THREE CENTURIES highlighted the Sara Trophy division one segment 'B' match between Air Force and Kandy CC at Katunayake.
Migara Perera and Indika Dilhan who were unbeaten on 154 and 105 respectively for Air Force on Friday, carried on batting. Migara Perera made 172 and Indika Dilhan 154 and Air Force made 408 for 8 wickets.
K. Gunawardena bowled best for Kandy CC to take 6 for 138.
Kandy CC in their turn, made 172 for 4 wickets with U. Kodituwakku making 102.
Tilak Fernando bowled best for Air Force and took 4 for 36. The match will be continued today.
Air Force 408 for 8 wkts dec. (Migara Perera 172, Indika Dilhan 154, S. Amarasiri 21, K. Gunewardena 6 for 138).
Kandy CC 172 for 4 wkts at close (U. Kodituwakku 102, Tilak Feernando 4 for 36). Tame draw at Kotahena
ST. BENEDICT'S vs St. Joseph's inter-school cricket encounter ended in a tame draw at Kotahena yesterday.
The Joes in reply to St. Benedict's 128, were 160 for 7 wickets when they closed their innings. In the second innings, St. Benedict's made 86 for 8 wickets at close.
St. Benedict's 128 and 86 for 8 (R. Tissera 14, A. Fernando 19, D. Silva 20, A. de Mel 3 for 19, S. Warnakula 3 for 23).
St. Joseph's 47 for no loss, 160 for 7 decl (J. Jayasuriya 43, I. Daniel 43, M. Perera 24, S. Fernando 26 n.o., R. de Silva 10, S. Perera 2 for 36, M. Fernando 3 for 19). Trinity 'A' hold Rajans 'A'
By Kandy South Group Corr.
Trinity College 'A' team fought back to hold Dharmaraja College 'A' to a draw in their inter school cricket match played at Lake View Grounds, Kandy yesterday.
Dharmaraja College 'A' 252 for 7 decl. (D. Bandara 72, S. B. Wijeratne 29, D. K. Samarakoon 15, N. B. Nagahapitiya 26 not out, D. Rodrigo 2 for 39, M. Dissanayake 4 for 22).
Trinity College 'A' 86 all out (H. Fernando 38, D. Rodrigo 14 not out, D. Bandara 2 for 27, N. Nagahapitiya 3 for 19, S. B. Wijeratne 4 for 15) and 110 for 3 wkts. (H. Fernando 52, H. Halpitiya 16). L. de Silva - match bag of 11 for 109
By Mahil Liyanage Matara Sports Cor.
THE inter-school cricket match between Rahula Matara and Revata Balapitiya ended in a draw at the Uyanwatte Esplande Matara yesterday.
Revata Vidyalaya's left-arm leg-spinner L. de Silvas match bag of 11 for 109 was the main feature of the match.
Rahula 163 (T. Dananjaya 53, P. Sampath 41, S. Saluka 28, L. de Silva 7 for 53, I. Siriwardena 3 for 47) and 117 for 7 declared (T. Dananjaya 30, D. Jayawardena 31, P. Sanjeeva 20, S. Saluka 21, L.de Silva 4 for 67)
Revata 122 (K. M. de Silva 54, K. Y. Prabath 3 for 23, S. Kelum 2 for 35, Y. Ravinath 2 for 18,) and 38 for 1 when bad light stopped play after 8.5 overs.) Manjuka Namal helps Ananda Sastralaya to 10-wkt win
MANJUKA NAMAL hit 132 off 82 balls with nine sixes and thirteen fours as Ananda Sastralaya Kotte recorded a 10-wicket win over Siri Piyaratana MV, Padukka at Kotte yesterday.
Ananda Sastralaya 300 for 8 declared (Manjuka Namal 132, Imran Samsudeen 51, Dinuka Wickremanayake 35, Nilantha Silva 33, H. L. Priyankara 5 for 113) and 11 for no loss.
Sri Piyaratne MV 172 (K. Jayalath 35, R. Dharmakeerthi 30, Vasantha Warnapura 3 for 23, Pradeep Silva 3 for 25, S. Kumarapperuma 2 for 44) and 138 (A. K. Amarakoon 60, P. Weerasinghe 20, Vasantha Warnapura 4 for 31, Pradeep Silva 3 for 44, Pradeep Fonseka 2 for 29). Draw at Moratuwa
Dilwin Mendis Moratuwa Sports Cor.
Only 16 overs were possible yesterday in the drawn school cricket encounter between St. Peter's and St. Sebastians at Moratuwa.
St. Sebastians 253 for 5 declared.
