Sri Lanka under 19 discard and highest wicket-taker in the current schools cricket season, Lasith Embuldeniya of Royal College, Colombo produced another spectacular bowling performance as he rocked the St. Joseph’s College batting lineup on day one in their 119th annual cricket encounter at Reid Avenue.
The tall left-arm spinner captured 6 wickets for 56 as the team from Darley Road was bowled out for just 131. According to reliable sources, Embuldeniya has picked up 73 wickets so far this season and he is proving the junior selectors wrong with his credible bowling.
After Geeshath Panditharathne won the toss and elected to field, right-handed middle order batsman Vimukthi Peiris was the only batsmen from the Josephian camp to middle the ball but he ran out of partners to remain unbeaten on 34. Left-arm spinner Shan Thennakoon and right-arm leggie, Geeshanth picked up 2 wickets each.
Royal College in their reply ended the day on a high as they posted 226 runs on the board courtesy excellent knocks of 59 and 43 by opener Naveen Vidanapathirana and Geeshath Panditharathne. Off-spinner Charuka Raveen took 3 wickets for the visitors.
St. Joseph’s – 131 all out in 35.1 overs: Vimukthi Peiris 34*, Revan Kelly 21, Lasith Embuldeniya 6/56, Geeshath Panditharathne 2/16, Shan Thennakoon 2/22.
Royal – 226/8 in 57 overs: Naveen Vidanapathirana 59, Geeshath Panditharathne 43, Charuka Raveen 3/58.
S. Thomas’ College vs Ananda College
Left-arm spinner Deelipa Jayalath was the star performer on day one as Ananda College restricted S. Thomas’ College for 248 in their first innings at Mount Lavinia.
Ananda College skipper Nisal Fransisco won the toss and elected to field first. Left-handed opener Yohan Mendis played a blinder of a knock but missed out on a well-deserved century as he was dismissed for 94. Yohan and his opening partner Ravindu Kodituwakku put on 121 with the latter scoring 122-ball 62.
For the visitors, Jayalath picked up 6 for 68 bowling 21 overs while leg-spinner Lahiru Udayanga took 2 for 28. Ananda made 55 for 2 in their reply.
S. Thomas’ – 248/9 declared in 70 overs: Yohan Mendis 94, Ravindu Kodithuwakku 63, Dilendra Gunathilake 37, Lahiru Udayanga 2/28, Deelipa Jayalath 6/68.
Ananda – 55/2 in 26 overs.
D.S Senanayake College vs Prince of Wales College
Off-spinner Savindu Peiris picked up 6 scalps as the Cambrians shut down the Donz for only 168 at Wijerama Mawatha.
After Thimila Vidyasekara opted to bat first, D.S Senanayake struggled to put up a solid effort with the bat except 15-year old Muditha Lakshan’s fighting and unbeaten 66. The visitors were sitting pretty on 87 for 2 at stumps on day one.
DS Senanayake – 168 all out in 70.5 overs: Muditha Lakshan 66*, Torin Pitigala 20, Savindu Peiris 6/58, Ravindu Janith 2/35.
Prince of Wales – 87/2 in 22 overs: Kasun Ekanayake 55*.
St. Benedict’s College vs De Mazenod College
The Benedictines took strong hold of their annual match against De Mazenod College played for the Lasallian Trophy at Kandana.
The visitors from Kotahena made 212 all out with Vittorio Roberto top-scoring with 56 while spinner Rukshan Fernando picking up 5 scalps for the hosts. De Mazenod in their reply were struggling at 80 for 7 at stumps on day one.
St. Benedict’s – 212 all out in 65.5 overs: Vittorio Roberto 56, Madushan Kularathne 40, Rukshan Fernando 5/61.
De Mazenod College – 80/7 in 27 overs.
All matches will be continued tomorrow (9th January/Saturday) for day two action.
