St. Anthony’s enters final after a lapse of 11 years
Under-17 Cricket Tournament
St. Anthony’s College Katugastota qualified for the Under-17 Division One Cricket Tournament final after a lapse of 11 years when they recorded an exciting four-wicket win over Royal College Colombo in the first semi-final encounter played at Braybrooke Place yesterday.
St. Anthony’s, currently Coached by Sampath Perera last achieved this feat in the year 2006 under the Captaincy of Sahan Palihakkara.
St. Anthony’s Skipper Theeksha Gunasinghe won the toss and inviting Royal to take first lease of the wicket.
The Royal batsmen put up a pathetic batting performance and were struggling at 80 for nine before their last pair put in some resistance to help them end with a respectable score of 132.
Right-arm pacie Sasith Hirudika along with spinners Tharindu Hewage, Gayan Samarasinghe and Kalhara Senaratne did the damage while sharing nine wickets between them.
St. Anthony’s in their run chase experienced some anxious moments as they lost their top five batsmen with the score at 68 in the 16th over.
However, Mohamed Kamil and Navodya Wijesekera rescued the Antonians with a valuable sixth wicket stand of 45 runs and later Gihan Achintha sealed the match with a towering six in the 32nd over.
Royal: 132 in 47.2 overs (Harindu Palihawadana 31, Tharusha Rukshan 22, Sasith Hirudika 3/30, Tharindu Hewage 2/16, Gayan Samarasinghe 2/16, Kalhara Senaratne 2/29)
St. Anthony’s: 134/6 in 31.5 overs (Kalhara Senarathne 40, Mohamed Kamil 35, Navodya Wijekumara 29 n.o, Manula Perera 3/35, Dimal Wijesekara 2/35).