Peterite Santhush Gunathilake and Nalandian Lakshitha Rasanjana scored centuries to kick off their schools cricket season, while Moratu Maha Vidyala beat Lumbini comprehensively in the ‘Singer U19 Division I Cricket’ Tournament.
St Peters College v Maris Stella College
Former U19 national cap Santhush Gunathilaka started his final season with a bang, scoring a brilliant century to put St Peters College on top on Day 1 against Maris Stella College at Bambalapitiya. It was the first match of the season for the home side under the captaincy of Ranmith Jayasena. St. Peters won the toss and elected to bat first. Santhush dominated from the word go with his flamboyant batting style up the order. Skipper Ranmith Jayasena and Bhanuka De Silva chipped in with valuable contributions in the middle which took them to a formidable total of 304 for 6 in just 73 over’s.
In response, Maris Stella College was in a spot of bother after losing two quick wickets up front. But an unbeaten partnership for the 3rd wicket resurrected the innings which got them to 128 for 2 at close of play. Ashan Fernando was unbeaten on 60 for the visitors.
St. Peters College, Colombo 304/6d (73) Santhush Gunathilake 104, Ranmith Jayasena 56, Bhanuka de Silva 49, Rishika Santhush 21, Pasindu Ushetti 2/72
Maris Stella College, Negombo 128/2 (26) Ashan Fernando 60*, Amantha Perera 39*
Nalanda College v Wesley College
Lakshitha Rasanjana and the bowlers put Nalanda College in the driving seat at stumps on Day 1, in their traditional encounter against Wesley College at Wesley Grounds. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat first. The experienced Lakshitha Rasanjana was the star of the first innings with an unbeaten century batting down the order. Early on in the innings the foundation was laid by Chamindu Wijesinghe and Ravin De Silva, both scoring half centuries. But the game changing knock came from Lakshitha which propelled Nalanda College to 315 for 6 in their first innings.
Wesley College with their backs to the wall came out to bat in the last hour, and matters worsened for the hosts as they lost 4 wickets for just 10 runs before the end of play.
Nalanda College, Colombo 315/6d (79) Lakshitha Rasanjana 100*, Chamindu Wijesinghe 54, Ravin de Silva 50, Jayod Kaldera 35, Dilhara Polgampola 33, Shenal Dangalla 2/24, Thenuka Perera 2/76
Wesley College, Colombo 8/4 (10.4) Chamindu Wijesinghe 2/01
Moratu Maha Vidyala v Lumbini Vidyalaya
Moratu Maha Vidyalaya registered a comfortable 7 wicket victory over Lumbini in their traditional encounter at Moratuwa. It was Lumbini College who had the upper hand at the end of day one after bundling out the hosts for just 98 runs after they made 109 in the 1st innings. Lumbini managed to build a lead, but the regular fall of wickets restricted them to just 142 runs in their second innings. Ravishka Wijesiri top scored with 40, while Nadith Mishendra and Eran Hansamal picked up four wickets each.
With a target of 153 runs to get the hosts came out to bat in the second session, and batted sensibly this time around. Niarj Kavishka laid the foundation at the top with a brisk half century, and the finishing touches were done by Nadith and Eran to get them over the line with 7 wickets in hand.
Result: Moratu MV won by 7 wickets
Lumbini College, Colombo 109 (38.3) Shavinda Gamlath 31, Sadunil Sankalpa 30, Vinura Nipun 4/43, Rashan Kavishka 2/03, Nadith Mishendra 2/23 & 142 (45.5) Ravishka Wijesiri 40, Shavinda Gamlath 34, Nadith Mishendra 4/13, Eran Hansamal 4/42
Moratu Maha Vidyalaya, Moratuwa 98 (38.1) Madushan Dilakshana 63, Ravishka Wijesiri 3/36, Shavinga Gamlath 2/09, Prabath Madusanka 2/16 & 156/3 (42.3) Niarj Kavishka 51, Eran Hansamal 30*, Nadith Mishendra 24*, Rashan Kavishka 21
St Benedict’s College v St Anne’s College, Kurunegala
Another traditional encounter took place at Kotahena between hosts, St. Benedict’s College and St Anne’s College. After winning the toss the visitors decided to bat first. Their innings did not flourish as wickets fell in regular intervals. The only resistance came from Kavindu Ranasinghe who was stranded on 88 runs, after his team was bundled out for a solitary 191. Malinda Perera and Kaveesha Jayathilake bagged 3 wickets each for the home side.
In reply, St. Benedict’s had a tricky 10 over’s to see off before stumps. They did so without much damage, losing only 1 wicket for 49 runs.
St. Anne’s College, Kurunegala 191 (82.5) Kavindu Ranasinghe 88*, Kavindu Ekanayake 32, Malinda Perera 3/28, Kaveesha Jayathilake 3/57, Sanoj Perera 2/23
St. Benedict’s College, Colombo 49/1 (10) Pasan Suhas 20, Hasindu Kaviarathne 1/12
Read: Sandaru Dias and Ayesh Harshana spin Thurstan to victory
