St Peters College captain Chandula Jayamanna blasted a superb century to chase down 250 and record a superb win over Royal College in their under 19 all island limited overs tournament pre-quarter final game played at Bambalapitiya on Wednesday.
St Peters College after beating their arch rivals St. Joesph’s College in their annual limited overs encounter last week and been unbeaten in the group stages was full of confidence coming into this match. Royal in the other hand having lost to S. Thomas’ College in their annual encounter had to prove themselves right.
Royal College captain Harith Samarasinghe won the toss and elected to bat first. Royal put up formidable total in their innings. Captain Harith leading from the front top scoring with 51 runs and he was helped by left-handed Naveen Widanapathirana and wicket-keeper batsman, Tiran Danapala who scored 45 and 40 respectively. At the end of their 50 overs they managed to score 250 runs for the loss of 9 wickets. With the ball for the hosts, left arm spinner, Dinal Jayakody bagged 3 for 49 while Savin Gunasekara captured 2 wickets with his off-spinners.
The Peterite top order fell cheaply and that’s when their captain Chandula Jayamanna came on to the crease and took the game away from the Royalists. The Peterites were known to attack at any moment. It was their positive intent which took them this far this season. Chandula Jayamanna blasted his way to a century. He scored an unbeaten 120 and guided his team to victory. He was helped by their right-handed wicket-keeper batsman Lakshina Rodirigo who scored 80 runs in quick succession. The alarming factor in this match was that St. Peter’s only used 36.1 overs to chase down the target. This performance will surely give them a lot of confidence going into the next match where they will be meeting DS Senanyake College in their quarter final match.
Chief Scores:
Royal College – 250/9 in 50 overs: Harith Samarasinghe 51, Naveen Vidanapathirana 45, Thiran Danapala 40, Gavin Karunaratne 35, Dinal Jayakody 3/49, Savin Gunasekara 2/28.
St. Peter’s College – 251/4 in 36.1 overs: Chandula Jayamanne 122*, Lakkshina Rodrigo 80, Chamika Karunaratne 2/61.
