Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda vs Holy Cross College Kalutara
Bowlers called the tune on the opening day of the inter school under 19 cricket tournament match between Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda and Holy Cross College Kalutara which began at the Surrey ground in Maggona today.
Both teams completed their first innings as a total of 21 wickets tumbled during the first three sessions of play in this encounter while increasing the chances of an outright result early on the second day.
The Sokians struggled to put up a decent score on the board initially as Holy Cross College exploited the conditions to good effect with Malinda Jayod claiming a superb five wicket haul and supported well by Nirmal Shanaka.
However Holy Cross College suffered the same fate when they started their innings as they lost wickets at regular intervals against the spin trio of Sudhara Deshantha, Ramesh Mendis and Thilan Madhuranga.
Dharmasoka College eventually did well to defend their modest first innings total of 112 runs as they went on to build up a crucial lead of 25 runs following their outstanding performance on the field.
Dharmasoka College then went on to further extend their overall lead by reaching 69 for 1 in their second innings with opener Isuru Chaturanga leading the way and look well set for a big score.
Dharmasoka: 112 (Thilan Madhuranga 29, Sudhara Deshantha 31, Malinda Jayod 5/33, Nirmal Shanaka 2/32) and 69-1 (Isuru Chathuranga 42)
Holy Cross: 87 (Shamal Malaka 22, Layan Mendis 21, Sudhara Deshantha 4/38, Ramesh Mendis 3/16, Thilan Madhuranga 2/19)
Gurukula College Kelaniya vs Nalanda College
Gurukula College Kelaniya put up a stunning performance to take major honours on the opening day of their inter school under 19 cricket tournament match against Nalanda College which commenced at Campbell Place today.
Gurukula College completely dominated the proceedings through some splendid batting and bowling performances as they also put themselves in contention for a rare outright victory against a more fancied team.
Gurukula College who recently clinched the Munchee inter school sixes title made their intentions quite clear from the beginning and put up a determined batting performance to post a healthy 217 runs in their first innings.
Their batting was revolved around two superb half centuries from middle order batsmen Lisula Lakshan (86) and Janith Pramod (53) who really held the batting together following an early setback which put them on the back foot.
However Lakshan and Pramod steadied the innings through some intelligent batting while also building up a significant partnership which certainly frustrated the Nalanda College bowling during the second session of play.
Nalanda College in reply found run making really difficult against some accurate spin bowling from the trio of Jayamal Wanniarachchi, Hashan Dumindu and Nipul Madawa who did most of the damage to bundle out the home side for a paltry 113 runs.
In fact Wanniarachchi had the credit of claiming a four wicket haul as Gurukula College had the luxury of enjoying a first innings lead of 104 runs and more importantly having the option of enforcing the follow on.
Gurukula College: 217 (Lisula Lakshan 86, Janith Pramod 53, Roshan Anuruddha 34, Woshantha Silva 4/25, Avishka de Silva 2/16, Anuththara Madawa 2/42)
Nalanda College: 113 (Woshantha Silva 25, Malinga Amarasinghe 24, Jayamal Wanniarachchi 4/32, Hashan Dumindu 3/13, Nipul Madawa 2/15)
