School Cricket Review:

Ananda and Peterites steal the limelight

Chris Dhambarage

Ananda College and St. Peter’s College stole the limelight while recording contrasting victories during the concluded weekend of matches in the under 19 inter school cricket tournament.

While Ananda College were stretched to a great extent before overcoming Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda by seven wickets, the Peterites cruised to a rousing ten wicket victory against St. Benedict’s College in their annual encounter worked off on their home grounds at Bambalapitiya.

Even then Ananda’s success had a great amount of significance considering the manner in which they turned the game in their favour after having conceded a surprise first innings lead of 41 runs.

The strong Ananda batting line up folded up for a disappointing 127 runs and were under tremendous pressure with the Sokians dominating the proceedings on the opening day. However in a dramatic turn of events Ananda College came back into the game magnificently by dismissing the opposition for 126 runs in the second innings.

The Anandians still had some hard work to be done before completely sealing the game as they were left with a challenging target of 170 runs to be made during the last two sessions. Skipper Dinesh Chandimal rose to the occasion and made certain that they achieved their goal while compiling a solid half century.

The win also enabled Ananda College to clinch the Ajith de Silva Trophy which was on offer for the first time. Dharmasoka College showed early promise and looked capable of creating one of the biggest upsets in the current inter school season.

However the Anandians had the final laugh with Ruwinda Sharmain and Matheesha Perera causing most of the damage. In fact Matheesha Perera had a memorable game as he claimed a matchbag of ten wickets.

St. Peter’s v St. Benedict’s

St. Peter’s College powered their way to a convincing ten wicket victory over St. Benedict’s College in their under 19 inter school cricket tournament match worked off at Bambalapitiya last week.

This was also the fourth outright victory for the Peterites this season following their success against Kalutara Maha Vidyalaya, Joseph Vaz College, Wennappuwa and Trinity College, Kandy respectively.

St. Peter’s College really proved their supremacy on the field as they completely outclassed their opponents in all departments of the game. Their batting looked quite awesome with some big names in their ranks while the bowling was always penetrative and more consistent.

Skipper Angelo Perera led the way with a fine half century and his brother Denham was also among the runs that helped St. Peter’s College pile up a formidable 253 runs in almost even time. The Peterites did well to collect those runs in less number of overs and made certain that their bowlers had plenty of time to dismiss the opposition for a low score twice.

St. Peter’s College made their intentions quite clear as they managed to pick up seven wickets in the Benedictine first innings and then wrapped up things in the second innings with more then a session to spare.

This was a fantastic effort considering the fact that St. Benedict’s College had performed reasonably well and were fresh after an outright victory against Lumbini MV. But this time the Peterites carried too many big guns with them as Angelo Perera, Vinod Perera, Shiwanga Ranasuriya and Asiff Mackay all combined effectively to dismiss the Benedictines for 137 runs in the second innings.

St. Joseph’s v St. Sebastian’s

Two equally good teams St. Joseph’s College and St. Sebastian’s College figured in a high scoring draw in their inter school under 19 cricket tournament match worked off at Moratuwa during the weekend.

There were only batting points to take from this game with only two innings been completed as both teams scored over three hundred runs in their first innings. The Josephians set the pace with a tremendous batting performance where skipper Shameera Weerasinghe went on to complete an unbeaten century.

The stylish middle order batsman played the sheet anchor role and the rest of the batting rallied around him with Treshan Rajasuriya, Harin Silva and Chaturanga Kumara all making significant contributions.

However the Sebastianites were equal to the task as they too crossed the three hundred run mark in their first innings quite convincingly. The game in fact turned out to be a batting paradise with more than seven hundred runs been scored inside the two days.

S. Thomas’ v Nalanda

S. Thomas’ College had the better of the exchanges in their under 19 inter school cricket tournament match against Nalanda College which ended in a draw at Mount Lavinia during the weekend.

The Thomians took the initiative and showed signs of dominating the proceedings following a tremendous start to the game. They had the luxury of closing their first innings at an impressive 271 for 9 out of which Chamod Pathirana and Lalinda Perera completed superb half centuries.

Even then the disappointment for the Thomians was that both players threw their wickets away when they were well set to convert that fifty into a three figure mark.

Nevertheless S. Thomas› College completed a highly successful opening day as they reduced the Nalandians to 36 for 4 at stumps. But the Thomians just could not tighten the screws when it really mattered and simply allowed their opponents to recover and reach a healthy 209 in their first innings.

This was in fact a creditable performance from the Nalandians considering the fact that the cream of their batting were back in the dressing room quite early in the innings. But their middle order certainly showed a lot of determination and character with Karunanayake, Rodrigo and Jayasinghe providing useful contributions towards their total that helped them to get closer to the Thomian score.

Wesley v Trinity

Trinity College took major honours in their annual inter school encounter against Wesley College which ended in a draw at Campbell Park during the weekend. The Trinitians had the satisfaction of dismissing their opponents for a low score twice and then went on to pile up 256 runs in the first innings through a fine century from middle order batsman Dilan Gangoda.

Trinity College of course had a poor start to their run chase but they were rescued by the individual brilliance of Dilan Gangoda who helped them to snatch a vital first innings lead of 77 runs.

Wesley College batted more intelligently in their second innings and ensured that the game would end in a draw. Newcomer Jason Caderpanpulle held the batting together with a painstaking half century that really frustrated the fielding side.

Trinity College who took the field fresh after their outright win against St. Anne›s College Kurunegala in the previous outing failed to drive on their first innings advantage as the Wesleyites eventually went on to reach 211 runs in their second innings.

St. Anthonys v Royal

Royal College had a highly satisfying outing as they grabbed major honours in their inter school cricket encounter against St. Anthonys College worked off at Katugastota during the weekend.

Royal College really made their presence felt with both bat and ball and almost had the opportunity of enforcing the follow on. They piled up an impressive 301 for 8 in the first innings with the consistent Bhanuka Rajapaksa leading from the front.

In fact Rajapaksa had a memorable game where he went on to complete twin fifties while his teammate Kithruwan Vithanage also made an impact stroking a fluent half century.

The Antonians struggled for runs throughout their innings against some accurate bowling from Mawjood, Rajapaksa and Rajakaruna.

St. Anthony’s College eventually managed to put up a decent score on the board thanks to a fighting knock of 91 from Adel Riyal who played a responsible innings under tremendous pressure.