Trinity, Richmond clash for supremacy in final showdown
Defending joint champions Trinity College and Richmond College will battle for supremacy when they clash in the final of the Under-19 Division I Tier ‘A’ 2-day Inter-School Cricket Tournament scheduled to be played on April 8, 9, and 10 at the SSC ground in Colombo.
The match will no doubt be of interest to the old boys and supporters of the two teams, as they will be coming into the final with a mission. A closely contested tussle is undoubtedly on the card as the sides are led by two Sri Lanka youth players -- Manula Kularatne spearheading the Trinitians and the Richmondites being guided by Malsha Tharupathi, who had a successful stint at the ICC U-19 Youth World Cup held in South Africa.
As mentioned, Trinity will come into the field with the mission of going a step further, having shared the title with St. Joseph’s College last year after the match was abandoned, while Richmond, who got the better of their opponents with a first innings win when they met each other in the league encounter, will be coming into the game with the aim of laying their hands on the title with a better performance.
In fact the two teams were in Group X when the tournament began and Richmond succeeded to come out as the top team of the group before booking the berth to the quarter-final overcoming Nalanda College, and then followed it up by dominating St. Sebastian’s College in the semifinal encounter.
Trinity on the other hand cannot be satisfied with their performance, as they managed to end the league campaign as the fourth best team to advance to the quarterfinal. They went past D.S.
Senanayake College before securing a first innings win over Mahanama College in the semifinal.
The two teams comprise of talented players. Richmond, apart from skipper and allrounder Malsha Tharupathi, possess players in the calibre of Thamindu Pradeeptha, Sharon Abishek, Chehan Subasinghe, Malith de Silva, Yuri Koththigoda and Nikhil Jayaweera to name a few, who all have made their contributions for Richmond in their road to the final.
Trinity skipper Manula Kularatne has two top players in Supun Waduge and Dinuka Tennekoon. Along with the duo, Trinity will bank on Viduka Dhammage, Tharana Wimaladharma, Vathila Udara, Dimantha Mahavithana, Dinusha Peiris and Malith Ratnayake in this crucial battle for the title.