S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia fell short by just three wickets from an outright victory as they took major honours in their annual inter school under 19 cricket encounter against Wesley College which ended in a draw at Campbell Park today.
The Thomians with a good first innings lead of 160 runs went on to make a sporting declaration in their second innings while leaving their opponents a challenging victory target of 164 runs to be made from a maximum of 33 overs.
In fact their decision almost brought the desired results as the Wesleyites made a huge mess during their run chase before putting up their shutters and to finish on a disappointing 104 for 7 wickets.
Altogether this was a fantastic all round performance from S. Thomas’ College and to come very close towards an outright victory was a great effort considering the fact that more than two hours of play was lost due to bad weather on the opening day.
The Thomians really made amends for the lost time and declared their first innings at a formidable 252 for 8 wickets following two superb knocks from Asitha Jayathilake (84) and Helakamal Nanyakkara (45).
Their bowling was equally brilliant as they made life really difficult for the Wesley College batsmen with the two spinners Tharindu Ratnayake and Akhtar Cader causing the damage.
S. Thomas’ College then went on consolidate their position while declaring their second innings after just 12 overs having made 72 for 4 leaving their opponents a target of 164 runs during the final session.
The Wesleyites never looked like making a match of it as they lost wickets regularly during a poor run chase against some accurate and consistent bowling from skipper Madushan Ravichandrakumara (3 for 12) and Ravindu Tillekeratne (3 for 12)
S. Thomas’ College: 252 for 8 wickets declared (Asitha Jayathilake 86, Helakamal Nanayakkara 45, Jonathan Cadiramanpulle 2 for 42, Kavin Jayasekera 3 for 65) and 72 for 4 wickets declared (Nipuna Gamage 27 not out)
Wesley College: 160 (Jonathan Cadiramanpulle 35, Sachin Jayawardena 35, Tharindu Ratnayake 3 for 39, Akhtar Cader 2 for 21) and 104 for 7 wickets (Madushan Ravichandrakumara 3 for 12, Ravindu Tillekeratne 3 for 12)
