds in Mount Lavinia.

The Old Thomians won the match by five wickets.

The holders of the trophy St. Peter's College, fielding a strong team and led by their 1975 skipper Bernard Wijetunge, batted first and totalled 174 for 6 in their allotted 30 overs, thanks to a concerted effort by opener Niranjan Rodrigo, who almost carried his bat through the innings for a well compiled 84. The rest of the batting revolved around him and there were contributions from former Sri Lanka schools wicket-keeper batsman Reynold Anandappa, who scored 12, Angelo Wickramaratne(12) and Srinath Wijeyeratne(17 n.o).

The rest of the batting left much to be desired as Chairman of selectors, Guy de Alwis, surprisingly turned his arm over and captured two vital Peterite wickets to put them in trouble. Trevor Rajaratnam too chipped in with two wickets for 23.

The Peterites however, missed the services of one of their finest batsmen in Roy Dias, who is coaching in Nepal.

The Thomians not to be outdone got off to a good start with Dayal de Silva(13) and Ruwan Sirisena(24), making useful contributions. Sri Bawan(16) and Ishak Sahabdeen (18) further added muscle to the score but it was the efforts of Warden David Ponniah(skipper), emulating his opening effort at the 1967 Royal-Thomian with an elegant undefeated 38 and G.D.V.(Donga) Perera's usually belligerent knock of 33 that saw the homesters to a victory. The Thomians playing without prolific scorer wicket keeper Ken de Alwis were much relieved to square the series.The best bowler's award ironically went to a former Sri Lankan wicket keeper Guy De Alwis and the best batsman's award to David Ponniah while Dayal de Silva showed that he had not lost his touch in fielding to bag the best Fielder's award.

Man of the Match went to Niranjan Rodrigo for his gallant 84 and 2 for 17. Keerthi Gunaratne captured 2 for 29.

Scores:

SPC old boys: 174/6 in 30 overs: Niranjan Rodrigo 84, Reynold Anandappa 12, Angelo Wickramaratne 12, Srinath Wijeyeratne 17 n.o, G. de Alwis 2/28, Trevor Rajaratnam 2/23).

STC Old Boys: 177/5 in 27 overs( Dayal De Silva 13, Sri Bawan 16, I.Sahabdeen 18, G.D.V.Perera 33, D. Ponniah 38 n.o, N.Rodrigo 2/17, Keerthi Gunaratne 2/29).

The tournament was sponsored by Mano Chanmugam and hosted by the Old Thomians, the chief organiser being Ken de Alwis.

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