Maneesha takes four wickets in four balls in drawn game

Chris Dhambarage

Left arm spinner Maneesha Thanthirigoda completed a rare hat-trick and captured four wickets in four successive deliveries as Royal College forced a draw to their inter school under 19 cricket tournament match against St. Anthony’s College which concluded at Reid Avenue yesterday.

Thanthirigoda came into bowl at a crucial stage when the Antonians were cruising along towards their target after Royal had declared their second innings at 114 for 9. The visitors were well on course to pull off the match with Wickremasekera, Premaratne, Riyal and Sarathchandra making useful contributions.

However Thanthirigoda changed the situation of the game in just one over with a sensational piece of bowling that saw the Antonians slump to 129 for 6 at the end. Earlier Royal went on to build up a first innings lead of 88 runs as the Antonians were dismissed for 206 runs.

Thanthirigoda was the chief destroyer once again as he picked up six wickets for 69 to complete a match bag of 12 wickets.

Royal: 294 for 9 decl and 114 for 9 decl (R. Rambukwella 68, E. Seneviratne 5 for 41, A. Riyal 3 for 46).

St. Anthony’s: 206 (H. Wickremasuriya 70, A. Riyal 33, K. Rajakaruna 28, M. Thanthirigoda 6 for 69) and 129 for 6 (H. Wickremasekera 37, A. Premaratne 25, A. Riyal 43, M. Sarathchandra 21, M. Thanthirigoda 6 for 55).

Fine century by Shehan

All rounder Shehan Kamaleen hammered a magnificent 120 as Thurstan College forced a draw to their inter school under 19 cricket tournament match against D. S. Senanayake College which concluded at Wijerama Mawatha yesterday.

Kamaleen contributed more than half of the team’s second innings total as they reached 198 for 7 with Mohamed Ijaz claiming a four wicket haul to finish with a match bag of ten wickets. D. S. Senanayake went on to snatch a first innings lead of 36 runs following some good contributions from Satharasinghe, Gunasinghe and Abeyratne. Thurstan: 178 and 198 for 7 (S. Kamaleen 120, I. Madurapperuma 25, M. Ijaz 4 for 61, M. Gunasinghe 2 for 58).

D. S. Senanayake: 214 (A. Weerasinghe 38, C. Satharasinghe 50, M. Gunasinghe 36, N. Abeyratne 32, N. Jaleel 6 for 64, S. Wijeratne 2 for 54).

Isipatana hit back

Left arm spinner Anushka Samaratunga captured another four wicket haul as Isipatana College after been dismissed for 153 runs hit back strongly to reduce their opponents Nalanda College to 152 for 6 in their first innings on the opening day of their inter school under 19 cricket tournament match which commenced at Campbell Place yesterday.

However Nipun Karunanayake hit an unbeaten 80 to keep Nalanda’s hopes alive after having earlier claimed three wickets for 38 runs.

Isipatana: 153 (D. Perera 47, R. Cooray 4 for 26, N. Karunanayake 3 for 38).

Nalanda: 152 for 6 (N. Karunanayake 80 n.o., S. Gunawardena 23, A. Samaratunga 4 for 52).