St. Peter's 8 for no loss overnight 211 for 5 at stumps (Ishara Fonseka 44, Jerome Fernando 41, Malinda Warnapura 37, S. Gunasekera 29. n.o, Chaninda Francis 3 for 46. NCC, Bloomfield evenly poised
THE NCC vs Bloomfield game in the Saravanamuttu Trophy cricket tournament was evenly poised at the end of the second-day at Maitland Place yesterday. Bloomfield made 308 and NCC in reply were 153 for 1 at close.
The highlight of the day's play was the batting of NCC opener Ruwin Pieris who was unbeaten on 66 with four boundaries. He put on 76 runs for the first wicket with Sanjeewa Weerasinghe (38) and another 77 runs for the unbroken second wicket with S. Warusamana, who was unbeaten on 41 with four boundaries.
Bloomfield 308 in 127.3 overs (S. Abeynayake 23, Pubudu Dassanayake 32, Naveed Nawaz 61, S. Perera 32, T. Gunaratne 17, Ruwan Kalpage 23, Batheesha de Silva 20, Priyankara Wickremasinghe not out 32, Pulasthi Gunaratne 28, A. Rideegamanagedera 4 for 65, C. Fernando 3 for 44).
NCC 153 for 1 at close in 60 overs (Ruwin Pieris not out 66, Sanjeewa Weerasinghe 38, S. Warusamana not out 41). Lakmal Fernando - splendid double
A FINE allround performance by Lakmal Fernando (101 not out in the second innings) and 7 for 36 for Maris Stella was the highlight of their drawn inter-school cricket match against Joseph Vaz at Negombo yesterday.
Maris Stella who made 261 for 9 wickets declared in their first innings were 209 for 9 wickets at close of play in their second turn with Lakmal Fernando making 101 not out which included 11 fours.
Joseph Vaz made 176 in their first innings and the bowler who troubled them most was Lakmal Fernando who captured 7 for 36.
Maris Stella: 261 for 9 wickets dec. (Chamila de Silva 55, K. Bulathsinhala 46, C. Croos 30, L. Anthony 29., C. Goonewardena 25, T. Livera 23 not out, T. Anton 3 for 68, B. Kennedy 3 for 50) and 209 for 9 wickets at close (C. Croos 23, Mevan Fernando 23, S. Cooray 4 for 86, S. Weerasinghe 3 for 29).
Joseph Vaz 176 (K. Ranjan 56, T. Suwapath 54, S. Cooray 21, Lakmal Fernando 7 for 36, C. Goonewardena 2 for 59).
Skipper Kumara shines in Nalanda's innings win over Thurstan
By Ranjan Anandappa
NALANDA skipper Niranjan Kumara produced a fine all-round effort 46 runs and a match bag of 10 for 62 to give his side an innings and 40 runs win against Thurstan to obtain their first win for the season at Campbell Place yesterday.
Niranjan Kumara took three wickets in the first innings but it was his energetic spell (7 for 19) in the second innings that really gave the Nalandians the win.
The match began only at 1.15 p.m. due to a wet surface and Nalanda continuing their overnight 146 for 7 wickets reached 204. T. Wickremasinghe 4 for 56 and P. Mallikarachchi 3 for 37 did the restricting job for Thurstan.
Thurstan, going in for the second time with a deficit of 77 runs, crumbled in 13.3 overs for a paltry 37 runs, with none of their batsmen being able to reach double figures.
Kumara was well assisted by K. Gangodavila 3 for 16 for Nalanda.
Thurstan 127 (D. Premadasa 44, S. Perera 27, N. Gamage 25, Niranjan Kumara 3 for 43, Kelum Gangodavila 2 for 37) and 37 off 13.3 overs (Niranjan Kumara 7 for 19, Kelum Gangodavila 3 for 16).
Nalanda 146 for 7 overnight 204 (Dhanuka Dayaratne 21, Mevan Porage 11, Pradeep Hadigalle 24, Niranjan Kumara 46, dilhan Jayasundera 19, Sivalee Dissanayake 20, Kelum Gangodavila 15, T. Wickremasinghe 4 for 56, S. Aponso 2 for 23, P. Mallikarachchi 3 for 37).
Thomian skipper Nilanka Peiris gets hat-trick
By Richard Dwight
THE ONLY noteworthy performance in the drawn cricket encounter between Ananda and S. Thomas' was a hat-trick by the Thomian skipper Nilanka Peiris which enabled his side to dismiss Ananda for 121 at Ananda Mawatha yesterday.
It was a delayed start due to overnight rain when Ananda resuming their first innings with the score at 42 for 4 in reply to S. Thomas' total of 221 shortly after lunch found the bowling not very much to their liking. They found the pace-cum spin combination of Lakmal Fernando and skipper Nilanka Peiris difficult to cope with and lost wickets at regular intervals to be 55 for 6 wickets and eventually folded up for 121.
