St. Sebastian’s College Moratuwa will take on Trinity College Kandy in the grand finale of the ‘Singer Trophy’ Under 19 Inter Schools Limited Overs Cricket Tournament at R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Road to Finals
The lads from Moratuwa beat their home-town rivals, Moratu Vidyalaya in their second round fixture while they beat the strong Royal College Colombo team in the pre-quarter finals. St. Sebastian’s beat the favourites, Isipathana College Colombo in the final 8 stage and later went onto beat last year runner’s up Ananda College Colombo by 6 runs in a nail-biting semi-final.
The Trinitians went past St. Sylvester’s College Kandy convincingly in the second round and defeated the giant-killingt Lumbini College Colombo outfit in the pre-quarter finals. In a run-feast at Katunayake, Trinity took their sweet revenge beating the in-form St. Peter’s College team in the quarter-finals. In the all-important semi-finals, they crushed Nalanda College Colombo by 109 runs.
Key Players
Sri Lanka U19 batsman, Avishka Fernando will lead the team from Moratuwa and his batting prowess will certainly have a final say in the game. Wicket-keeper batsman, Sandaruwan Fernando will assist him. Fast-bowling duo of Asher Warnakulasooriya and Mishen Silva has been exceptional with the ball in recent times and they will maximize their advantage with two white-balls in place. Top-order batsmen Praveen Perera and Nuwanidu Fernando have been in the runs lately and they will come to this game with lot of confidence. Left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama and off-spinner Nimesh Bandara will be bestowed with the responsibility of restricting the high-scoring Trinity middle-order.
Sri Lanka U19 poolist and off-spinner Raveen Sayer is the Captain of the high-riding Trinity College outfit, while opener Nushan Weerasinghe acts as the Vice-Captain of the team. Sayer and his spin-bowling partner, Duvindu Tillakarathne has taken over 200 wickets combined this season and will need to fire with the ball once more. All-rounder Shanogeeth Shanmuganathan can single-handedly win a game with his explosive batting at the top of the order and disciplined left-arm spin. Right-handed middle-order batsman Dilan Jayalath has scored over 300 runs so far in this Limited-Overs Tournament and will be the cynosure of all eyes. Sri Lanka U19 fast-bowler Lahiru Kumara will enjoy the hard surface at Khettarama to get some early scalps for his school.
Limited-Overs History
St. Sebastian’s College have entered the final of the Schools U19 Limited-Overs Tournament in 1996 and 2007. In 1996, they were declared joint champions under Mario Rees alongside Nalanda while they lost the 2007 final to their arch-rivals Prince of Wales College under Sachintha Cooray. In 2011 under Akkila Jayasundara’s captaincy, Trinity College were thumped by St. Joseph’s College in the final but they went onto win the title in 2012 under Niroshan Dickwella’s leadership.
St. Sebastian’s College squad:
Avishka Fernando (Captain), Sandaruwan Fernando (vice-captain), Nimesh Bandara, Mishen Silva, Shachintha Silva, Praveen Perera, Nuwanidu Fernando, Praveen Jayawickrama, Malintha Peiris, Gihan Senanayake, Nishitha Abilash, Damian De Buyzer, Asher Warnakulasuriya, Preshain Fernando, Tashik Perera, Tharusha Fernando, Mevan Muhandiramge, Imal Boteju (Head Coach), Manoj Chanaka (Assistant coach), Frank Cooray (Master-in-Charge)
Trinity College squad:
Raveen Sayer (Captian), Nushan Weerasinghe (Vice-captain), Shavindu Amarasinghe, Naveen Ekanayake, Sachira Gaminda, Lahiru Kumara, Tashila Dodanwala, Hasitha Boyagoda, Shanogeeth Shanmuganathan, Duvindu Thilakarathne, Dilan Jayalath, Yasaran Pitawala, Sanka Chandrarathne, Thisaru Dilshan, Hasintha Jayasooriya, Thyagarajah Bhanugoban, M.A.M. Dissanayake (MIC), Rushan Jaleel (Asst. coach), Kavinda Jayasooriya (Coach)
