S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia put up a pleasing batting performance to reach a strong 224 for 7 in their first innings on the opening day of their rain curtailed annual inter school Under 19 cricket encounter against Wesley College which began at Campbell Park today.
The game of course got under way only at 2. 00 p. m due to overnight rain and the Thomians took the maximum from the ideal batting conditions while maintaining an excellent run rate of nearly five runs per over.
This was mainly due to two good knocks from Sajina Jayathilake and Helakamal Nanayakkara who took the entire responsibilities on their shoulders to carry their side into a position from where they could dictate terms on their opponents.
Jayathilake played a sedate innings while rotating the strike and his partnership with Nanayakkara was the key to their success as both made batting look much easier while occupying the crease for nearly two sessions.
In fact Jayathialake went on to hit a top score of 72 while displaying tremendous concentration and determination while Nanayakkara missed out a well deserved half century after having done all the hard work.
Even then S. Thomas’ College certainly showed their positive approach towards the game and always kept the scoreboard moving at a steady pace despite the fall of some quick wickets during the latter stages.
In fact the Wesleyites came back well at the end by capturing a couple of important wickets through their spin combination of Jeganathan Cadiramanpulle and Kavin Jayadeva who had to toil hard for success under tough conditions.
Although they were able to share five wickets between them the Wesleyites just could not keep the Thomian batsmen quiet as the runs kept on flowing even during the latter stages of the innings.
S. Thomas’: 224 for 7 (Sajina Jayathilake 72, Helakamal Nanayakkara 45, Jeganathan Cadiramanpulle 2 for 29, Kavin Jayasena 3 for 65) v Wesley
