The Under 19 inter-school cricket season which came to a halt due to school vacations and the GCE O’Level examination got into action again. From here on it will be in full swing for the next three months.
During Christmas some schools got into action and were engaged in some friendly and tournament games conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association.
The schedule was so tight that some schools were forced to play at least two to three matches during the week. Dharmasoka MV Ambalangoda is one such school. They played two matches within a space of five days.
 |
| Damith Priyadarshana theLumbini MV skipper who cracked 92 against Isipathana in action.– Picture by Ranjith Perera. |
But even then the Sokian players were not under pressure. They succeeded in recording back to back victories by winning both matches by innings.
First they crushed Zahira in their own den at Maradana by an innings and 23 runs and then went on to outclass Revatha MMV Balapitiya - also by an innings and 93 runs.
The architect of the first win was due to a fine all-round performance by Ramesh Mendis who cracked 59 and then bagged six wickets when Zahira was batting the second time. There was support from Yohan Rashmika, Adeesha Dilanjana and Udith Tharaka.
In the second win against Revatha MMV the Sokians had almost bagged the win when play ended on the first day. And it was just a matter of time on the second day to put the finishing touches in achieving this victory.
It was Duminda Kannangara who laid the foundation for their win with a five wicket haul to bundle Revatha MMV to a lowly 99. From there on Adeesha Dilanjana, Thanura Helambage and Yohan Rashmika took over. The trio cracked half tons to help the Sokians make 240.
Revatha MMV, with defeat staring in their face and left with the daunting task of erasing 141 runs to avoid an innings defeat, they were unable to make any headway as they lasted only 21 overs and succumbed to a score of 48.
In the other matches that were played during week DSS coasted to a nine wicket win over St. Aloysius Galle while Azhar College Akurana recorded an eight wickets win over Wayamba Royal Kurunegala. In other matches: Isipathana vs Lumbini MV, Isipathana vs President’s College Kotte ending in draws and St. Servatius Matara recording a first win over Zahira.
The match between St. Aloysius and DSS played at the Galle International Stadium was fought for the R.I.T. Alles Trophy organized by the OBA of the two schools.
DSS who came into the game as the hot favourites kept up to their reputation and put themselves in a strong position at the end of the first day’s play. DSS right arm spinner Supun Madusanka laid the foundation as he bagged six wickets to restrict the Aloysians to 143 with DSS ending the day on 132 for 4.
The second day’s play saw DSS adding a further 52 runs to end their innings with a score of 190 for 7 declared. But the Aloysians put in a pathetic batting display in the second innings and they had little to offer being bundled out for just 83. This left DSS a simple target of 40 runs for which they needed just nine overs.
For the record R.I.T. Alles was a distinguished old boy of St. Aloysius who was a student from 1930 and 1940 and later became the first principal of DSS and served the school for 25 years from 1967 to 1992.
Azhar College Akurana had little difficulty in brushing off the challenge of Wayamba Royal from Kurunegala. A match bag of 10 for 58 by M.Z.M. Anaq and half tons by N. Nuzlan and M. Hafeera were the highlights in their win.
Wayamba Royal after being bundled out cheaply in the first innings fought back and despite a knock of 103 from Asanka Lahiru, which incidentally was the only ton scored in the week, failed to prevent the boys from Akurana achieving an outright win.
Isipathana was unfortunate in not been able to record an outright win in both the matches they played against Lumbini MV and President’s Kotte. They dominated the two matches which was successful for Isipathana skipper Harith Wanigaarachchi who made back to back half tons.
Harith made 64 against Lumbini MV and followed it up with a knock of 92 against President’s Kotte. Lumbini MV skipper Damith Priyadarshana who made a fighting of 91 was the stumbling block in Isipathana gaining a win. In fact Damith too performed well having taken five wickets and scoring 47 in the first inning. Bad light prevented Isipathana from chalking up a win against President’s Kotte with the match being called off early.
Yohan Chanuka was the player who guided St. Servatius Matara to a first innings win over Zahira which was played at Matara. The high scoring game saw Yohan come to the rescue of the St. Servatius with a knock of 72.
The knock enabled St. Servatius surpass Zahira’s formidable score of 258 which came on the back of an unbeaten 57 from Mohamed Salman helping them declare their innings on 262 for 9.
Meanwhile according to the points table sent by the tournament secretary of the SLSCA from matches played up to December 20 (third term) Dharmaraja, St Peter’s Bambalapitiya, S. Thomas’ Mt Lavinia and St. Benedict’s Kotahena are on top in the four groups in the Division One category.
In the Division two category the leaders of the four groups are S. de S. Jayasinghe MMV Dehiwala, St Patrick’s Jaffna, Sri Devananda College Ambalangoda and St Sebastian’s Katuneriya. |
E-mail
