Lesser known schools to the fore
S. Thomas’, St Sebastian’s chalk up sixth outright wins
The completion of the Under 19 inter- school cricket encounters over the weekend saw two schools S. Thomas’ and St Sebastian’s chalk up their sixth outright win for the season.
Some of the major inter- school cricket playing schools are undergoing a torrid time with the lackluster performance of Ananda since recently is now the talking point in the schools cricket fraternity.
Since the new cricket season got underway last month the Anandians chalked up three outright wins but they have fallen back. Nalanda too are not performing to their potential as they have been able to record only one outright win so far. In contrast lesser known schools are performing better than the schools in the metropolis. In the hill country apart from Trinity the other team to take note of is Dharmaraja who are having a fruitful season this year.
Meanwhile the outright win secured by S. Thomas’ was a fine performance where they got the better of Prince of Wales by six wickets and in the process the Cambrians succumbed to their second successive defeat within one week.
The Thomians was in the box seat on day one and they continued to dominate and had the inconsistent Cambrians in a spot of bother.
St. Sebastian’s on the other hand secured two outright wins in four days with the first being against Isipathana whom they overcame by an innings and three days later followed it up with a comfortable ten wicket win over giant killers Gurukula MV. Of course the Sebs had some hiccups in the third term matches but now they seemed to be settling down and the team is playing with a load of confidence than before.
Apart from that there were five other outright victories from the matches that were played around the island. Richmond is going great guns as they continued their winning spree when they defeated Maliyadeva by ten wickets.
Prince of Wales made amends when they defeated Ananda by nine wickets. They are achieving an outright win over Ananda after a lapse of 30 years. The two schools according to records had stopped playing in the early 70’s but began playing against each from 1981 and this was their third win since the revival.
St. Thomas Matale along with Bandaranayake MMV Gampaha and St John’s Nugegoda were the other teams to secure outright wins. St Thomas Matale had fluctuated fortunes as after recording an easy ten wicket win over Piliyandala Central they were beaten by Bandaranayake MV.
St. John’s Nugegoda recorded a massive innings and 147 runs win over Wayamba Royal and in this match 15 year old Thaneesha Weerakoon completed a match bag of 13 wickets. In the other matches played during the weekend which was both in the traditional and tournament matches conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association there were interesting tussles with some of the teams being unfortunate to miss out securing outright wins.
Royal Panadura who earlier shocked the fancied D.S. Senanayake team put in another fine performance as they got the better of Ananda. The Panadura boys dominated the proceedings on both the days but they had to be satisfied with a first innings win.
But in the match after that Royal Panadura went down to St. Sylvester’s Kandy in the first innings. St. Peter’s too played two matches over the weekend first with Royal which was drawn and then against Thurstan they registered a first inning win.
Mahanama Colombo was also engaged in two matches going down to Wesley in the first inning and then getting the better of Dharmapala while St. Joseph’s and Zahira recorded first inning wins over St. Aloysius and Mahinda.