Birthday boy Manasa shines as Joes savour title

Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs Tournament

Speedster Manasa Madubashana celebrated his 19th birthday sharing four wickets each with spinner Yenula Dewthusa as St.Joseph’s sealed a comfortable 71 runs victory over Trinity in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs tournament final at Surrey Village ground on Wednesday.

Chasing 205 runs to win Trinity’s top order batsmen were rattled by Madubashana who took four wickets in a decisive seven over spell. He took wickets in consecutive balls in his second over to trigger a collapse from which Trinity never recovered.

The four wicket hauls by Madubashana and Dewthusa restricted Trinity to 133 runs. In their chase, Trinity lost wickets at reguler intervals and a laboured 48 runs from Sweath Anurajeewa only managed to delay the outcome till the 48th over. His innings came to an end when Madubashana held on to a regulation catch off the bowling of Aveesha Samash.

Earlier put to bat, St. Joseph’s too lost wickets at reguler intervals, but mini partnerships between Abishek Jayaweera and Senuja Wakunegoda (52 for the second wicket), and Jayaweera and Nimthaka Gunewardena (45 for the 3rd wicket) enabled them to stay aloft.

Gunawardena top scored with 47 runs, while skipper Kenath Liyanage played a vital role anchoring the tail with an unbeaten 29 runs.

The title victory capped a remarkable end to the Joes limited overs tournament campaign after having reached the knockout stage with only two victories under their belt.

by Reemus Fernando