This meticulously planned tournament completed its fifth successful year at the Wesley College Grounds, Campbell Park last weekend. It is indeed a tribute to the organisational capabilities of the OWSC with Eric Gauder as convenor, that every year this event is one of the most looked forward to tournaments on the schools' cricketing calendar.
It has often been said that ''If you want rain, organise a cricket match''. But with regard to this tournament the converse is often true. If you want good weather let the OWSC organise a cricket tournament for you! For days before the tournament it rained so much, that the organisers had to revert to the red leather ball and traditional sight screens and the matting wicket. But two fairly clear days accounted for exciting cricket.
This year 22 teams vied for honours and it has been a feature of the tournament that every year some of the lesser known schools outwit the more fancied schools. In the preliminary rounds Sri Jayawardenepura MV outplayed St Joseph's College and Maris Stella edged out D.S. Senanayake College. Nalanda and S. Thomas' Mt. Lavinia suffered a similar fate at the hands of the ultimate winners Prince of Wales and the runners up De Mazenod respectively in the semi finals. In the first semi-final Prince of Wales batting first against Nalanda lost an early wicket when Pubudu Ranaweera was run out for 2 with the total reading a mere 3 runs. However Hasantha Fernando 21 off 11 deliveries and Nuwan Tharaka 18 from 9 balls avoided a further collapse. 11 runs were collected from the first over and the Cambrians looked set for a reasonable total. The Cambrians lost their second wicket at 31 when Hasantha Fernando was dismissed. After the 3rd over Prince of Wales sitting pretty at 41 for 2. The 4th over bowled by Sanjaya Rodrigo proved to be disastrous for the Cambrians.
Suicidal running between the wickets accounted for Janaka Wannekawatte being dismissed for 7 to make the score 48/3. Further tragedy struck when Kelum Fernando was run out a run later and the scoreboard read 49/4 and the POW batsmen were all at sea. The Nalandians showed a lot of enthusiasm in their fielding supported by a vast number of supporters. After 4 overs the scoreboard read 52/4 at an average of 13 runs an over. Finally the innings folded up at 60 all out with 4 runs outs accounting for the dismissals.
Nalanda too had an early setback losing D. Dayaratne run out for 1, however 16 runs were scored from the 1st over. Mevan Porage had a good knock of 17 and after 3 overs Nalanda posted a score of 38/2 off 3 overs. They then needed 14 runs off the last over and Kelum Fernando bowled an immaculate line and length to give just 3 runs and restrict the Nalandians to 50.S. Rodrigo top scored with 32 n.o. The Cambrians ran out winners by 10 runs.
The second semi final between STC, Mt Lavinia and De Mazenod saw the Thomians post a total of 57 all out in 4.2 overs. Upekha Fernando 24 off 10 deliveries started the onslaught, but again indiscreet running between the wickets resulted in two run outs and it was left to Naren Ratwatte 16 from 6 balls to resurrect the innings. The De Mazenod innings started in rollicking fashion with a first ball six off Upeka Fernando and 20 runs were conceded by him. However Nilanka Pieris with 7 runs and L. Fernando with 6 runs in the 2nd and 3rd overs respectively pegged back the scoring rate. 17 runs in the 4th over bowled by A. Fernando eased the pressure for the De Macedonians who achieved victory in the last over bowled by Naren Ratwatte.
In the final between Prince of Wales Moratuwa and De Mazenod, Kandana, Prince of Wales batting first totalled 58 for 2 and in reply De Mazenod could only muster 45 all out and the Moratuwa school ran out worthy winners by 13 runs. Upeka Fernando of S. Thomas' set up a new individual batting record in the tournament of 70 runs eclipsing Nalandian Mahela Jawardena's 51.