Sports

Sports

Ananda fails to break hoodoo
By Bernie Wijesekera
Though Ananda won on the first innings over Royal, they failed to break the 44-year-old hoodoo in their schools cricket match concluded at Ananda Mawatha yesterday. Ananda last beat Royal outright way back in 1960 under late Yatagama Ameradasa.

Royal sent in to bat on Friday, were struggling at 40 for six. The top half of the Royal batting was all at sea against the hostile and accurate bowling coming from the Ananda pace duo Charith Jayaweera and Anjana Ranawaka. Royal batting proved to be brittle in the second innings too. Dhanushka Eddusuriya returning to the side (after injury ) along with Nadun Punchihewa repaired the innings with a stubborn 90-run stand for the 7th wicket. Eddusuriya made 50 runs with six fours.

Ananda in reply received a solid start from openers Pradeep Boteju and Amal Athulathmudali putting on 69 runs for the first wicket. Boteju was the mainstay of the Ananda batting,and he stroked the ball with confidence. Slowly but surely Ananda were heading for a big total at 218 for 3, but two wickets fell for no score and Ananda declared their first innings at 265 for 8, with a lead of 73 runs.

Royal at one stage 76 for one, with Dimitri Siriwardena 41 (with 8 fours in 70 balls) and Janith Jayawardena 34 (with 6 fours in 60 balls ) putting on 74 runs for the second wicket. Then they slumped to 83 for 3, but Naveen Dias timing the ball with precision and Eddusuriya batting aggressively and attractively sewed up the batting with a 49-run stand for the fourth wicket to stall Ananda breaking the 44-year old hoodoo.

Royal 193 and 174 for 4 in 57 overs ( Dimitri Siriwardena 41, Janith Jayawardena 34, Naveen Dias 34, D. Eddusuriya 38 n.o., Taraka kottehewa 14 n.o., Anjana Ranawaka 3 for 39) Ananda (overnight 104 for 1) cont. 265 for 8 dec, (Pradeep Boteju 86, Amal Athulathmudali 37, Tilina Kumarasinghe 31, J. Sriyapala 33, Nadun Punchihewa 3 for 55, D. Wijeratne 2 for 40, Heshan Morawake 2 for 54)

Top