Mahinda College vs Royal College | Prince of Wales College vs Thurstan College
By Cornerpoint
Mahinda College Galle put up a tremendous performance to take major honours over Royal College in their inter school under 19 cricket tournament match which was worked off at Reid Avenue.
Royal College batting first managed to post only a modest 163 runs in their first innings with the two spinners Thamith Kalhara and Pasindu Dilshan causing most of the damage.
In reply Mahinda College went on to amass an impressive 236 runs largely due to two excellent knocks from Nilantha Lakshitha (88) and Piyushan Kulathunga (70) as they really punished the Royal bowlers to all parts of the ground.
However Royal College produced an improved batting display in their second attempt and reached a more respectable 189 for 4 wickets with Roshitha Jayawardena stroking a splendid 90 while Randev Pathirana struck an unbeaten half century.
Royal: 163 (Chamika Karunaratne 34, Randev Pathirana 32, Shaminda Kodithuwakku 28, Thamith Kalhara 4/49, Pasindu Dilshan 3/26) and 189-4 (Roshitha Jayawardhane 90, Randev Pathirana 52 n. o)
Mahinda: 236 (Nilanka Lakshitha 88, Piyushan Kulatunge 70, Ishara Akalanka 25, Chamika Karunarthne 3/41, Geeshanth Panditharatne 2/34, Malith Kariyawasam 2/58)
Prince of Wales College staged a superb second innings rally to force a creditable draw to their inter school under 19 cricket tournament match against Thurstan College which concluded on Thursday at the De Soysa Stadium in Moratuwa.
The Cambrians were in real danger of losing the match outright at one stage after Thurstan College put up a tremendous batting performance to built up a good first innings lead of 119 runs.
However in contrast to their first innings debacle Prince of Wales rallied around through a splendid unbeaten century from their star player Shanuka Dulaj to produce an inspired batting effort and to ensure that they would end up with a draw at the end.
The Sri Lanka youth player rose to the occasion when his team needed his services most as he played the sheet anchor role with a great amount of concentration and commitment while occupying the crease throughout the last two sessions of play.
Shanuka Dulaj frustrated the Thurstan bowlers with a stubborn batting performance while facing a total of 203 deliveries and stroking only seven boundaries with the back up support coming from all rounder Hasitha Lanka who made a useful contribution of 48 runs.
Prince of Wales: 122 (Shanuka Dulaj 34, Ravishan Lokuge 3/10, Kavindu Kulasekera 3/24) and 234-5 (Suchira Fernando 25, Shanuka Dulaj 113 n.o, Hasitha Lanka 48, Nimesh Fernando 25, Ayesh Weeraratne 2/48)
Thurstan College: 241-9 decl (Minhaj Jaleel 37, Sajith Gunathilaka 33, Thimira Jayasinghe 33, Kasun Abeyratne 28, Arjuna Gunawardena 28 n.o, Jayanga Peiris 5/59, Ramisha Soysa 2/40, Shanuka Dulaj 2/55)
