Sports

Royal meet St. Joseph’s in Division I Tier ‘A’ cricket final

Published

5 years ago

2021/05/1

by Reemus Fernando

An intriguing battle is on the cards when St. Joseph’s meet unbeaten Royal in the Under-19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Cricket final at NCC ground today. After struggling early in the tournament and earning their knockout stage ticket the hardest way possible, the Joes transformed dramatically producing dominant performances in the quarter-final and the semi-final to be on par with Royal, who had been considered a title contender from the time they concluded the league stage.

Royal beat all opponents, namely, Trinity, Gurukula, DSS, Wesley and De Mazenod during the league stage to emerge Group ‘X’ champions. From skipper Ahan Wickramasinghe, Sadisha Rajapaksha, Isiwara Dissanayake to Kavindu Pathirathna made their batting look solid, while Sonal Amarasekara, Kavindu Pathirathna and Don Poddiwela in the pace attack and Gishan Balasooriya in the spin department shared bowling duties. Royal continued in the same vain during the knockout sage. First they beat Nalanda by six wickets and edged out one of the favourties to the title Mahanama in the semi-final.

In contrast the Joes suffered two defeats during the league stage. They could muster only 125 runs against Mahanama (beaten by 88 runs) and lost a low scoring thriller against St. Sebastian’s (by two runs). The victories against St. Anne’s (by 6 wickets), St. Thomas’, Matara (by six wickets) and St. Benedict’s (by 143 runs) could secure them only the third place in Group ‘Y’ behind Mahanama and St. Sebastian’s. But from then on they have been a totally different outfit beating Richmond and Trinity by huge margins to secure the final spot.

Sheran Fonseka maintaining an average of over 60 runs, Sadeesh Jayawardena, Dunith Wellalage and Shevon Daniel have been the main contributors with the bat. Skipper Wellalage who has taken 13 wickets with his left-arm spin, Shenuka de Alwis and pacies Deshan Seneviratne and Mithira Thenura are the bowlers who have been key to their success so far.

Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association had to opt for a curtailed Under-19 tournament consisting of two Tiers in each Division after the Ministry of Education granted permission to conduct tournaments within a short window. The SLSCA could not conclude their 2019/20 season due to the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic and did not conduct the two-day league tournament. The team performances of this limited overs tournament which will conclude with today’s final will not be considered for promotions or demotions.

Teams:

St. Joseph’s (from):

Dunith Wellalage (Captain), Sadeesh Jayawardana, Sheran Fonseka, Yesith Rupasinghe, Mithira Thenura, Shevon Daniel, Dinal Anuradha, Shenuka de Silva, Deshan Senaviratne, Lahiru Amarasekara, Hirun Matheesha, Ashan de Alwis, Dineth Anthony, Gagan Chamod, Shenuk Serasinghe, Hiran Jayasundara, Sahan Dabare, Yenula Dewthusa, Sasanka Ranaweera, Kenath Sasmina.

Officials:

Dilan Ramanayake (Head Coach), Lahiru Kanishka Wickramasinghe (Asst. Coach), Asiri Caldera (Master in Charge)

Royal (from):

Ahan Wickramasinghe (Captain), Sineth Jayawardena, Sehan Herath, Isiwara Dissanayaka, Sadisha Rajapaksha, Kavindu Pathirathnna, Gishan Balasooriya, Prashan Kalhara, Sonal Amarasekara, Dan Poddiwela, Dasis Manchanayake, Ashen Gamage, Uvindu Weerasekara, Uthum Dissanayake, Nethin Panapitiya, Damith Kappagoda, Resandu Tillekaratne, Lahiru Gangewatte.

Officials:

Jehan Mubarak (Head Coach), Ajantha Kumara (Asst. Coach), Dharantha Menerigama (Asst. coach), Anura Prasantha (Master in Charge)

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Sports

Ganuka accomplishes rare feat

Published

7 hours ago

2025/12/10

Thilina Walpola

Ganuka Fernando accomplished a rare feat reaching the final of the Nepal J30 ITF tournament in Pokohora. He became the first Sri Lankan male player in more than a decade to reach an overseas final at the tournament held in Nepal.

‎The St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya player finished as the runner up.

‎He is the first to reach an overseas ITF final after Sharmal Dissanayake accomplished the feat in 2013.

‎Sharmal has the credit of winning ITF tournaments in India and in Brunei. He also reached another final in India.

