St. Peter’s College, Colombo 4 recorded a memorable 38-run win over the high-riding giant-killers, St. Aloysius’ College, Galle in the ‘Singer Cup’ Under 19 Schools T20 Final played at Galle International Cricket Stadium on Friday.
After being runners-up of 2015 Schools T20 tournament, St. Peter’s College managed to go one step ahead as last year’s captain Chandula Jayamanne led the way with his all-round performance of 49 runs and 3 wickets to bag the man-of-the-match award and crash the Aloysian party.
The spirited Aloysians’ outfit were on a giant-killing spree beating Isipathana College, S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia and Trinity College, Kandy to qualify for their first-ever division one final but they were unable to cross the final hurdle.
Earlier in the afternoon, Vinu Mohotti won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first but the Aloysian skipper Gihan Niroshan was also happy to field first on a dry surface. The Aloysian vice-captain Sajith Sankalpa leaked 16 runs off the first over as the Peterites got off to a rollicking start.
Photo Album – St. Peter’s College vs St. Aloysius’ College – U19 T20 Finals
Left-arm seamer, Prabodha Madusanka struck a vital blow in the 2nd over when he trapped Inesh Fernando plumb in front for 3. In-form Hashan Wanasekara mistimed a slog against the bowling of Madusanka as he gave a simply skier to Kavika Dilshan.
After being 37 for 2, St. Peter’s continued to smash boundaries at will as they accumulated 72 inside the powerplay overs. Lakshina Rodrigo made 3 flashy fours but became the 3rd wicket for Madusanka when his cut-shot went straight to the cover-point fielder.
Chandula Jayamanne was at his prime form cracking 7 fours and 2 sixes at a strike-rate of 204 before his brilliant 24-ball 49 was ended by right-arm medium seamer Niluksha Dulmina as Jayamanne was hit right in front of the stumps while attempting a slog sweep.
The middle-order batsman, Manelkar De Silva was neatly caught behind by wicket-keeper Navidu Nirmal off Gihan Niroshan as Peterites lost half of their side inside 9 overs for just 87 runs. Skipper Vinu and youngster Ranmith Jayasena who is celebrating his 16th Birthday added 41 for the 6th wicket mainly by picking up singles and doubles.
Vinu and his partner-in-crime, Taneesha Weerakoon used the paddle-sweep to great effect in the final overs to help St. Peter’s reach a formidable 162 from their allotted 20 overs. Mohotti made an invaluable 33-ball 40 which included 4 fours and a six. Madusanka ended with 4 for 24 while Sankalpa leaked 47 runs off his quota of 4 overs.
Chasing 163 runs to win, St. Aloysius’ College lost three of their top order batsmen for just 1 run inside 9 balls as all those batsmen failed to trouble the scores. The first to fall was Prabodha Madusanka who tried a reverse-sweep off Taneesha Weerakoon. Chandula Jayamanne’s gentle seam and pace was too hot to handle for the home-town boys as Ravindu Sanjana and in-form Ashen Bandara fell in the same over.
After being in a disastrous position of 20 for 4, senior-man Navindu Nirmal and Hareen Buddhila resurrected the Aloysian innings with a fighting 46-run stand but off-spinner Taneesha Weerakoon once again struck when Buddhila was castled for 19.
The last hope for St. Aloysius’ ended when their top run-getter Navindu Nirmal was caught at deep mid-wicket off Chathura Obeysekara for a well-executed 36 while their skipper Gihan Niroshan made a valiant 27 in the end overs but they could only muster 124 for 8.
After the win, St. Peter’s College skipper Vinu Mohotti shares his views after the victory, “Extremely happy with our performance as a team. We’ve worked really hard for this achievement.”
Earlier in the day, Trinity College defeated Prince of Wales’ College by 4 wickets in the third-place play-off game.
