St. Benedict’s miss out on outright win by three runs

By M. Shamil Amit

St. Benedict’s College missed out an outright victory by just three runs as Royal College, Colombo held on determinedly to force a draw to their Inter-Schools Under-19 Cricket Tournament encounter which concluded at Kotahena yesterday. 

Chasing a victory target of 192 runs, the Benedictines got off to a great start through their opening combination of Sanoj Perera (78 n.o,) and Vihanga Ruwanara (70).
However, when the home side looked like reaching their target the Umpires called off the game when they were just three runs away from an outright victory. 
Meanwhile, a splendid unbeaten 150 from Lohan de Soysa helped Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda reach a formidable 278 for eight in their first innings on the opening day of their encounter against Moratu MV which began at the Galle Stadium yesterday.

Umayanga Suwaris cracked an unbeaten 122 as S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia compiled 252 runs in their first innings on the opening day of their encounter against St. Anne’s College which began at Kurunegala yesterday.  

Results:
At Kotahena (Match drawn)
Royal: 109 and 204/8 declared (Thithira Weerasinghe 71, Isiwara Dissanayaka 34, Akindu Karunarathne 3/35, Onila Pathirana 3/66) 
St. Benedict’s: 122 and 189/1 (Sanoj Perera 78 n.o, Vihanga Ruwanara 70)  
At Galle Stadium     
Dharmasoka: 278/8 declared (Lohan de Soysa 150 n.o, Hasitha Rajapaksa 45 n.o) 
Moratu MV: 5/0.
At Kurunegala   
S. Thomas’: 252 (Umayanga Suwaris 122 n.o, Maneesha Rupasinghe 43, Yasiru Rodrigo 40, Pasindu Tennakoon 5/73) 
St. Anne’s: 30/2.
At Wattala 
St. Anthony’s, Wattala: 119 (Avishka Tharindu 32, Damindu Sankalpa 5/34, Keshara Nuwantha 3/17)  
St. Servatius’: 142/7 (Kesara Nuwantha 45, Pushpitha Dilshan 30, Kaveesha Dulanjana 6/40).