After St. Peter’s College posted 265 for their first innings, they had St. Aloysius’ College, Galle 24 for 1 at stumps in their season opener of the Singer Division I cricket tournament at St. Peter’s College grounds.
The Peterites had their tails up in the last session of play as their seamers had the ball talking in the dying moments of the game. St. Aloysius had about an hour and a half to bat out in the last session. Manelkar De Silva and Santhush Gunthilake put up a brilliant show of seam bowling but they were unfortunately not rewarded for their consistent bowling. Manelkar De Silva got the first breakthrough for the home team as he found the outside edge of Gimhan Ashirwada for just 7 runs.
Both seamers troubled the batsmen right throughout and there were countless times where the ball just missed the outside edge of the bat by a whisker. Luckily for the visitors, they managed to keep the bat away and survive the two spells by the seamers. Before bad light stopped play, the Peterites managed to bowl 14 overs but they only conceded 24 runs. Out of those overs, 7 were maidens which goes to show how disciplined the Peterite bowlers were.
Photo Album: St.Peter’s College v St.Aloysius’ College U19 Schools Cricket – Day 1
Early on, Peterite skipper Lakshina Rodrigo won the toss and elected to bat first. The pitch had a lush green covering on top but if the batters manage to survive the first hour there were runs on offer given the fast outfield. The two openers for St. Peter’s were Anishka Perera and Santhush Gunathilaka.
The pair looked good up front but both of them gifted their wickets cheaply. Peter’s were in a spot of bother when skipper Lakshina and Salitha Fernando got together and put up an 80 run partnership for the third wicket. After losing his partner, Lakshina got together with Manelkar to put up another big partnership of 77 runs before getting dismissed for a well-made 75.
Manelker De Silva scored a quick fire 49, while Ranmith Jayasena scored a vital 51 runs in the middle order. Ranmith held the innings together after they lost both Manelker and Lakshina in quick succession.
The Peterites declared their innings for 265 for 9 in 87 overs. Sri Lanka U19 cap Ashen Bandara got the vital breakthroughs and he ended with figures of 3 for 31. Hareen Biddula and Niluksha Dulmina bagged two wickets each for the visitors.
St Peter’s College (1st innings 265 for 9d in 87 overs) – Lakshina Rodrigo 75, Ranmith Jayasena 51, Manelkar De Silva 49, Ashen Bandara 3/31, Hareen Biddula 2/93, Niluksha Dulmina 2/16
St. Aloysius College (1st innings 24 for 1 in 14 overs )