Nilanka Peiris (off spin) in his 6.5 over-spell had a hat-trick taking a wicket in the last ball of his fourth over and two successive wickets in the first two balls of his fifth over and finished with 4 for 14 whilst medium-pacer Lakmal Fernando had 3 for 29.
Nuwan Jayawardene and Rajitha Basnayake made 32 and 22 respectively for Ananda.
Ananda quite out of character following-on with a deficit of 100 runs were 70 for 2 in their second innings at the close.
S. Thomas' 221.
Ananda 42 for 4 o/n contd. 121 (N. Jayawardene 32, R. Basnayake 22, N. Peiris 4 for 14, L. L. Fernando 3 for 29, S. Medonza 2 for 5) and 70 for 2 (L. Fernando 32, S. Panapitiya 11 n.o., S. Peiris 1 for 10, S. Medonza 1 for 10).
Pinnaduwa and Ferdinand save Antonians
By Lal Gunesekera
A fighting unbroken 70-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Amila Pinnaduwa (not out 31) and Neil Ferdinand (not out 36) saved St. Anthony's College, Katugastota from certain defeat against Royal on the matting wicket at Reid Avenue yesterday. Having to make 178 for victory, the Antonians were 104 for 6 at close.
Royal made 144 in their first innings, while the Antonians replied with 118. Royal in their second turn declared at 151 for 5, leaving the Antonians to make 178.
The Antonians at one stage were 34 for 6, but the unbroken seventh wicket partnership by Pinnaduwa and Ferdinand saved them.
In Royal's second innings, there was a 101 run stand for the fourth wicket between Ruchira Jayasuriya (46) and Umesh Gunawardene (77 with nine boundries and two sixes) before the declaration.
Royal - 144 in 49.4 overs (Ranil Pieris 22, Shanaka Perera 40, Harshana Rajakaruna 18, L. Fonseka 2 for 23, Mahesh Palihakkara 6 for 47) and 151 for 5 declared in 41 overs (Ruchira Jayasuriya 46, Umesh Gunawardene 77, Mahesh Palihakkara 2 for 65, Amila Pinnaduwa 2 for 11).
St. Anthony's - 118 in 57 overs (Amila Pinnaduwa 28, S. Burke 12, Neil Ferdinand 11, Jehan Mubarak 3 for 36, Harshana Rajakaruna 4 for 26) and 104 for 6 at close in 38.1 overs (Amila Pinnaduwa not out 31, Neil Ferdinand not out 36, A. Udamalagama 4 for 14, Harshana Rajakaruna 2 for 20).
Inter-Plantation cricket sixes should bring more enthusiasm
By S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy South Group Cor.
THE INAUGURAL inter-plantations six-a-side cricket tournament organised by the Dimbulla Athletic and Cricket Club and sponsored by Richard Pieris Group of Companies will get under way on January 14 and 15 at the Radella Grounds, Nanu Oya.
The inter plantations seven-a-side rugger tournament organised by the Dimbulla Club for the CIC Trophy was a tremendous success for the past four years.
The honourary secretary Trevor Nugawela and president Tuan Doole of the Dimbulla Club told this correspondent at an interview that one of the oldest cricket fixtures in the island is between Dimbula and Dickoya which was first played in 1872 at Radella. Their idea in conducting this tournament is to give the game a new lease of life in the plantations, so that the players could continue to play the game at competitive level.
Trevor Nugawela who is also the secretary of the Nuwara District CA said that former Sri Lanka, S. Thomas' and SSC cricketer Ian Pieris who was also one-time president of the Cricket Board, has been of tremendous help to develop the grounds. Mr. Pieris who heads the sponsor firm of this tournament has re-laid the turf wickets, and a mobile sight screen has been put up among other works. Mr. Nugawela said that this should give cricket in the plantations a tremendous boost.
Some of the plantations companies that will be taking part in this tournament are Kotagala, Balangoda, Udapussellawa, Pussellawa, Bogowantalawa, Watawala, Malwatte, Agalawatte, Kegalle, Horana, Agrapatana, Talawekelle, Nuwara-Eliya, RPK, Dipped Products, Maturata, Kelani Valley, Maskeliya, Namunukula, Madulsima, Hapugastenna. Some of these plantation companies have estates in upcountry as well as low-country and thus the tournament will not be confined to players in the upcountry area as the cricket players from other areas will also be drawn into this tournament.
Tuan Doole said this tournament will be an annual feature and he hoped that the sponsors will continue to assist them.
The weather up at Radella is fine these days and two days of entertaining cricket is in store for the cricket fans.