Royal College missed out a great chance of pulling off an outright victory as their annual inter school Under 19 cricket encounter against St. Joseph’s College ended in an exciting draw at Reid Avenue today.
Chasing a tough victory target of 108 runs from 13 overs Royal College made a determined effort to wrap up the game before eventually falling short by just 16 runs as they reached 91 for three wickets at the end.
This may be somewhat disappointing for Royal College who failed to add the finishing touches having completely dominated the proceedings on both days through some outstanding batting and bowling performances.
But for St. Joseph’s College this was great escape as they recovered from a dismal first innings batting performance to stage a good fight back before settling for a creditable draw at the end.
In fact the Joes batted with more purpose in their second attempt after being asked to follow on with most of their top order batsmen showing some courage and determination to stay at the crease for a longer period.
Dilan Fernandopulle, Yasan Samarasinghe and Pathum Madushanka all came close to completing half centuries but their contributions were really worth more than that as they were performing under tremendous pressure.
Royal of course seem to be depending heavily on their two main strike bowlers Harith Samarsinghe and all rounder Randev Pathirana who were responsible for most of the damage in both innings.
In fact Samarsinghe came into the limelight while claiming a superb six wicket haul in the second innings after Pathirana had earlier produced a similar effort in the first innings which helped Royal College to dismiss their opponents for just 118 runs.
However the home side just could not drive that advantage and carry the same momentum into the second innings with St. Joseph’s College really producing an improved batting performance to share the honours at the end.
Royal College: 225 (Randev Pathirana 81, Rajith Vidanapathirana 46, Nevin Fernando 4 for 64, Aravinda Akurugoda 3 for 34) and 91 for 3 (Randev Pathirana 42 n. o, Yasan Samarasinghe 2 for 36)
St. Joseph’s: College: 118 (Kalpa Ravihara 28, Krishan Thanuja 26, Randev Pathirana 6 for 11, Akshan Gajaba 3 for 28) and 214 (Dilan Fernandopulle 48, Yasan Samarasinghe 47, Pathum Madushanka 40, Harith Samarasinghe 6 for 66, Randev Pathirana 2 for 56)
