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by Chris Dhambarage

Dharmaraja College Kandy spearheaded by the individual brilliance of Sri Lanka youth cap Amal Ekanayake pulled off a morale boosting seven wicket win over Maliyadeva College Kurunegala in their Elephant Lemonade Cup inter school fixture at Police grounds in Kandy.

The Rajans rallied around through the efforts of left arm spinner Ekanayake who came out with a tremendous performance capturing a matchbag of ten wickets. His six wicket haul in the first innings virtually sealed the game in their favour as Maliyadeva were bundled out for just 123 runs. He produced a repeat performance when the visitors batted the second time returning excellent figures of 4 for 41.

The only resistance came from the bat of S. Karunanayake who came closer to completing twin fifties for Maliyadeva. In fact his fighting half century in the second innings delayed the Rajans victory to a certain extent and also avoid the humiliation of an innings defeat. Karunanayake batted well in the first innings too hitting a top sore of 43 in their modest total of 123.

In contrast the Rajans put up an impressive total of 229 for 9 in their first innings largely due to two good knocks from Upesh Wijesiri and Kelum Ariyadasa. They were eventually left with a victory target of 31 runs which they achieved in just three overs losing three wickets in the process.

St. Joseph's v S. Thomas'

Meanwhile St. Joseph's and St. Peter's made their final preparations ahead of next weeks Battle of the Saints encounter with pleasing performances in their final outings.

The Josephians in fact took all the honours in their drawn fixture against S. Thomas' College at Darley Road and also retained the Gilmour Jayasuriya memorial trophy for another year. The best effort certainly came from their captain Deshan Bastianpillai who went on to compile his third century in the current inter school cricket season. He rose to the occasion after a middle order collapse and scored 102 not out in their impressive first innings total of 317 for 7 declared. Not only that the manner in which he went about his task was quite outstanding with the Joes collecting nearly two hunderd runs in one session of play.

The main contribution of course came from the bat of Bastianpillai who launched a terrific attack on the Thomian bowlers while stroking boundaries quite regularly.

Altogether this was a superb warm up game for the Josephians who also made a clean sweep in the special awards presented after the match. Bastianpillai undoubtedly was named best batsman and promising Rajiv Weerasinghe won the best bowlers award.In addition Sandun Dias was selected as the man of the match for a another superb all round performance.

St.Peter's v St. Anthony's

St. Peter's College too had a satisfying outing as they enjoyed the better of the exchanges in the match against St. Anthony's College Kandy. The Peterites in fact came closer to pulling off another win after bundling out the Antonians for a mere 96 runs. This was mainly die to some sensational bowling from Sheehan Wijethunga who captured six wickets for 49 and supported well by skipper Nadula Wijeratne.

The Peterite batting too clicked well with the entire top order striking form before declaring with a first innings lead of over one hundred runs. However the Antonians hit back in their second innings and occupied the crease during the entire second day to force a draw at the end. P. Vithanage, Tyronne de Silva and M. Rizlan made solid contributions and frustrated the home side until the 14th mandatory over.

Isipatana v Maliyadeva

Thurstan and Isipatana also made their final preparations ahead of the Big Match with two good performances against Maliyadeva College Kurunegala and D. S. Senanayake respectively. Isipatana in particular will be pleased with their batting performance where they crossed the three hundred run mark in the first innings at the BRC grounds, Havelock Park.

Isipatana may have lost the game on the first innings but their effort was really a good one because the entire top order stuck to their task while making runs quite freely. Sanjaya Dilruksha anchored the innings with a top score of 78 and received excellent support from Chaminda Prasad and Saman Nishantha.

Maliyadeva of course took the game away from Isipatana on the opening day itself by piling up a formidable first innings total of 324 for 6 easily their best batting performance in the current inter school season. Sameera Soysa played a marathon knock of 181 while displaying superb concentration and determination throughout the innings.

Thurstan v D. S. Senanayake

Thurstan also came out with a satisfying performance in the game against D. S. Senanayake College at Wijerama Mawatha during the weekend. There were only batting points to take in this match after several hours of play was lost due to bad weather on both days. Nevertheless Thurstan rallied around through their limited resources and held on determinedly to force a no decision at the end.

Thurstan in fact made a great attempt to overtake the D. S. Senanayake first innings total of 269 with Damith Indika and Osuka Maharachchi leading their run chase. Both were prepared to occupy the crease and concentrated on building the innings which they succeeded to a certain extent. Even then D. S. Senanayake will be somewhat disappointed that they could not bowl out the opposition after scoring an impressive 269 for 6.

This was in fact one of the better batting performances from the D. S. Senanayake outfit where Pubudu Perera played a significant role with an unbeaten knock of 76. Skipper Kanchana Gunawardena too took the opportunity to make his presence felt and with Yasith Mihiranga stroking an elegant half century D. S. Senanayake were always on course to run up an impressive first innings total.

Wesley v Sri Jayawardenapura MV

Meanwhile Wesley College experienced mixed fortunes as they scored a first innings win over Sri Jayawardenapura MV in a low scoring affair and later suffered a first innings defeat at the hands of Royal College. The Wesleyites were dismissed for a mere 123 runs in their first innings in the game against Sri

Jayawardennapura MV at Campbell Park. However they hit back strongly and bundled out the opposition for a paltry 72 runs with S. Kolombage returning outstanding figures of four wickets for nine runs.

Royal v Wesley

The Wesleyites were in a tough position in their next game against Royal with the Reid Avenue school taking major honours in a drawn fixture played for the Sir Frank Gunasekera trophy. The match turned out to be a memorable one for paceman Tharaka Kottahewa who returned career best figures of 7 for 38 in the second innings. This was after he had captured a five wicket haul in the first innings to dismiss the visitors for 123 runs.

In the past Royal's main wicket taker has been their all rounder and star player Ganganath Ratnayake. But this time Kottahewa proved it wrong by taking the centre stage during both days of the match. The twelve wicket haul was a personal milestone for Kottahewa who could now go in as a genuine matchwinner when they take on the traditional rivals S. Thomas' in their annual Big Match next month.

Ananda v St. Benedict's

St. Benedict's College almost pulled off a first innings win over Ananda who ended up at 135 for 7 chasing a modest first innings total of 192 runs. The Benedictines were again helped by the all round capabilities of Jeromy Saverimuthapulle who nearly turned the game in their favour single handedly. He made a top score of 72 under difficult batting conditions and later send down an accurate spell of bowling to push the Anandians on the defensive.

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