Randev Pathirana’s unbeaten century propelled Royal College, Colombo to the driving seat at stumps on Day 1 in their 118th annual cricket encounter against St. Joseph’s College at Darley Road.
Superb 134-run opening stand between Hasitha Samarasinghe and Naveen Vidanapathirana started the strong batting effort from the visitors after the Josephian skipper Pathum Madusanka opted to field first. Left handed duo of Naveen and Hasitha scoreed half-centuries, 71 and 66 respectively. One drop batsman and left-hander Geeshanth Panditharathne and centurion Randev Pathirana continued their opener’s good work as they too were involved in a 100+ stand. Geeshanth made 45 runs while Randev ended the innings after making his ton.
Josephians were 46/2 after the Royalists declared their innings after piling up a mammoth 341 for the loss of only 3 wickets.
Chief Scores:
Royal College – 341/3 declared in 75 overs: Naveen Vidanapathirana 71, Hasitha Samarasinghe 66, Geeshanth Panditharathna 45, Randev Pathirana 103*, Chamika Karunarathne 37*.
St. Joseph’s College – 46/2 in 18 overs: Pathum Madusanka 18.
St. Sebastian’s College vs Thurstan College
Naveen Gunawardene’s five-wicket haul helped Thurstan College restrict the St. Sebastian’s College for 213 in their 1st innings at Moratuwa.
Batting first, the hosts struggled to score freely apart of the Sri Lanka youth player, Avishka Fernando who slammed a charismatic 81 runs while Kusal Lakthilina chipped in with 33. Naveen and Dilan Madusanka shared 8 wickets amongst them. Thurstan College in their reply was 93 for the loss of only one wicket at close of play on day 1. Kasun Abeyrathne remained unbeaten on 49.
Chief Scores:
St. Sebastian’s College – 213 all out in 71 overs: Avishaka Fernando 81, Kusal Lakthilina 33, Dilan Madusanka 3/52, Naveen Gunawardana 5/66.
Thurstan College – 93/1 in 22 overs: Isuru Fernando 23, Kasun Abeyrathna 49* Imesh Viranga 20*.
Moratu Maha Vidyalaya vs Prince of Wales College
Moratu Vidyalaya registered a shocking 6-wicket win over Prince of Wales College at Moratu Vidyalaya grounds on Sunday.
Roshan Perera’s superb bowling effort of 11 wickets in the match destroyed the visitors batting lineup twice in one day. Prince of Wales College resuming from their overnight score of 29/4 was bowled out for 119. Spinner Roshan claimed six wickets. The hosts enforced the follow on and the neighbouring Prince of Wales College once again failed to make a substantial score as Roshan Perera took another five-wicket haul. Lanka Madumal was the best batsman scoring 39. Moratu Vidyalaya chased down the paltry target of 32 with the loss of 4 wickets.
Chief Scores:
Moratu Vidyalaya – 224 all out in 81.3 overs: Nishan Madushka 33, Rasindu Kalpana 75, VD Weerakkody 3/36, RS Soyza 3/51.
Prince of Wales College – 112 all out in 54.4 overs: WRS Soyza 19, Roshan Perera 6/31.
Prince of Wales College (2nd inn) – 143 all out in 65.1 overs: Lanka Madhumal 39, Roshan Perera 5/34, Davinda Fernando 2/50.
Moratu Vidyalaya (2nd inn) – 32/4 in 4 overs: AH Ekanayake 2/16.
Trinity College vs St. Aloysius College
Left-arm spinner Duvindu Tillakaratne picked up 6 wickets for Trinity as they took control of their under 19 division 1 match against St. Aloysious College at stumps on day 1 in Galle.
Former Sri Lanka captain Hashan Tillakaratne’s son, Duvindu was the chief destroyer as he scalped 6 wickets for 48 runs as the hosts were bowled out for 154. Sajith Sankalpa made a telling contribution with the bat scoring 38 runs. Trinity College in their first lease of the surface posted 231 runs for 5 wickets at close of play. Top-order duo of Nushan Weerasinghe and Kaveen Hiniduma made 54* and 57 respectively.
Chief Scores:
St. Aloysius College – 154 all out in 47.4 overs: Sajith Sankalpa 38, Ravindu Sanjana 28, Duvindu Thilakarathna 6/48, Lahiru Kumara 2/16.
Trinity College – 231/5 in 48 overs: Nushan Weerasinghe 54, Kaveen Hiniduma 57, Dilan Jayalath 44*.
