D. S. Senanayake College staged a remarkable fight back to force a creditable draw to their inter school under 19 cricket tournament match against St. Peter’s College which concluded at Rifle Green today.
Trailing by a massive 158 runs on the first innings D. S. Senanayake College produced a fabulous second innings batting performance to pile up an impressive 313 runs and to salvage some of their pride.
D. S. Senanayake College really made amends for their first innings failure by sending their opponents on a leather hunt as they occupied almost the entire second day to prevent St. Peter’s College from snatching an outright victory.
The D. S. Senanayake College second innings was built around two superb half centuries from Uvin Bandara and Harith Maduwantha who displayed a great amount of courage and determination to save their side from a certain defeat.
Elegant middle order batsman Harith Maduwantha played the sheet anchor role as he held the batting together with a top score of 71 from 179 deliveries and which was studded with four boundaries.
In addition late order batsmen Torin Pitigala (24) and Udesh Sendanayake (21 n.o) also made some valuable contributions during the latter stages to make sure that D. S. Senanayake College extend their overall lead beyond their opponents reach.
Earlier St. Peter’s College consolidated their position by dismissing their opponents for just 143 runs in the first innings following some excellent bowling from Chemila Obeysekera and Janith Liyanage.
The former snapped up another four wicket haul with a real hostile spell of bowling and the latter grabbed the opportunity to showcase his all round potential by claiming three wickets for 51 runs.
St. Peter’s College also produced a fantastic batting performance to rattle up a massive 301 for 8 wickets in their first innings largely due to a splendid century from their opening batsmen Dineth Thimodya.
The elegant right hander smashed a sparkling 152 from just 146 deliveries with the help of four sixes and seventeen boundaries with the back up support coming from Janith Liyanage and Didulana Medis.
St. Peter’s College: 301 for 8 declared (Dineth Thimodya 152, Didulana Medis 39, Janith Liyanage 31, Shifran Muthalib 2 for 54, Osura Bulathsinghala 2 for 62, Akeel Inham 2 for 28)
D. S. Senanayake College: 143 (Kavin Bandara 54, Udesh Sendanayake 26, Chemila Obeysekera 4 for 53, Janith Liyanage 3 for 51) and 313 (Uvin Bandara 66, Harith Maduwantha 71, Torin Pitigala 24, Udesh Sendanayake 21 n. o, Sahan Nanayakkara 3 for 121, Vinu Mohotti 4 for 79)
