DS Senanayake College booked a place in the semi-finals of the under 19 all island limited overs tournament 2015 when they defeated St. Peters College by 56 runs (D/L method) at MCA grounds on Friday despite a stunning knock of 141 by Peterite opener, Dineth Thimodya.
St Peter’s captain Chandual Jayamanna won the toss and elected to field first due to the overnight rain. DS Senanyake after a convincing win over Prince of Wales was full confidence coming into this clash while St Peters in the other hand had a daunting target to overcome but they did it in style in their quarter-final game against Royal College.
DS Senanyake batted with a very positive attitude as their left-handed opener Kavin Bandara top scored with a quick fire 89, he deserved the triple figures but fell short of it. Skipper Harith Maduwantha chipped in with another handy half century. He got out for 62 while Thimila Vidyasekara scored a valuable 45 helping his team to post a mammoth total of 307 for the loss of 7 wickets in their 50 overs. With the ball for the Peterite skipper, Chandula Jayamanna took 2 for 15 while off-spinner Taneesha Weerakoon took 2 scalps for 40.
The boys from Bambalapitiya came to bat with confidence having successfully chased down 250 in their previous game. Their innings got under away as the clouds were gathering up above them. St Peters kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. The lonely star for SPC was their highest run-scorer this season Dineth Thimodya as he smashed a quick-fire 141. He was holding one end up while smashing the ball all around the park. Even though they kept losing wickets, they kept scoring at a really high rate thanks to left-handed Dineth.
When the rain started to fall heavily they were 198 for the loss of 7 wickets in just 29.4 overs. They were par with the scoring rate but their worry was the wicket column. Play did not resume after the stoppage of play giving DS Senanyake College a worthy win. Dineth’s knock will be remembered for a long time even thought he had end up in the losing side. With the ball for DS Senanyake, off-spinning skipper Harith Maduwantha bagged 4 for 23 runs to steer his team over the winning line.
Chief Scores:
DS Senanayake – 307/7 in 50 overs: Kavin Bandara 89, Harith Maduwantha 62, Thimila Vidyasekara 45, Akil Inham 36, Chandula Jayamanne 2/15, Taneesha Weerakoon 2/40.
St. Peters College 198/7 in 29.4 overs: Dineth Thimodya 141, Sachin Dalpadado 28, Harith Maduwantha 4/23.
