The Singer Division 1 Schools Cricket Tournament 2018/19 has reached its halfway mark and ThePapare.com sums it up for you here.
The Singer U19 tournament of Sri Lanka is one of the most wide-spread tournaments of the world. It consists of 36 schools and the tournament pans over 6 months between September and March every year.
This year’s tournament kick-started on the 10th of September with Lumbini College taking on Gurukula College at Colts Cricket Club grounds, Colombo and from thereon it has been a complete roller-coaster ride so far. About 90 games have been played in the tournament; there was the rising of some underdogs, big names suffering home-defeats, record-breaking games and matches with endless batting.
Read More : Know your Schools Cricket Captains 2018/19 – Part 3
Group A
Group ‘A’ has seen constant battle between the boys from Negombo – Maris Stella College, Negombo – and the defending champions St. Joseph’s College, Colombo to top the table.
Rather surprisingly, Maris Stella College got the better of the defending champions, St. Joseph’s College in their own backyard, in the head-to-head battle between them to register their maiden victory in the history over the Darley Road boys.
Apart from that, St. Joseph’s College is also up there in the contest with one innings-win and two, first-innings wins in their five tournament games. Whereas, Maris Stella College has an outright-win and a first-innings win in two games thus far. They have played five other traditional games too in which they managed only one outright-win against the two outright losses and a first-innings defeat.
With a strong line up, Mahinda College, Galle is also expected to add up to the contest in the days to come.
Read More : Maris Stella stun defending champions, St. Joseph’s
Group B
In group ‘B’, it is Zahira College who is ahead of the rest with three first-innings wins and an outright win in the tournament games. But clearly, they aren’t too far ahead from the three teams below them, who are constantly catching up which makes this group very competitive.
Nalanda College Colombo and Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa are the teams up next in the group and their win-loss ratios are exactly the same, narrowing it down to the performance points. Nalanda College has an edge in that basis, thanks to their skipper Lakshitha Rasanjana’s all-round excellence.
Group C
Group ‘C’ is a conquest of the school by the sea with zero defeat so far. S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia have recorded two innings-wins and two first-innings wins in their four games. Moratu Maha Vidyalaya also looked impressive in their traditional games although their lone tournament game was a first-innings defeat.
Yet, the group remains unpredictable as only a few games were played among the group. St. Sebastian’s College is another team to look forward in the first term along with Mahanama College.
Read More : S. Thomas’ break all-time schools’ record
Group D
Thurstan College Colombo are in the lead in Group ‘D’ while Richmond College, Galle are also cruising safe with no defeat. Thurstan played five tournament games and has an innings-win, an outright win and two first innings victories to their name.
The Richmondites have played three games and won first-innings points in all of them. This group is also open for a lot of possibilities. Last year’s runners-up, Trinity College, who is also in the group and have barely commenced their campaign.
Notable Performers
- Kalana Perera – The left-arm seamer from S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia made it to the headlines after his stupendous display of fast bowling against St. Mary’s College, Kegalle as he bagged a record-breaking 16 wickets for 18 runs. Kalana is having a dream run this season as he already has 30 wickets to his name in his 5 outings. Not just with the ball, Kalana has proved himself with the bat too. He is also a member of the century-makers club this season. Kalana hit an unbeaten 108-runs against Dharmaraja College, Kandy.
“My aim is to become the schoolboy cricketer of the year this season” – Kalana Perera
- Ravindu Fernando – Ravindu Fernando is making to this list not for the centuries, not for a record-spell, not as the leading runs-scorer or the wicket-taker. But, for being a consistent performer. Maris Stella College has played 7 games in the season and Ravindu has shone in each of them either with the bat or ball. His highest score of the season is 90-runs while he has another 85 and 55 to his name as fifty-plus scores. Adding to it he has three more thirty-plus scores. Ravindu also has match-bags of 6-wickets, 10-wickets, 4-wickets, 8-wickets, 6-wickets and another 6-wickets in all his outings. Those are remarkable numbers for a schoolboy cricketer and even though it may not catch the eye it will win games.
Read More : Nishan Madushka, the saviour of Moratu Vidyalaya
- Nishan Madushka – The run-machine from Moratuwa owns the highest score of the season so far, which came against Prince of Wales College in a traditional game. His swashbuckling 172-not-out came as a salvation from the pit Moratu Maha Vidyalaya was in that game as the rest of team only scored 53 runs. Moratu Maha Vidyalaya scored 225 runs in that innings following a 38-run deficit in the first-innings. He also added another century and a fifty to his tally for this season so far.
Stay-logged to ThePapare.com for all the upcoming first Term matches as the season enters the business end.
