Depleted Royal face tough task against Joes

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Royal College will face a tough task when they take on the unbeaten St. Joseph’s College team in their 113th annual inter school under 19 cricket encounter which begins at Reid Avenue today.

The Josephians are fresh after their morale boosting win over Wesley College on their home grounds last week and will be determined to maintain their impressive record in the current season.

In contrast Royal College minus two of their key players Kithruwan Vithanage and Bhanuka Rajapaksa had a tough outing where they struggled to force a draw against Nalanda College at Campbell Park.

Last year too St. Joseph’s College came closer to pulling off the game when they reached 198 for 5 after they were set a victory target of 215 runs from 43 overs at Darley Road.

In fact St. Joseph’s College had the credit of recording back to back victories against Royal when they triumphed by an innings on both occasions in 2004 under Ranesh Perera at Reid Avenue and again in 2005 under Hashan Gunatilleke at Darley Road. Royal College have not tasted victory since 1993 where they recorded their previous win on their home grounds in Reid Avenue under the captaincy of Gamini Perera who is incidentally now their Head Coach.

St. Joseph’s College have also taken a huge lead in the series which began way back in 1898 having recorded a total of 28 victories against Royal’s tally of 20 wins.

Ananda has the edge over Thomians

Meanwhile S. Thomas’ College will be up against Ananda College in their annual inter school under 19 cricket encounter which begins at Mount Lavinia today.

The Anandians with a couple of outright victories under their belt this season will start as the favourites despite performing away from home. The Thomians will need to produce an improved performance after they were somewhat outplayed by a young Benedictine side at the same venue last week.

Acid test for Nalanda

Nalanda College will face an acid test when they confront D. S. Senanayake College in their annual inter school under 19 cricket tournament match which commences at Wijerama Mawatha today.

The Nalandians are of course fresh after they had defeated Lumbini MV outright by an innings last week and with a formidable line up they look set to maintain the same momentum.

Nalanda College will be banking heavily on their two star players all rounder Nipun Karunanayake and middle order batsman Adeesha Nanayakkara who was the match winner last week with a fighting century.

D. S. Senanayake College have experienced mixed fortunes in the current inter school cricket season but received a huge morale booster last week when they outplayed President’s College outright by an innings at this same venue.