The ‘royal’ slide to defeat
Wesley regain Sir Frank Gunasekera shield after 43 years
Wesley recorded an outright win over Royal after 43 years with a crushing ten wicket victory in the Under 19 inter-school cricket encounter at Campbell Park yesterday to regain the Sir Frank Gunasekera Shield.
Wesley’s last win over Royal was way back in 1969 when the side was led by Amaresh Rajaratnam and Royal by Eardley Lieversz
Wesley had put themselves in a strong position on day one when right arm pacie Sadeem Thawfeeq along with Sachin Jaya
wardena wrecked the Royal batting to skittle them out for 89 and the home side ended the day on 214 for 7.
The second day’s play saw Wesley making 239 with Ashen Fonseka stroking 88 and Ashail Kariyawasam 70. Royal batting the second time with a deficit of 150 runs made steady progress and reached 155 for 6 after lunch but they lost the remaining four wickets for 13 runs leaving Wesley an easy target of 18 runs which they scored in 5.3 overs.
Prince of Wales were home for lunch after recording a crushing innings and 163 runs over Joseph Vaz in their Under 19 inter-school cricket game at Moratuwa.
The hero of the Cambrians victory was right hand batsman Kusal Mendis who had a double celebration when he slammed a swashbuckling 206 in just 214 balls and in the process reached the milestone of 1000 runs for the season.
Kusal reached his 1000 runs from 12 matches which included a double ton, two tons and four half tons. Kusal’s knock had 29 boundaries and a six which saw his side resuming from 279 for 5 make 333 for 9 declared.
Imras Rafi too reached the milestone of 1000 runs with an unbeaten 111 as Zahira recorded their fifth outright win for the season with a mammoth 335 runs win over President’s College at Maradana yesterday.
Imras reached his milestone from 13 matches which included three tons and seven half tons. Zahira who made 295 for 8 declared bundled out their opponents for 131 in the first innings.
Zahira batting the second time made 240 for 1 declared with Imras and Mahir Mohamed who made an unbeaten 112 putting on a stand of 232 runs for the second wicket.
President’s Kotte set a massive target of 405 runs for victory was shot out for 69 with Pradeep Ananda and Waseem Sinnen sharing eight wickets between them. Pradeep ended with a match bag of 8 for 72.
Nalanda coasted to an easy ten wicket win over Kalutara MV which was their second outright win for the season, at Panagoda yesterday. As expected the match at Kotahena between St. Benedict’s and St. Joseph’s at Kotahena ended in a tame draw yesterday.
St. Joseph’s (46/1 overnight) 179 for 5 declared (Vidusha Jayasinghe 57, Sadeera Samarawickrema 43, Yashan Samarasinghe 20, Piyumal Perera 18, Supeshala Jayatileke 19 n.o; Yohan Soysa 3 /51) and 60/1 (Vidusha Jayasinghe 34, Sadeera Samarawickrama 24 n.o.)
At Campbell Park – Wesley beat Royal by 10 wickets
Royal 89 (Anupa Tillekeratne 25 n.o; Sadeem Thawfeeq 5/ 17, Sachin Jayawardena 3/20) and 168 (Milan Abeysekera 44, Sampath de Silva 35, Imal Liyanage 18;Sachin Jayawardena 6/ 51, Ashail Kariyawasam 2 /35)
Wesley (214/7 overnight) 239 (Ashen Fonseka 88, Ashail Kariyawasam 70; Devin Pathmanathan 7/77) and 19 for no loss
At Moratuwa – Prince of Wales beat Joseph Vaz by an innings
Joseph Vaz 94 (Shehan Fernando 27, Prabashwara Perera 25; Shanuka Dulaj 4/ 13, Thilan Nimesh 4 /33) and 76 (Shavinda Deemantha 20; Hashan Fernando 4/ 40, Thilan Nimesh 3/ 7)
Prince of Wales ( 279/ 5 overnight) 333 for 9 declared (Kusal Mendis 206, Tharindu Dilshan 40, Suchira Fernando 39, Shanuka Dulaj 31;Asanga Ratnayake 4/ 98, Ravindu Dilshan 2/ 80)
At Maradana – Zahira beat President’s Kotte by 335 runs
Zahira 295 for 8 declared (Imras Rafi 62, Dilshad Hilmy 51, Mahir Mohamed 42, Mohamed Salman 39, Dilshad Umar 26 n.o; Sadeesh Liyanage 2/ 38, Mohamed Halan 2/59, Yashan Kuruwita 2/ 73) and 240 for 1 declared (Mahir Mohamed 112 n.o., Imras Rafi 111 n.o.)
President’s Kotte ( 124/ 8 overnight) 131 (Malshan Jayawardena 55; Pradeep Ananda 4/ 58, Dilshad Umar 3/11, Waseem Sinnen 2/4) and 69 (Pradeep Ananda 4/14, Waseem Sinnen 4/ 18, Basith Marikkar 2/ 24)
At Panagoda – Nalanda beat Kalutara by 10 wickets
Nalanda 274 for 9 declared ( Ishan Rangana 80, Lahiru Jayakody 66, Lahiru Wijeratne 39, Manula Jayasekera 33; Dimuth Pasindu 4/24, Nimesh Madushan 3/78) and 52 for no loss (Woshantha Silva 50 n.o.)
Kalutara MV (16/2 overnight) 118 (Vinodh Rasinda 63; Kusal Dias 4/ 12, Pramud Hettiwatte 2/26, Koshan Dhansuhka 2 for 47) and 204 ( Vinodh Rasinda 20, Nuwan Sanjeewa 107 n.o.: Kusal Dias 4 /44, Nikila Weerasinghe 2/ 49)
At Kotahena – Match drawn
St. Benedict’s 198 (Jason Perera 46, Janindu Tillekeratne 41, Praveen Gunawardena 23, Yohan Soysa 21;Shivane Alirajah 5/17, Yashan Samarasinghe 3/32) and 152 for 7 declared (Arjuna Perera 57, Jason Perera 36, Sameera Sandamal 17; Supeshala Jayatileke 4/51, Yashan Samarasinghe 2 /15)