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by Chris Dhambarage

St. Benedict's College bounced back into recognition with a historic victory over their arch rivals St. Joseph's College in their Elephant Lemonade Cup inter school cricket tournament match at Darley Road last week.

The Benedictines triumphed by eight wickets after a lapse of 37 years and they did in a spectacular manner with just four balls to spare. This was also their fourth win in the series out of 82 encounters. Even then this performance was really encouraging for the Kotahena lads specially after two bad games against Royal and St. Peter's respectively.

They were humiliated by Royal a couple of weeks ago and were shot out for 93 runs in the match against St. Peter's last week. But this time they got their act together well with all their key players striking form. They had the satisfaction of restricting the strong Josephian batting line up for only 171 runs following some disciplined bowling and outstanding fielding.

Lasantha Perera and Lasantha Hettiarachchi then stroked half centuries to help the Bens consolidate their position on the second day. This was easily their best batting performance as they piled up 244 for 7 to add pressure on the home side in their second innings.

This is what exactly occurred as the Josephians succumbed under pressure during their second essay with skipper Jeromy Saverymuthapulle causing most of the damage. The experienced Saverymuthapulle had spearheaded their attack quite successfully throughout the season but this was a special occasion for him which earned his side a memorable victory at the end.

D. S. Senanayake College came out with a superlative performance as they thrashed Isipatana by an innings and six runs on their home grounds at Wijerama Mawatha. Their performance was something unique because they completed their task with almost a day to spare.

Even then the game was played on a wicket that did not help the batsmen at all with a total of 28 wickets tumbling on the opening day. The result was quite clear from the moment Isipatana collapsed to just 51 runs in their first innings. They did not perform better in their second attempt and were bundled out for 69 runs in one of the worst batting performances seen during the current season.

Udara Warna played havoc with the Isipatana batting claiming a five wicket haul and received good support from Sudeera Soysa. D. S. Senanayake too found run making difficult and were dismissed for 126 runs in their first innings. But this total was good enough to win the game as their bowlers produced a magnificent performance to seal the match in their favour.

Ananda College came closer of pulling off what would have been a fantastic victory as they took major honours in their annual fixture against S. Thomas' College at Mount Lavinia. The Anandians were just one wicket away when the game ended finally with the home side struggling at 84 for 9 still requiring a further 18 runs to avoid an innings defeat.

The Thomian last pair went through some real anxious moments and held on determinedly until the final over. Ananda clearly dominated this game with their bowlers and the batsmen putting up an equally good performance. They cleared their first hurdle by dismissing the powerful Thomian batting line up for a modest total of 149 runs.

The Ananda batting has always looked quite impressive and once again they did grab the opportunity to score over 250 runs in their only innings. This time it was newcomer J. Sriyapala who stole the limelight with a superb knock of 107. He played the anchor role and held the Ananda batting together with the back up support coming from D. Dassanayake.

The Anandians with a first innings lead of over one hundred runs really pressurised the Thomians during the final session in an attempt to force a victory. They would have certainly wrapped up the game if there were few more overs left before end of play.

Thurstan skipper Damith Indika struck a match saving unbeaten 150 to help his side to force a draw to their inter-school cricket match against Nalanda at Campbell Place. In reply to Nalanda's 222, Thurstan were dismissed for 119. Danushka Kuveju with 4 for 29 and Gihan Rupasinghe with 4 for 25 shared the wickets for the Nalandians.

Thurstan following-on with a deficit of 103, hit back strongly scoring 330 for 6 in their second innings. T. Masmulla struck 67 and Damith Indika whose superb knock contained 16 fours and two sixes frustrated the Nalandians during the final session.

St. Sebastian's College, Moratuwa edged out St. Peter's by 4 runs on the first innings in a low scoring inter-school fixture at Bambalapitiya. The Sebastianites managed to score 139 all out in reply to the Peterite total of 135. In the second innings the Peterites were bowled out for 184 leaving the Sebastianites a target of 181 to win in 23 overs.

Trinity College made a gallant fight back to force a no decision and retain the R. L. Kannangara Memorial Trophy for another year in their Elephant Lemonade Cup cricket tournament match against Wesley College at the Asgiriya Stadium.

The Trinitians who were struggling at 47 for 4 at one stage were to some extent helped by the bad weather as play commenced only during the afternoon session due to overnight rain. Despite a middle order batting slump Trinity's last pair of Chamira Punchihewa and Charith Dumbarage 15 not out put on 57 for the last wicket to force a draw.

Moratu Maha Vidyalaya beat St. John's Panadura by 16 runs on the first innings in their inter-school cricket match played for the Lemonade Trophy. Duminda Priyankara took 6 for 35 for Moratu Vidyalians while T. Ravin bagged 5 for 53 for Johnians.

Senarath Dushantha made a fine century with 10 fours and 2 sixes for Sri Sumangala which was the highlight in their drawn school match against Taxila MMV, Horana and played in Horana. The Sumangalians rattled up 257 for 8 in reply to their opponents first innings total of 157 all out.

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