St. Joseph’s triumph in title clash

Pacer Maanasa and spinner Yenula bowl out Trinity for 133

The victorious Josephian team  

By M. Shamil Amit  

St. Joseph’s took sweet revenge over defending champions Trinity when they clinched the Under-19 inter-school limited over title with an easy 71-run win in the final played at the Surrey Village ground in Maggona yesterday.   

Right arm pacie Maanasa Madubashana laid the foundation for the Josephians as he ran through the Trinity top order batting with his four-wicket haul to have them struggling on 48 for five in the 18th over. Left arm spinner Yenula Dewthusa did the damage in the latter part with his four-wicket haul to send Trinity tumbling for 133.  

The writing on the wall was there for Trinity despite the seventh wicket pair of Dinal Fernando and Sweath Anurajeewa offering resistance with a brief partnership of 35. After it was broken, Trinity were left with the daunting task of making another 116 in 88 balls but were unable to achieve the task.  

Earlier in the day, St. Joseph’s invited to take first lease of the wicket, made steady progress with two useful partnerships with Nimthaka Gunawardena involved in both. He put on 52 for the second wicket with Abishek Jayaweera and 45 for the fourth wicket with Yenula Dewthusa and were sitting pretty on 156 for five in the 40th over.   

But they lost their last five wickets for the addition of just 48 before being bowled out for 204 but succeeded in defending it.  

Chief scores

At Maggona – St. Joseph’s won by 71 runs:

St. Joseph’s 204 in 48.4 overs (Nimthaka Ginawardena 47, Abishek Jayaweera 33, Kenath Liyanage 29 n.o, Senuja Wakunugoda 24, Rishma Amarasinghe 19, Malith Ratnayake 3/41, Vathila Udara 2/29, Sweath Anurajeewa 2/38)  

Trinity 133 in 47.5 overs (Sweath Anurajeewa 48, Dinal Fernando 21, Rajindu Tilekeratne 16, Yenula Dewthusa 4/23, Maanasa Madubashana 4/34).