St. Benedict’s triumph over Richmond to seal semi-final spot

St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena booked their place in the U19 Division 1 – Tier ‘A’ Cricket Tournament 2022/2023 beating the much-fancied Richmond College, Galle in their Quarter Final clash yesterday in Dombagoda.

After a rain-hit Day 1, Richmond struggled to get past the first innings score posted by St. Benedicts as they struggled towards 96/9 before declaring their innings. Bhanuka Manohara’s 49 run-knock was the only bright spot in that innings.

With a lead of 79 runs, St. Benedict’s were bowled out for 120 in their second innings courtesy of off-spinner Tharinda Nirmal’s fifer. Nirmal finished with a match bag of nine wickets. Shenel Samarathunga top scored with 44 runs setting a target of 200 runs for Richmond’s victory.

Bhanuka Manohara and Maheesha de Silva showed some clear intent as they went after the bowlers with a 27-ball 46 and a 33-ball 54 respectively. However, they only managed to get 142 runs after losing 5 wickets in just 19 overs, as the game ended in a draw.

In other games, Maliyadeva College posted a mammoth first innings total of 421/9, where they decided to declare. There was a fabulous knock from Gayana Weerasinghe as he made a 155-ball 149 with 17 fours & 2 sixes. Skipper Amesh Thennakoon stroked a half-century too, while another four batters were able to cross the 30-run mark, which helped them to create this total. On the other hand, Mahinda’s Shehan Hasaranga, who was the opening bowler, bagged 6 for 87 as well.

In reply, Mahinda College lost their first 6 wickets for just 154 runs, courtesy of first innings centurion Gayana Weerasinghe’s 4-fer.

Somehow, Mahinda College were able to post 400 for 7 when the match ended in a draw courtesy of magnificent rear guard action from Skipper Dhanuja Induwara & Tharusha Dilshan, where they put 243 runs for the 7^th wicket. Skipper Dhanuja played an incredible innings of 169 unbeaten runs off 168 balls with 14 fours & 6 sixes, while Tharusha supported quite well with a 160-ball 117 runs.

In another traditional game, Mahanama batting duo Anjala Bandara and Rashmika Perera slammed hundreds against Prince of Wales’ College.

Brief Scores:

Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala 421/9d (104.1) Gayana Weerasinghe 149, Amesh Thennakoon 64, Chamathkara Hettiarachchi 48, Shehan Hasaranga 6/87

Mahinda College, Galle 400/7 (93) Dhanuja Induwara 169*, Tharusha Dilshan 117, Ranmina Hettiarachchi 30, Gayana Weerasinghe 4/81
Result : Match Drawn

St. Benedict’s College, Colombo 175 (73) Sharujan Shanmuganathan 70, Chamath Chathurya 38, Tharinda Nirmal 4/51, Sharon Abhishek 3/42 & 120 (37) Shenel Samarathunga 44, Tharinda Nirmal 5/23

Richmond College, Galle 96/9d (47.3) Bhanuka Manohara 49, Vihara Aththanayake 2/8, Mevan Dissanayake 2/21, Onesh Mickeal 2/26 & 142/5 (19) Maheesha de Silva 54, Bhanuka Manohara 46, Vihara Aththanayake 3/42
Result: Match Drawn (St. Benedict’ College won 1st innings)

 

Mahanama College, Colombo 457 (89.5) Anjala Bandara 138, Rashmika Perera 117, Kavindu Amameth 62, Prince Fernando 7/113

Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa 34/0 (8) Uneth Peiris 30*
Day 1 – Stumps