Right hand opening batsman Lakkana Jayasekara stroked a beautiful 56 as Ananda College beat Zahira College by 4 wickets to lift the TB Jayah Memorial Trophy played at Colts grounds on Sunday.
The traditional cricket encounter between two Colombo 10 schools, Ananda College and Zahira College for TB Jaya Trophy is an annual fixture for these two schools as they had been playing since 1940 in an exciting atmosphere until 1990. During this 50 year period this annual encounter was as important as their big matches to both schools. However, this fixture did not take place since 1991.
Zahira won the toss and elected to bat first. Zahira failed to put up an impressive batting performance as they were bundled out for 135 in the 46th over. Middle order batsman Shehan Weerasinghe top scored with 27 runs while Isuru Gunasekara and Kaveesh Anjula captured two wickets each.
Chasing a simple target of 136, Lakkana Jayasekara led the chase with his elegant batting as Ananda College completed the chase in the 34th over. Ramzan Rafaideen and Tuan Safran scalped three wickets each but failed to hold the strong Ananda batting lineup from achieving the target.
Chief Scores:
Zahira – 135 all out in 45.3 overs : Shehan Weerasinghe 27, Isuru Gunasekara 2/07, Kaveesh Anjula 2/21.
Ananda – 136 for 6 in 34 overs: Lakkana Jayasekara 56, Ramzan Rafaideen 3/34, Tuwan Safran 3/13.
Individual Awards:
Best Batsman – Lakkana Jayasekara (Ananda College)
Best Bowler – Tuwan Safran (Zahira College)
Best Fielder – Dileepa Wickramasinghe (Zahira College
Man of the Match – Lakkana Jayasekara (Ananda College)
