Left arm spinner Deneth Lanka impressed with a seven wicket haul for host Dharmaraja but could not deny Royal of winning their match on first innings in an under 19 inter-school cricket match concluded at Lake View Kandy today.
The left arm spinner who had picked up four for 19 on day one to reduce visitors for 91 for five at stumps added three more conceding 99 runs on day two to finish with seven for 118 runs. He was expensive today as Royal who trailed by 99 runs on day one came up with fighting batting performances to snatch a deserving first innings win. Tiran Dhanapala was the top scorer with hard-fought 59 while Akshan Gajaba remained unbeaten on 50 when Royal declared on an imposing 265 for 9 in 82 overs.
With a deficit of 75 runs in the first innings, Dharmaraja had a tall order to climb but succumbed under pressure as they lost six wickets for 126 runs at stumps, a slender lead of 54 with four wickets in hand at close of play. Devin Pathamnathan took three wickets for 23 runs while Geeshath Panditharatne took two for 31 runs.
Dharmaraja: 190 in 63.2 overs (Nimantha Hearth 49, Kavihska Dissanayake 40, Jayapathma Thennakoon 27, Lasith Embuldeniya 3/44, Anupa Thilakaratne 3/45, Malith Kariyawasam 2/30) and 129/6 in 41 overs (Rameesh Ranasinghe 37, Devin Pathmanathan 3/23, Geeshath Panditharatne 2/31)
Royal: 265/9 (91/5 overnight) in 82 overs (Tiran Dhanapala 59, Akshan Gajaba 50 n.o., Anupa Thilakaratne 39, Geeshath Panditharatne 28, Hasitha Samarasinghe 24, Deneth Lanka 7/118)
