School Cricket Review:

Joes - Thomian match a high scoring draw

Chris Dhambarage

The current inter school cricket season seem to have reached its climax with most of the teams making their final preparations ahead of the traditional Big Matches scheduled for next month.

Despite the absence of some of the better players who are on national duty for the Youth World Cup in Malaysia most of the teams have rallied around through their less experienced players to form a winning combination.

Even then the high profile confrontation between two of the heavyweights in the current inter school scene St. Joseph's College and S. Thomas' College at Mount Lavinia took the centre stage simply because of the talent and potential associated with the players.

The Josephians coming out after a record breaking batting display against Trinity College in the previous week produced almost a repeat performance to grab the initiative in this annual encounter played for the Gilmore Jayasuriya Trophy.

The lads from Darley Road made certain that they could dominate the proceedings from the start by piling up a massive 343 for 7 in their first innings. No doubt the batting has been the forte of St. Joseph's and this time it was Anton de Livera who took the opportunity to stroke a magnificent 162.

Livera of course has been a consistent run getter during the last couple of years and this was probably the first time that he decided to play a long innings for his team. And it came at the correct time as he plundered the Thomian attack to all parts of the ground that helped him to win the man of the match award at the end.

In addition Dimuth Karunaratne also had an outstanding game where he completed twin fifties following his batting heroics against the Trinitians in the previous weekend in Kandy. The bowling honours were shared by Chaturanga Kumara and G. Winston who impressed a lot while making his first appearance for the season.

The Thomians of course survived few anxious moments as they struggled to avert the follow on mark despite some solid batting from the top order where Saleem and Nilushan excelled with half centuries.

St. Peter's v Royal

St. Peter's College who are also suffering without two of their top players who are on national duty figured in a tame draw in their annual fixture against Royal College on their home grounds at Bambalapitiya.

The Peterites of course took the initiative following some good batting from their top order where they produced three half centurians in the form of Srimantha Wijeratne, Akshu Fernando and Shivanga Ranasuriya. The trio got their act together well succeeded in giving their team a close first innings lead.

However it was quite clear that the Peterites were struggling to dismiss the opposition twice without their main strike bowler Chatura Peiris. As a result the rest of the bowlers failed to provide any kind of threat to the Royal batting in the two innings.

Vinod Perera and Shanaka Fernando may be two of their better bowlers but they just did not have the fire power to run through an innings in a short period of time. Royal will be delighted with the final outcome because they went into this game at the backdrop of some uncertainty having just managed to force a draw against Ananda College during the previous week.

They posted a decent first innings total thanks to a fighting half century from Withanage. Royal were severely tested in their second innings when the team was under pressure but came out with a solid performance to share the honours with the openers Hettiarachchi and Balage putting on a century partnership.

Wesley v Prince of Wales

Wesley College came out with an improved performance to force a creditable draw in their annual encounter against Prince of Wales College Moratuwa and worked off at Campbell Park during the weekend.

The Wesleyites are certainly depending heavily on their youngsters to perform well following the removal of some of their more senior players due to disciplinary reasons.

They did discover a promising player at last when fifteen year old Ranidu Suriyakumar hammered an unbeaten century in the second innings.

Wesley College have always collapsed and succumbed in their second innings which has cost them more than a couple of matches this season. But this time young Suriyakumar came into their rescue with a determined innings that had a lot character and discipline while setting a good example for the rest of the teammates.

In fact this game was one of the better outings for the Wesleyites because they managed to take a close first innings lead as well after bundling out the opposition for a modest 166 runs. This was no doubt a major setback for the Cambrians who went into this game with their heads high having defeated Richmond College Galle outright in their previous outing.

This time they were up against a more determined side and their strong batting line up completely failed against some penetrative bowling from Bartholumesz and Vandersay who shared nine wickets between them. The Cambrians were in for some more surprises in the second innings as the Wesleyites rattled up an impressive 205 for 4 largely due to that unbeaten century from Suriyakumar.

St. Benedict's v St. Sebastian's

St. Benedict's College came out with a pleasing performance to take major honours in their inter school encounter against St. Sebastian's College at Moratuwa last week.

The Bens of course made an awful start to their innings but soon recovered to post a healthy first innings total thanks to useful contributions from Dilanka Anuwardhi, Ashan Sirimanna and Abilash Fernando.

The Benedictines then converted this modest total into a formidable one following some excellent bowling where they forced the opposition to make a declaration at 168 for 9.

Suren Silva was responsible for most of the damage as he ended up with a six wicket haul. As a result St. Benedict's gained a first innings lead of 64 runs which was a real morale booster for them.