The 34th Limited Overs encounter between Trinity College and St. Anthony’s ended up in an exciting draw this evening at the Katugastota Oval with both teams not being able to go beyond the 154 run mark.
Played for the 34th consecutive year, this was the first instance where the Richard Aluwihare trophy was shared between the two sides. St. Anthony’s had their home advantage in the game as they were playing on their home turf and Trinity College were on the verge of seeking payback for their lackluster performance in the two-dayer.
Coming into bat first St. Anthony’s College had momentum ticking on their side in their home ground as they got off to a flying start with Mohamed Alfy and Pulasti Bandara starting to attack from the beginning. Sadly Alfy’s aggression paved way for his dismissal as he was given out for just 7 when he was penalized for leg before wicket for the bowling of Lakshan Jayasinghe. Kanishka Uggalpaya was the next to leave as soon as he entered only scoring a single run. Ten runs after, Pulasti Bandara had to follow Uggalpaya having been dismissed by Sri Mahan with him scoring 26 runs.
At 49 runs for 3 wickets, it has always been the skipper who had come to the Eagle’s rescue. Skipper Nimesha Gunasinghe with Damita Panditaratna amassed a strong 67 run partnership for the third wicket. Skipper Nimesha went on to score 34 runs before being bowled out by Nushan Weerasinghe. That being the only solid partnership for the side with Panditaratna exiting, falling just two runs short of his half century at 48 runs when the Eagle’s scores read 141. The rest of the wickets of the Eagles fell haplessly within the next 20 runs with only deputy skipper Buweneka Wijethunga being able to achieve double figures as he scored 15 runs. St. Anthony’s College was bowled out for 157 runs in the 43rd over.
In the bowling department both Raveen Sayer and Shavindu Amarasinghe bagged two wickets each and Charith Sudaraka was the highlight of the bowlers as he picked up 3 wickets. Both Lakshan Jayasinghe, Amrith Sri Mahan shared a wicket each.
A tally of 157 runs seeming completely achievable and the Lions came into the field with high intentions. But to their dismay, the Antonians had other plans in mind. Two successful breakthroughs by the opening bowlers Dilan Jayalath and Wanasinge took away the Trinity openers and at the closure of the second over Trinity College were 7/2.
Though the target seemed quite an easy one, some disciplined bowling from the Antonians made the Lions toil hard for their runs. Though the runs were coming at a steady pace, there seemed to be no possibility of a solid partnership being built. Lakshan Jaysinghe contributed with 24 laying the foundation for the odd start and skipper Ron Chandragupta and Arjuna Jayasinghe contributed with 12 and 16 respectively.
Wickets kept falling with no batsman being able to resist the Antonian bowlers and matters cornered in to the last two batting pair Charith Sudaraka and Shavindu Amarasinghe to battle it out in the field. With the scores reading 103/8 these two played some sensible cricket in safeguarding their stance while attempting all possible runs at given positions. They built in a partnership for the 9th wicket which brought Trinity close to their winning target and at 152 runs, Shavindu had to depart to the bowling of Wanasinghe. With Sudaraka amassing five more runs to equal the scores, the 50th over began with Trinity needing a single to win.
It was indeed a tight finish as the spectators crowded the boundary line. As Charith Sudaraka faced the second ball of the over, Sri Mahan stepped out from the non strikers end for that victorious run but the bowler smartly tipped in the ball to the wicket summing up the innings.
It was a close call and Sri Mahan in that instance could’ve been a bit sensible but as the idiom says “Cricket is always an unpredictable game” the match was drawn. It was an interesting day on the field with St. Anthony’s bowlers taking the upper hand. Wanasinghe picked up three wickets while Buweneka Wijethunge picked 2 wickets for the Antonians in bowling.
Trinity College had the upper hand in this encounter but the Antonians fought bravely to draw the game. The Richard Aluwihare trophy was shared between the two schools.
There is a scuffle reported at this match as well, when the Trinity batsmen are said to have got in the way of the Antonian celebration and the Trinity batsman Charith Sudarak is said to have been assaulted with a wicket on his head by a person yet to be identified while non- striker Sri Mahan evaded a similar attack. The man of the match for the day Sudaraka had been admitted to the hospital for treatment and was released soon after.
It is indeed disappointing to see violence creeping into school boy encounter when matches are organized primarily to encourage good relations between schools and to teach students to play in the spirit of the game.
