Royal College continued their outstanding form in the current Inter-Schools Under-19 cricket season with another tremendous performance in their two-day traditional fixture against Ananda College, which ended in an exciting draw at Ananda Mawatha.
This annual encounter played for the L. D. H. Peiris Memorial Trophy was completely dominated by Royal who were just one wicket away from pulling off a historic outright victory.
Royal, who have already qualified for the quarter-finals of the limited over tournament, extended their dominance in to the longer version of the game while dominating their opponents in both batting and bowling departments.
Despite performing away from home, Royal batted just as if they were playing in their backyard to amass a massive 386 for six declared in their first innings.
Even then, Royal’s decision to delay their declaration and to extend their batting right into the second day of the match may have spoiled their chances of recording an outright victory.
Their motive was very clear because they were keen to see their overnight batsman Kavindu Pathiratne complete a well deserved maiden century for the current season.
The left-hand middle order batsman scored exactly 100 not out and together with wicket-keeper batsman Nethin Panapitiya they sent the Ananda bowlers on a leather hunt with an unfinished seventh wicket partnership of 106 runs.
But eventually, Royal were made to regret for batting much longer as they missed out a great chance of recording an outright victory against their rivals.
Had Royal closed their first innings much earlier, the final outcome would have been completely different as the Ananda number eleven Isuru Ayesh held on for 30 minutes, facing 17 deliveries without opening his account.
He was accompanied by the Ananda Skipper Saviru Bandara who played a heroic innings of 66 not out as the pair successfully negotiated the rampaging Royal bowlers during the final seven overs of the game.
Nevertheless, this was a clinical performance from Royal who made a mockery of Ananda’s batting by dismissing the home side for a paltry 88 runs in the first innings.
Thurstan vs St. Peter’s
St. Peter’s College had the better of the exchanges in their traditional two-day fixture against Thurstan College, which ended in a draw at Thurstan Grounds.
The Peterites despite having rested a couple of key players for this game performed really well to pile up a formidable 277 for five declared in their first innings.
The match also turned out to be a memorable outing for Nimathu Gunawardena who had the satisfaction of completing twin fifties to further underline his reputation as a promising batsman.
The other significant fact was that he remained unbeaten in both innings as he showed a great deal of temperament and concentration to build up the innings.
Even then, his first innings performance was more important for the Peterites as he played the sheet anchor role along with Shanaka Galagoda who went on to hit a top score of 63.
The Peterite first innings score of 277 for five was made to look like a huge total following a tremendous spell of bowling from Danal Hemananda who returned excellent figures of five for 58.
As a result, Thurstan collapsed to 189 runs in their first innings with the major contributions coming from the bat of Ramesh Silva and Vihanga Jayanama.
St. Benedict’s vs Zahira
Zahira College produced a fine all-round performance to claim major honours in their two-day traditional fixture against St. Benedict’s College, which ended in a draw at Kotahena.
The Zahirians came out with their best batting effort for the current season as they rattled up a formidable 300 for nine declared with their entire top order striking form.
The highlight of Zahira’s batting was that they paced their innings beautifully and went after the bowling in a calculated manner without taking any undue risk.
In addition, they frustrated the St. Benedict’s bowlers with some solid batting and went on to build their innings session by session with valuable contributions coming even from their number eight.
Mohamad Ruhaim showed that he could bat like a top order batsman with a near half-century after Sameer Majeed, Venket and Zaidh Naleem had provided an excellent start to the innings.
St. Benedict’s in reply lost half of their side for 138 runs and eventually they struggled to reach 185, thanks to a herculean batting effort from Skipper Pasan Suwahas.
The elegant right-hander also joined an exclusive select band of players as he had the rare honour of carrying his bat throughout the innings with an unbeaten 102.
His performance was even more remarkable considering the fact that the rest of the St. Benedict’s batting had contributed only 83 runs towards their final tally.
Trinity vs Wesley
Bowlers dominated the traditional encounter between Trinity College and Wesley College which ended in a draw at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy.
The match of course, ended rather disappointedly for both teams as the entire final session on the second day was washed out due to bad weather.
The Trinitians could not get past the 220-run mark with left-arm spinner Thenuka Perera capturing five wickets during a controlled spell of bowling.
Thereafter, it was the turn for the Trinity bowlers to impress as Abhishek Anandakumar, Dinuka Thennakoon and Pasan Kularatne mesmerised the Wesley batsmen through some accurate bowling.
Royal wicket-keeper Nethin Panapitiya appeals unsuccessfully for a caught behind. Pix by Hirantha Gunathilaka
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