Pawan Rathnayake strikes a ton for Mahanama but in vain[/caption]
By Ishani Upatharitha
Royal College, Colombo and St. Joseph’s College, Colombo reached the final of the Under-19 Inter-school Division-I Tier A cricket tournament, conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA) yesterday (28).
Royal beat Mahanama College, Colombo by six wickets in their semi-final played at De Soysa Stadium, Moratuwa.
St. Joseph’s beat Trinity College, Kandy by 10 wickets in their semi-final held at Surrey Grounds at Maggona, off Kalutara.
Openers Sheran Fonseka (93 n.o.) and Sadeesh Jayawardene (62 n.o.) of St. Joseph’s made an unbroken 161 runs partnership for the first wicket.
Pawan Rathnayake, the Skipper of Mahanama, scored a valuable 114 runs in 150 balls with three boundaries and four sixes against Royal. Rathnayake and Vinuka Rubasinghe made 92 runs for the fourth wicket in the Mahanama innings, though on a losing course. Shehan Herath (62) and Sadisha Rajapaksha (85 n.o.) made 116 runs for the third wicket for Royal.
Royal College will now take on St. Joseph’s in the key U-19 limited-over final at NCC on Saturday, 1 May.
Scores:
* At De Soysa Stadium - Moratuwa: Royal beat Mahanama by six wickets:
Mahanama: 209/8 (50) (Pavan Rathnayake 114, Vinuka Rubasinghe 33, Sadishan Chamodya 16; Sonal Amarasekara 3/29)
Royal: 210/4 (47) (Sadisha Rajapaksa 85 n.o., Shehan Herath 62, Ahan Wickramasinghe 27)
* At Surrey Grounds - Maggona: St. Joseph’s beat Trinity by 10 wickets:
Trinity: 160 (49.4) (Pawan Pathiraja 61, Akram Muthalib 49; Mithira Thenura 3/26, Dunith Wellalage 3/32, Shenuka De Silva 2/30)
St. Joseph’s: 161/0 (35.4) (Sheran Fonseka 93 n.o., Sadeesh Jayawardene 62 n.o.)