School Cricket Review

Peterites begin season on a high note

Chris Dhambarage

St. Peter’s College have commenced their new inter school cricket season on a high note. Last week they came out with a fantastic performance to beat Trinity College outright by eight wickets at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy.

The manner in which the Peterites completed their task was quite outstanding because they were home for tea after having completely outplayed their opponents. Even then the fighting century scored by Vinod Perera certainly made a huge impact that helped the visitors to build up a good first innings lead.

Until then the exchanges were almost even as St. Peter’s College struggled to overtake their opponents modest first innings total of 128 runs at one stage. It was at this point that Vinod Perera walked into bat at number nine when his team was in real danger of conceding a first innings lead.

He took complete control of the situation from there onwards with a splendid batting performance that entirely changed the complexion of the game. Perera tore the Trinity bowling attack with some big hitting and managed to reach the magical three figure mark from just 57 deliveries.

This was a real testing period for Vinod Perera although he had earlier produced a similar effort while scoring a sparkling 71 runs from only 35 deliveries against Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa. Once again he came into their rescue and took his team towards a commanding position almost single handedly.

Vinod Perera also brought some embarrassment into the Peterite top order as he hammered the Trinity College bowlers to all parts of the ground while collecting his runs from 65 deliveries inclusive of seven sixes and four boundaries.

Trinity College never looked like saving the match from there onwards and they were dismissed for 178 runs in their second innings. Shameera Wijesuriya and Mohamed Sajid of course did well to delay the inevitable while producing two fighting knocks under tremendous pressure.

The Peterites then added the finishing touches through the efforts of Angelo Perera who somewhat made amends for his batting failure with a four wicket haul in the second innings. Dashing opener Andre Berenger however grabbed the opportunity to make an impact with a blistering unbeaten half century in the second innings.

Thurstan v Royal

A fine all round performance from Shehan Kamaleen highlighted the inter school cricket encounter between Thurstan College and Royal College which ended in a draw at Stanley Wijesundera Mawatha last week.

Kamaleen’s superb contributions with both bat and ball certainly helped Thurstan College to share the honours with their opponents after Royal College had grabbed the initiative through a sparkling century from Bhanuka Rajapaksa.

Royal piled up a formidable 275 in their first innings but not before Kamaleen had made his presence felt with a six wicket haul. Even then Thurstan College were still under pressure after having conceded a first innings lead of 96 runs.

Royal were looking to consolidate their position with the hope of making a quick declaration while giving their bowlers plenty of time to dismiss the opposition for the second time in the match.

However their hopes were somewhat shattered following another accurate spell of bowling from Shehan Kamaleen.

This time he produced even a better display claiming six wickets for 54 that forced Royal to declare their second innings at 145 for 8. Kamaleen then gave Royal a major scare with the bat after they were set a victory target of 241 runs from 41 overs.

Thurstan College were able to reach an impressive 185 for 3 in their second innings largely due to a sparkling half century from Shehan Kamaleen who went on to complete a memorable outing. With N. Dharshana and U. Munasinghe also making good contributions Thurstan College were in with an outside chance at one stage.

However Royal despite failing to pick up wickets were able to keep the runs down and contain the batsmen that helped them to force a draw at the end.

St. Benedict’s v Isipatana

St. Benedict’s College and Isipatana College figured in a low scoring draw in their inter school cricket tournament match concluded at Kotahena during the weekend.

The bowlers dominated the proceedings on both days and no team was able to score more than 180 runs which was rather disappointing from the batting point of view. The Benedictines of course showed early promise and they were able to dismiss the opposition for just 139 runs in the first innings.

But they simply threw away a great chance of taking a good first innings lead with an awful batting display that saw them collapse to a dismal 119 for 9 at one stage. They managed to snatch a close first innings lead thanks to a fighting unbeaten knock of 35 from Dilanka Auwardt.

In fact Auwardt had a successful outing where he also excelled with the ball while claiming a match bag of nine wickets for 102 runs. The left arm spinner bagged six wickets in the first innings and added three more wickets to reduce Isipatana College to 180 for 8 in their second innings.

St. Anthony’s v ST. Thomas’

St. Anthony’s College came out with a pleasing performance to take major honours in their inter school cricket encounter against S. Thomas’ which ended in a draw at Katugastota last week.

The Antonians had the satisfaction of taking a good first innings lead as they pile up 259 and then dismissed the Thomians for 193 runs. This was made possible through some penetrative bowling from Adil Reyal and Kasun Ekanayake who captured four wickets each.

Even then the Thomians were well on course towards a good first innings total after the openers Fahim Saleem and T. Fernando had put on 83 runs. But their middle order failed to consolidate their position and lost wickets at regular intervals before folding up at 193.

Earlier the Antonians dominated the opening days play through a splendid batting performance with Hiran Wickremasekera and Adil Reyal both completing half centuries. In the second innings Dulash Kumarasinghe produced a similar effort that helped the home side reach 116 for 7.

St. Sebastian’s v Nalanda

Nalanda College staged a superb fight back to force a draw to their inter school cricket encounter against St. Sebastian’s College concluded at Moratuwa during the weekend.

The Nalandians were really up against it after they were asked to follow on in reply to the Sebastianites formidable first innings total of 256 for 7. But they stuck to their task and produced an improved batting display to pile up over three hundred runs in their second innings and force a creditable draw.

This was after St. Sebastian’s College had taken the honours on the opening day by compiling a strong 256 for 7 following two fine contributions from S. Dias (92) and C. Fernando (68 n.o).

Prince of Wales v Dharmasoka

Prince of Wales College and Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda figured in a high scoring draw in their inter school cricket encounter concluded at Moratuwa last week.

The Sokians were able to dictate terms on the opening day as they rattled up a formidable 263 thanks to a superb century from skipper Imesh Udayanga. The Cambrians made certain that they got off to a good start and then piled on the runs with Dilan Chandima leading the way.

The opening batsman hammered a magnificent 141 and figured in a century partnership with Buddhika de Alwis (92) as the home side went on to amass over 350 runs in their first innings.