St. Joseph’s College bounced back into recognition with a tremendous batting performance in their Inter-Schools Under-19 traditional cricket encounter against Wesley College worked off at Campbell Park during the weekend.
The Josephians produced their best batting display for the current season while piling up over 300 runs in their first innings before bowling out their opponents for a modest 156 runs.
The team from Darley Road will be quite pleased with this performance after having suffered back-to-back defeats at the hands of Isipathana College and Mahanama College in the Limited Overs Cricket Tournament.
But the Josephians showed that they are more familiar with the two-day traditional contest and went on a scoring spree while occupying the crease for a much longer period.
Their intentions were quite clear as they badly needed a big score under their belt to boost their confidence ahead of the more important traditional games as well as the Big Match.
Left-hander Shevon Daniel led from the front with a career best 164 - an innings which included all the ingredients of patience, temperament and fluency.
The significant fact about his batting was that he never threw his wicket away even after completing his hundred and provided a classic example of building an innings.
The other encouraging fact for St. Joseph’s was the outstanding batting of Sheran Fonseka and Yesith Rupasinghe who went on to complete half centuries.
Skipper Dunith Wellalage then piled up more misery on the home side as he mesmerised the Wesley batting line-up with a superb six-wicket haul.
Ananda vs S. Thomas’
S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia took first innings honours over Ananda College in their traditional cricket encounter which ended in a draw at Ananda Mawatha.
The Thomians showed a lot of commitment and played really hard to come on top against their more fancied opponents despite performing away from home.
They made their intentions clear from the start and were able to draw first blood after getting rid of the Ananda batting for a modest 217 runs in the first innings.
Left-arm seamer Yasiru Rodrigo was rewarded for his perseverance and consistency with a superb five-wicket haul, which completely derailed the Ananda batting after a promising start.
The key to S. Thomas’ success was that they never allowed the Ananda batsmen to settle down and to build up a substantial partnership as they picked up wickets at regular intervals.
After the bowlers had done all the hard work the Thomian batsmen then got into business with a solid performance which enabled them to snatch a close first innings lead.
Right-hand batsman Ryan Fernando was the key player for S. Thomas’ as he frustrated the opposition on the second day with a magnificent century.
In fact, his presence was so vital for the Thomians that his contribution with the bat was almost half of the team score with the next best contribution coming from Mahith Perera (33).
St. Peter’s vs Trinity
St. Peter’s College had another successful outing as they nearly pulled off an outright victory over Trinity College in their traditional encounter played at Bambalapitiya.
Almost everything went according to the Peterites plan as they pressurised the opposition after putting up a big score before the visitors held on determinedly with just two wickets in hand.
The Peterite batting was at its best once again as they amassed a formidable 277 for nine in their first innings having won the toss and elected to bat first. The secret for their success this season has been all about consistency and they really proved it with the entire top order providing some valuable runs.
The Peterite top order was very much in control of the situation with Skipper Nipunaka Fonseka showing the way followed by two good knocks from Shenal Boteju and Wanuja Kumara.
In response, Trinity were always under pressure and they collapsed against some accurate bowling from Danal Hemananda and Wanuja Kumara who shared eight wickets between them.
The Trinitians were asked to follow on and they managed to come out with a draw thanks to two fighting knocks from Skipper Abhishek Anandakumar and Umai Raizan.
St. Sebastian’s vs Richmond
St. Sebastian’s College put up a stunning performance to take major honours in their traditional cricket encounter against Richmond College which ended in a draw at Moratuwa.
The Sebastianites, despite the odds against them came out with a stupendous bowling performance to skittle out their opponents for a mere 97 runs in the first innings.
Earlier, the favourites Richmond looked like dominating the contest when they dismissed the home side for a modest 166 runs in the first innings.
But very soon they came in for a nasty shock as their usually reliable batting order was in tatters against the bowling of Krishan Fernando and Kalana Sandeepa.
The Sebastianites then batted themselves into a dominant position while declaring their second innings at 152 for five and leaving their opponents a victory target of over 200 runs.
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