St Peter’s College managed to secure a draw against the formidable Isipathana College in their traditional under 19 cricket encounter played at St Peter’s College grounds.
The weather has finally cleared up and Singer U19 cricket Tournament is underway yet again. There is still time until the seasonal break but most teams are a long way from completing their quota of the third term matches. Peterites having played only three matches so far and scoring only one outright win is one of the few teams which has been affected badly due to weather. Visitors, Isipathana have had a successful season so far and they are proving to become a formidable side this year.
Isipathana skipper Salinda Ushan won the toss and elected to bat first. With their batters on song this season it was an easy decision for the skipper even though St Peter’s consists of a strong spin bowling attack. Their top order fired as expected with three Fifties by Vishad Randika, Sanjula Abeywickrama and Salinda Ushan scoring 54, 54 and 50 respectively. The visitors managed to stack up a decent total of 262 in 92.4 overs. Skipper Vinu Mohotti carried on his good form from the previous matches, bagging 4 wickets for 68. It was slow going for the visitors, credit should be given to the bowlers for containing this strong batting line at an innings run rate of just 2.8 runs per over.
Home side came on to bat on the second day. With Sri Lanka U19 player Lakshina Rodrigo back in the side, the Peterite batting line up looked stronger. They were cruising at lunch at 111 for the loss of two wickets with youngster Santhush Gunatilake scoring valuable cameo of 37 up front and the elegant left handed Hashan Wanasekara at an unbeaten 47. After lunch Isipathana came back strongly in to match by taking 4 wickets for just 78 runs in the second session. Hashan Wanasekara was the highest scorer yet again with a brilliantly composed 66, while Lakshina Rodrigo pitched in with 37 runs.
Peterites were finally bundled out for 232 in 93.5 overs. All-rounder Manelka De Silva chipping in with a brisk 30 at the end for his team. With the ball for the visitors, leg-spinner Ivanka Sanjula bagged 4 for 108 while Neranjan Wanniarachchi took 2 wickets for 19. Both teams performing equally in both bat and ball, one concern should be for St Peter’s is how their middle order collapsed. Moving on to the next matches it will important for them to get their batting order sorted out.
Isipathana College: 262 all out in 92.4 overs (Vishad Randika 54, Sanjula Abeywickrama 54, Salinda Ushan 50, Ayana Siriwardena 26, Vinu Mohotti 4 for 68, Thaneesha Weerakoon 2 for 56 )
St. Peters College: 232 all out in 93.5 overs (Santhush Gunathilaka 37, Hashan Wanasekara 66, Lakshina Rodrigo 37, Manelka de Silva 30, Iwanka Sanjula 4/108, Neranjan Wanniarachchi 2/19)
