The annual limited overs encounter between Maliyadewa College and St Anne’s College ended with Maliyadewa resgistering a thumping victory by 7 wickets at Welgedara Grounds.
St. Anne’s won the toss and elected to bat first hoping that they could put up a similar performance with the bat which they did in the big match previously. It wasn’t the case this time. They weren’t allowed to build up their innings as wickets tumbled from either end. The only resistance came from their hero from the big match Randeera Ranasinghe. Randeera top scored with 34 runs, continuing his good form from the previous day.
He found some sort of a support from Vimukthi Bandara who opened the batting for St Anne’s and scored 30 runs. St Anne’s was expected to do well in the limited overs encounter after their performance in the big match but it was the Maliyadewa bowlers who flipped the game on its head with some brilliant bowling. Kaveen Bandara, Manelka Dharmadasa, Dinanjaya Premarathne and Sanjeewa Priyadharshana shared 2 wickets each for Maliyadewa as they bundled out their rivals for just 140 runs.
In reply, Maliyadewa started off well with Dhinajaya Premarathne playing a patient knock at the top. He held on to one end and played the sheet anchor role in the run chase. While he stuck to one end, Dulaj Ranatunge did the bulk of the scoring after some early wickets. Dulaj ended up being the top scorer with 53 runs. Maliyadewa College composed their run chase into perfection as they reached the target of 141 in just 33.1 overs and 7 wickets in hand.
St.Annes College, Kurunegala – 140 (48.1) Randeera Ranasinghe 34, Vimukthi Bandara 30, Kaveen Bandara 2/12, Manelka Dharmadasa 2/30, Dinanjaya Premarathna 2/22, Sanjewa Priyadharshana 2/16
Maliyadewa College, Kurunegala – 141/3 (33.1) Dulaj Ranatunga 53, Dinanjaya Premarathna 35*, Lakshitha de Silva 2/18
