After many decades, St. Joseph’s College hosted Nalanda College for an under 19 division 1 school cricket match and it ended without a result due to bad weather conditions prevailing in Sri Lanka over the last couple of weeks.
The Josephian skipper Pathum Madusanka won the toss of coin and elected to field first and expose the moisture early on. Only 30 overs were possible on day 1 as the heavy showers declined no more play as the visitors were 86/2. Bright sunshine helped the game to start on time during the 2nd and final day. Opening batsman Kasun Sandaruwan was the mainstay of the Nalanda innings as he scored a patient 61 runs in 161 deliveries as the Nalandians took the long road of batting many overs with a negative approach.
After batting 91.1 overs, the visitors were finally bowled out for 208. Apart of Kasun, Skipper Malinga Amarasinghe and Dasun Senevirathne chipped in with valuable scores of 28 and 37 respectively. Leg-spinner Aravinda Akurugoda was the best performer with the ball for the hosts as he captured a five-wicket haul for 68 runs in a terrific effort of 31 overs.
St. Joseph’s batted till the end of 2nd day’s play and they were 94/4 in 43 overs as the game ended without a proper result. Opener Shewon Fonseka top-scored with 24 runs while one-drop batsman Kevin Corteling remained unbeaten on 23 in 81 balls. Ishan Ranasinghe and Dilan Dilipriya took 2 scalps each.
Chief Scores:
Nalanda College – 208 all out in 91.1 overs: Kasun Sandaruwan 62, Dasun Sennavitharana 37, Aravinda Akurugoda 5/69, Hashendra Perera 2/47.
St. Josephs College – 94/4 in 43 overs: Shewon Fonseka 24, Kevin Corteling 23*, Ishan Ranasinghe 2/27, Dilan Dilpriya 2/41.
