Schools Cricket Review

Peterites make it three in a row

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: The Peterites have done it again. They have recorded their third successive outright victory in the current inter school cricket season. Last week they put up another splendid performance to beat Maris Stella College Negombo by nine wickets at the Kadirana grounds, Negombo.

The reigning 'A' division league champions had their own way from the beginning and completed their task quite convincingly. The only major concern for them was the bad weather which at one stage had threatened to spoil their chances.

But the Peterites were well aware of the unpredictable weather and quickly wrapped up the game by dismissing their opponents for the second time in the match. The chief architect behind their success was leg spinner Lakshan Rodrigo who mesmerised the opposition in both innings.

His four wicket haul in the second innings completely nailed Maris Stella College who collapsed to just 133 runs after having struggled for runs in the first innings too. In addition Sri Lanka under 19 poolist Shiwanga Ranasuriya made a stunning impact returning amazing figures of four wickets for two runs.

D. S. Senanayake v Mahanama

Meanwhile D. S. Senanayake College experienced mixed fortunes where they defeated St. Benedict's College but were held to a draw by Mahanama College during their inaugural Big Match at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

Mahanama College of course had nothing to lose and they really came into the game after being bundled out for a modest 157 runs. They fought back magnificently through their bowlers and succeeded in earning a close first innings lead of six runs.

This was a real morale booster for Mahanama College who had figured in very few matches this season in contrast to their more experienced opponents. Despite the heavy odds against them they proved their talent and potential to a great extent with their opening bowler Hasitha de Silva capturing four important wickets. In fact D. S. Senanayake College would have been in deep trouble if not for a fighting half century from their opening batsman Lahiru Weragala who hit a top score of 65 under tremendous pressure. They were of course well placed at the end of the first days play and were set to take a big lead after having dismissed Mahanama College for 157 runs.

The best effort for Mahanama College in the batting department came from their captain Milinda Perera who stroked a fluent half century to give their total some kind of respectability. Perera carried his bat almost throughout the innings despite the fall of wickets at regular intervals at the other end.

St. Benedict's v D. S. Senanayake

Earlier D. S. Senanayake College had the satisfaction of defeating their former traditional rivals St. Benedict's College by nine wickets in their annual inter school cricket encounter played at Wijerema Mawatha.

The Benedictines of course are going through a very bad season and this time too they put up a miserable performance to lose well inside the two days. Even then the victory would have given D. S. Senanayake College a great amount of satisfaction and also a good morale booster ahead of the remaining fixtures.

D. S. Senanayake's victory was achieved mainly due to the individual brilliance of Roshane Laksiri who captured a matchbag of twelve wickets. The left arm spinner who was left out from the Sri Lanka under 19 pool struck back with a vengeance that even surprised his teammates.

Laksiri made his intentions clear from the start and ran through the Benedictine batting line up with a seven wicket haul in the first innings. He was even more destructive in the second innings claiming his second five wicket haul in the match that saw the visitors slump to a disappointing 91 runs.

The D. S. Senanayake College batsmen too were very positive in their approach towards the game and overtook their opponents total quite easily. The entire top order scored runs and more importantly they collected those runs in double quick time which was the main reason behind their success.

Dharmapala v S. Thomas'

Dharmapala MV put up a stunning performance to take major honours in their inter school cricket encounter against S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia and worked off at Pannipitiya last week.

The Dharmapalians not only built up a good first innings lead over their opponents but they even had an outside chance of forcing a victory at the end. But the game was disrupted due to bad weather on both days and the Thomians survived the latter stages after they had collapsed to 71 for 4 in the second innings.

This was no doubt a creditable performance by the Dharmapalians who went into this game as complete underdogs. But they rose to the occasion and proved what they are capable of performing by scoring a healthy 227 after having bundled out the opposition for a modest 158 runs in the first innings.

This was another ordinary performance from the Thomians who have been struggling to find their rhythm in both batting and bowling throughout this season. Their hopes of making a comeback later in the week was also shattered when their next fixture against St. Benedict's College was postponed owing to bad weather.

Thurstan v St. Sylvester's

Thurstan College put up a tremendous performance to take major honours in a high scoring inter school cricket match against St. Sylvester's College Kandy and worked off at the Thurstan College grounds last week.

The match of course was severely disrupted due to bad weather on both days and as a result only the first two innings were completed in this uncompleted encounter. There were only batting points to take in this outing and the Thurstanites grabbed most of them by piling up a huge 315 for 9 in their first innings.

The Thurstanites certainly took this opportunity for some good batting practices and produced as many as four half centurions which was an encouraging sign. They realised that there is hardly any time to force a result and kept batting during the entire second day to score over three hundred runs which was easily their best effort in the current inter school season.

The Sylvestrians of course had earlier batted themselves into an unbeatable position by compiling a formidable 245 runs in the first innings. The lads from Kandy rallied around through the individual brilliance of Mohamed Faizal who carried his bat scoring an unbeaten 102.

Zahira v Carey

Zahira College came out with a pleasing performance as they trounced Carey College outright by nine wickets in their inter school cricket tournament match worked off at Maradana last week.

This match turned out to be a memorable one for the Zahira College openers Isham Ghouse and Farhan Dawood who figured in a magnificent opening stand of 204 runs. The former went on to hit a sparkling 115 and the latter fell short of his century by just ten runs.

Ghouse also displayed his prowess with the ball returning figures of four wickets for 27 and three wickets for seven runs in the two innings respectively. His superb performances on the field helped the Zahiarians to dismiss their opponents for 173 in the first innings and again for a mere 122 runs in the second innings.