St John’s College, Panadura were crowned champions in the Singer U19 Division II league Championship yesterday as they beat St Thomas College Matara in the final at Surrey Grounds.
The boys from Matara resumed play on 33 for no loss in their first innings. They had only 174 runs to score to get ahead in the first innings and they had the entire day to do so. Their top order got good starts but failed to capitalize. Ishan Jayawardane scored a valuable 31 at the top and going into the third session they were 125 for 5.
St John’s came back into the game in the third session with quick wickets. The only resistance came from Tharusha Kavinda who top scored with 33. His efforts were all in vain as they were cleaned up for just 193 runs, falling short by only 14 runs.
The pick of the bowlers for St John’s was Ashan Dilhara who picked up 3 for 48. St John’s were deservingly crowned as champions but St Thomas did not go home empty handed as they will also be promoted to Division I next year.
Early on, St John’s posted 207 all out after being put into bat first. Kavindu Hashan top scored with 59 while Sithum Telge and Rukshan Dissanayake chipped in with 49 and 42 respectively. Praveen Madushan was the pick of the bowlers for St Thomas with 4 for 64.
St.John’s College, Panadura 207 (80.4) Kavindu Hashan 59, Sithum Telge 49, Rukshan Dissanayaka 42, Hashim Dilman 3/63, Praveen Madhushan 4/64
St.Thomas’ College, Matara 193 (89) Tharusha Kavinda 33, Ishan Jayawardana 31, Ashan Dilhara 3/48