Sports

Unbeaten Seylan Bank retain basketball title

Published

7 hours ago

2025/12/10

Thilina Walpola

After nearly three months of competition, the 33rd Mercantile Services Basketball League concluded with Seylan Bank being crowned as undisputed champions. The defending champions showcased their dominance with an unbeaten record cruising past all their opponents.

Seylan Bank started off the campaign by beating Hatton National Bank in a three point thriller with the final score being 58-55. They overcame Commercial Credit 59-47 and had a big win over David Pieris Motor Company 73-59.

In the semi-final, Seylan Bank overcame Commercial Credit by 13 points while the final was a rematch against David Pieris Motor Company and won comfortably by Seylan.

Epciba Washington Clay of Seylan was named the Most Valuable Player.

The Seylan Bank side comprised; Kamalene Mills, Kunchana Wijesiriwardena, Kindu Jayaliya, Benika Thalagala, Epciba Washington Clay, Hansini Maleesha, Nihari Perera, Sanduni Bollegala, Maleka Rafaideen, Bethani Liyanage and Malavika Ariyaratne.

The Seylan Bank team was coached by Chathura Rodrigo.

Latest News

Henry, Santner, Nathan Smith ruled out of rest of West Indies Test series

Published

2 days ago

2025/12/8

Priyan

Matt Henry is nursing a calf injury [Cricinfo]

New Zealand’s bowling spearhead Matt Henry (calf strain), seam-bowling allrounder Nathan Smith (side strain) and spin-bowling allrounder Mitchell Santner (groin injury) have all been ruled out of the rest of the home Test series against West Indies.

Glenn Phillips, who joined the squad in Christchurch early as a substitute fielder, has officially been added to the Test squad for the remainder of the series, New Zealand Cricket confirmed. This after he proved his match fitness in the Plunket Shield before joining the squad for the first Test, and he could be in contention to be selected in the XI for the second Test.

In another bit of good news for New Zealand, Daryl Mitchell, who put in a long shift as a substitute fielder in the first Test, is set to be available for the second and slot back in as their middle-order mainstay.

Wicketkeeper-batter Tom Blundell had already been sidelined from the second Test in Wellington after suffering a hamstring injury while batting on day one in Christchurch. Mitchell Hay has been added to the squad and could make his Test debut.

Also, a day after uncapped seamer Michael Rae was called up to the Test squad, Kristan Clarke, a seam-bowling allrounder from Northern Districts, was added to it. With Kyle Jamieson and Will O’Rourke managing “return to play” protocols, New Zealand were left scrambling for last-minute replacements, with the Wellington Test set to begin on November 10.

Both Rae and Clarke were pulled out of the third round of the Plunket Shield. Clarke didn’t bowl for ND in the final innings against Otago in Hamilton, with rookie James Naylor stepping in as his replacement.

Clarke, 24, is uncapped in Test cricket, but was recently part of the ODI series against England as a replacement player after Henry had suffered a separate calf injury. He has now earned his maiden Test call-up as a like-for-like replacement for Smith.

“On the cricket field, I’m a bowling allrounder, you know, and I pride myself on trying to offer as much as I can in the game,” Clarke said in October after breaking into the ODI side. “I just want to be a good person around the group also and just offer as much as I can.”

Clarke has played 27 first-class games so far, taking 77 wickets at an average of 33 and scoring 893 runs at an average of 23.50. He was also part of a New Zealand A tour to Bangladesh during the winter. Though bowling is his primary skill, Kristian is also a capable batter and had notched up his maiden century in senior cricket, against Central Districts in the one-day Ford Trophy, in October.

Clarke hails from Te Awamutu, a small town in the Waikato region and played for Waikato Valley in the Hawke Cup before rising up the ranks in New Zealand cricket. His brother Matti Clarke has also played for Waikato Valley in the Hawke Cup.

“Yeah, so [I was] born and raised in Te Awamutu, [and I] still live in Te Awamutu, still at home,” Clarke said. “I hold Te Amuru very dear to my heart – it’s a cool little town and yeah, quiet little place. Just sort of grew up through the cricket system there and then yeah, sort of just went from there.”

While Blair Tickner, who was the reserve seamer at Hagley Oval, comes into the selection frame for Wellington, there might be a toss-up between Rae and Clarke for a potential Test debut at Basin Reserve.

The first Test was drawn after West Indies, faced with a 530-run deficit in the fourth innings, held on for 163.3 overs to pull off a draw, with Justin Greaves (202 not out) and Shai Hope (140) their main men with the bat

New Zealand squad for second Test vs West Indies :
Tom Latham (capt), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Hay (wk), Michael Bracewell, