Day 1 of the Prince of Wales’ St. Sebastian’s battle wraps up with Prince of Wales’ 64 runs behind the St.Sebastian’s in the 1st innings.
Winning the toss, Prince of Wales’ College elected to field first giving the St.Sebastian’s the opportunity to bat. The openers facing the first ball were Sangeeth Cooray and Luke Jayadewa. Sachith Pushpakumara bowling at the Wales end was able to take the first wicket of the game as the opening partnership reached only 4 runs. Luke Jayadewa facing his 5th ball was out lbw for 1 run.
Recovering the devastating early wicket fall, Sangeeth along with Avishka Fernando were able to build up a partnership of 89 runs. Avishka nearly missed his half century scoring 47 runs in just 47 balls with 8 boundaries. Janayanga Perera was able to bring down Avishka as Ashen Mendis completed an easy catch. The tactful Cambrians were able to send the opener Sangeeth Cooray –with a personal score of 43 runs – also back to the pavilion soon afterwards trapped lbw to a delivery by Thilan Nimesh. The 3rd wicket partnership lasted just 8 runs.
St.Sebastian’s weren’t able to recover as Muditha Fernando receiving the wrong signal from Kusal Lakthilina was run-out by Jayanga Perera. Muditha was able to score 32 runs in his short time at the crease with 6 boundaries. The fifth wicket Kusal Lakthilina, reached just 12 runs, caught by Chrishen Aponsu off the bowling of Thilan. Shan Fernando scoring only 11 runs was the 6th wicket to fall as he was caught by Lanka and bowled by Gayan Chamara who just managed one wicket for the day.
Thereafter a partnership of 30 runs held the batting together before the 8th batsman Sachintha Fonseka was caught by Ashen off a Thilan’s delivery. Anuk Fernando who scored 36 runs in 58 balls with 7 boundaries was also caught by Chrishen as both wickets were taken down with the score at 209. The bowler Sachith Pushpakumara took his second wicket.
The last wicket of the day was scalped by Thilan who completed a devastating spell of 4 wickets for the day. Isuru Mendis was caught by Chrishen as he got off the score with just one run. This summed up the 1st innings batting spell of St Sebastian’s College who folded at a total of 220 runs.
Opening the 1st innings for Prince of Wales’ were Shanuka Dulaj and Gayan Chamara. As per the game plan they were aiming for a strong opening partnership to overthrow the 220 runs by Sebastian’s; yet the first wicket fell within 11 runs. Having managed just 4 runs Shanuka was caught by Sachintha Fonseka for a delivery by Shan Fernando.
Prince of Wales’ was put on the back foot at the onset but was able to put up a 94 run partnership as Sri Lanka’s U 19 captain and star batsman Kusal Mendis joined opener Gayan Chamara to put in great work. Gayan was taken out by a smart delivery from Lahiru Heshan who trapped him leg before. Gayan was just reaching his half century with 43 runs made of 5 boundaries when he had to walk back to the pavilion. As the day came to an end Prince of Wales’ has amassed 156 runs with the loss of only 3 wickets in reply to the 1st innings total of 220 by their rivals St.Sebastian’s. Kusal Mendis is still not out with an impressive 80 runs as the highest run scorer of the match so far.
