Thurstan thrash Rajans
Thurstan College thrashed Dharmaraja College by an innings and 58 runs in their traditional two-day first XI cricket encounter played at Lake View, Kandy yesterday. In a game where the batsmen failed to impress much and bowlers stood out, Dharmaraja were totally outplayed by the visitors, who bowled them out twice under 86.
Opting to bat first, the hosts were skittled out for 85 and then again for 62 as Nipun Kanchana and Vihas Thewmika claimed six wickets apiece on separate innings. In reply to Dharmaraja’s first innings total, Thurstan responded with 205 with Bawantha Jayasinghe and Pasindu Rashmitha stroking identical knocks of 41, eventually the highest individual scores of the game. Yet the total proved to be sufficient enough to pull off an unexpected victory by innings, within the first session of the second day.
Dharmaraja 85 all out (28.4) (Thisaru Wannianayake 25, Maleesha Rajakaruna 20, Nipun Kanchana 6/40) and 62 all out (28.2) (Pulindu Perera 30, Vihas Thewmika 6/20, Bawantha Jayasinghe 2/9)
Thurstan 205 all out (51) (Bawantha Jayasinghe 41, Pasindu Rashmitha 41, Thenuka Devapriya 36, Mohamed Azeem 24n.o., Vihas Thewmika 23, Dulara Bandulasena 6/59, Thisaru Wanninayake 3/64)
A tame draw at Bambalapitiya
The two-day traditional match between St. Peter’s College and Mahanama College ended in a tame draw at Bambalapitya yesterday with Danal Hemananda steeling the limelight. Hemananda cranked up earlier on the first day to claim six wickets with his left-arm medium pace to spearhead in restricting Mahanama to 128 in the first innings, and returned to top score for St. Peter’s with an elegant knock of 72 and help his side total 248. Vishen Halambage hit 71.
Electing to bat first may have been a bad call by Mahanama, but surviving through the side’s innings was Inuka Karannagoda, who remained unbeaten on 43 in the first innings, and returned to anchor the second innings with yet another unbeaten knock of 51 when Mahanama ended second day’s play at 168 for the loss of 5 wickets. Sachira Weliwatte top scored for Mahanama with 54.
Mahanama 128 all out (33.1) (Inuka Karannagoda 43n.o., Danal Hemananda 6/46, Abhilash Perera 3/23) and 168 for 5 (65) at close (Sachira Weliwatte 54, Inuka Karannagoda 51n.o., Niman Umesh 2/45)
St. Peter’s 248 all out (86.5) (Danal Hemananda 72, Vishen Halambage 71, Lahiru Dewatage 28, Nimuth Gunawardana 25, Devindu Kekirideniya 4/78, Omesh Udara 3/50)