Arch rivals St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s College qualified for the semi-finals stage of the Under 19 Schools T20 tournament with Josephians beating St.Sebastian College by 6 wickets and the Peterites getting a walk-over win from Thurstan College.
St. Joseph’s College vs St. Sebastian College
Josephians handed defeat to the Moratuwa lads in a limited overs encounter for the 3rd time in 3 weeks when the Darley road cricketers beat St. Sebastian College by 6 wickets in their ‘Singer’ under 19 all island T20 tournament quarter final played at bloomfield grounds on Saturday morning.
St. Sebastian skipper Anuk Fernando won the toss and elected to bat first. Sebastians were cruising with their opening batsman Sangeeth Cooray scoring 48 runs in 47 balls with 4 boundaries and 1 six. Luke Jayadeva and Anuk Fernando chipped in with 11 runs and 12 runs respectively to push the Moratuwa lads score to 73 for 4 at one stage with 8 more overs remaining. The Josephian bowling attack led by their spin duo of Aravinda Akurugoda and Hashindra Perera hit back strongly to claim the remaining wickets for just 12 runs as St. Sebastian College collapsed to be bowled out for 85 runs.
The Josephians chasing 86 runs to victory were in a spot of bother early on with four of their top order batsmen returning to the hut when the score was on 37. St. Sebastian’s sniffed a chance to get back into the game but the experienced middle order duo of Priyamal Perera and Yashan Samarasinghe put on an unbroken 51 runs for the 5th wicket to get over the winning line with 20 balls in hand. Right handed Sri Lankan youth player, Priyamal ‘Bullet’ Perera scored 21 runs in 24 balls to play the supporting part while Yashan Samarasinghe mustered 31 runs in 34 balls with 2 towering sixes. Right arm medium pacer Shan Fernando scalped two wickets.
St. Joseph’s College will play Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda on 6th April at Bloomfield grounds for the 1st semi-final which is scheduled to play in the morning starting at 10am.
Chief Scores:
Sebs – 85 all out in 18.5 overs : Sangeeth Cooray 47, Luke Jayadeva 12, Hashindra Perera 3/8, Aravinda Akurugoda 3/16.
Joes – 88/4 in 16.4 overs : Yashan Samarasinghe 31*, Priyamal Perera 21*, Duran De Alwis 17, Shan Fernando 2/11.
St. Peter’s College vs Thurstan College
St. Peter’s College was adjudged winners after their opponents Thurstan College failed to show up at the grounds as they were playing their annual ‘big’ match encounter with Isipathana College. Threre has obviously been bungling in the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association as they have changed the dates of a quarter final fixture without taking into consideration the particular school’s availability due to their traditional ‘big’ matches.
St. Peter’s College will take on the high riding St. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia on 6th April at Bloomfield grounds for the 2nd semi-final which is scheduled to play in the evening starting at 2.00pm.
