St. Peter’s College, Trinity College, Dharmashoka College and Cricket Seenigama qualified for 2013 Murali Harmony Cup semi-finals on Sunday.
Defending champions St. Peter’s College maintained their unbeaten run in the competition despite strong bowling from Anuradhapura Central, scoring 137 and then restricting Anuradhapura to 122 for 8.
Trinity College lost their first game of the tournament to Cricket Seenigama, who bounced back after a shock loss on Saturday to Trinco-Batti Combined, but still qualified in their Kilinochchi group.
Dharmashoka College were also able to maintain their unbeaten record with a 23 run victory against St. Sebastians Katuneriya in a rain-reduced 10 over game at the IODR Oval in Oddusudan.
While Trinity, St. Peter’s and Dharmashoka qualified automatically by virtue of winning their respective groups, Cricket Seenigama claimed the final Semi-Final berth as the best qualifier with a Net Run Rate of +1.198 that was marginal higher than Jaffna (+0.491) and St. Sebastian (+0.777).
Trinity College will now play Dharmashoka College in the first Semi-Final at the IODR Oval starting at 10am and St. Peter’s College will play Cricket Seenigama in Kilinochchi at 2pm.
The most heater-warming story of the day, though, was a first-ever win for minnows Mullaitivu Combined Schools against Uva Combined Schools at the IODR Oval.
The match went to a Super Over after scores were tied on 102, but Mullaitivu chased down a target of 11 in the Super Over to spark off emotional celebrations from a squad that only started playing hard ball cricket a few weeks before the 2012 Murali Harmony Cup.
The Murali Harmony Cup is a 20-team reconciliation cricket tournament staged in to promote unity, goodwill, teamwork, the spirit of fair play and, more importantly, service to disadvantaged rural communities in post-war Sri Lanka.
The tournament has been jointly organised by former Sri Lanka cricketer Muttiah Muralidharan’s charity the Foundation of Goodness, travel company Red Dot Tours and the Sri Lanka Army.
The 5-day event featuring U19 schoolboys and U23 women cricketers is being played at five grounds across Northern Sri Lanka in the towns of Jaffna, Oddusuddan, Mankulam, Kilinochchi and Vavuniya from 1-5 November.
Summary Scores
Kilinochchi Central College (Mens)
Trinco-Batti Combined v Kilinochchi Combined Schools
Trinco-Batti 101 for 8 wickets in 15 overs (MIM Thameem 31) v Kilinochchi 63 all out in 14.1 overs (N. Aslam 3-2, M. Dickshan 3-17)
Trinco-Batti Combined Schools won by 28 runs
MOM: N. Aslam
Trinity College v Cricket Seenigama
Trinity College 93 all out in 18.5 overs (C. Lakshan 3-12) v Cricket Seenigama 94 for 6 wickets in 9.3 overs (A. Thilanchana 35, U. Priyanga 31)
Cricket Seenigama won by 4 wickets
MOM: C. Lakshan 3-12
St Patrick’s College, Jaffna (Mens)
Jaffna Combined Schools v Mannar-Vavuniya Combined Schools
Mannar-Vavuniya 68 for 9 wickets in 15 overs (G. Mathushan 3-2) v Jaffna 69 for 3 in 6.5 overs (J. Janaksan 28 not out)
Jaffna Combined Schools won by 7 wickets
MOM: Mathusan 3-2
St. Peter’s College v Anuradhapura Central
St. Peters 137 all out (K. de Thissera 36, S. Dalpadhadu 34) v Anuradhapuara 122 for 8 wickets in 20 overs (P. Buddika 31 not out, J. Liyange 2-17, S. Nanayakkare 2-19)
St. Peter’s College won by 15 runs
MOM: K. de Thissera
IODR Oval, Oddusudan (Mens)
Dharmashoka College v St. Sebastians College Katuneriya
Dharmashoka College 113 for 7 wickets in 10 overs (I. Chathuranga 40, H. Vidharshana 48) v St Sebastians 90 all out in 10 overs (U. Imantha 4-20)
Dharmashoka College won by 23 runs
MOM: U. Imantha
Mullaitivu Combined Schools v Uva Province Combined
Mullaitivu 102 for 9 wickets in 19 overs (A. Anghayan 32, N. Liyanage 3-23) v Uva 102 for 8 wickets in 19 overs
Mullaitivu won the Super Over
MOM: A. Anghayan
