Sylvestrians beat Vidyarthians

S M Jiffrey Abdeen, Kandy Sports Correspondent

St Sylvester's College retained the MBW Mediwaka Memorial Trophy for yet another year when they beat their traditional rivals Vidyartha College by 22 runs in their 'Battle of the Babes' limited over clash played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.

St Sylvester's College skipper Ruwantha Ekanayake won the toss and elected to bat first and ran into problems early with their front line batsmen failing to come up with big scores and the scoreboard read 115 for 6 at one stage.

It was left to skipper Ruwantha Ekanayake 66 not out (9 fours, 81 balls) and Dhanuge Hettiarachchi (26) to rescue the side with a seventh wicket stand of 49. They were 197 for 9 when they finished their quote of overs.

Like the Sylvestrians, Vidyarthians too received an early set back when they were 75 for 4. They made a partial recovery through a fifth wicket stand of 40 between Kasun Navaratne 55 (4 fours, 117 balls), Niluksha Galapitage (23).

Thereafter they made a little progress and the total moved up to 167 for 6 and looked like that they would canter home winners. But a rot set in and lost their next four wickets for the addition of 8 runs to be all out for 175.

Left arm spinner Sumedha Dissanayake bowled well to capture 3 for 16.

Ruwantha Ekanayake was adjudged man-of-the-match.

St Sylvester's College: 197 for 9 (Waruna Wijesinghe 35, Indunil Jamarananda 14, Hansamal Perera 18, Harsha Madushan 10, Ruwantha Ekanayake 66 n.o, Dhanuja Hettiarachchi 26, Tharindu Ranaweera 2 for 21, Keshan Gamage 3 for 31).

Vidyartha College: 175 all out (Ruwantha Bandara 10, Kasun Navaratne 55, Tilina Rupasena 16, Niluksha Galapitage 23, Sherad Buddhika 17, Dhanuja Hettiarachchi 2 for 35, Sumedha Dissanayake 3 for 16).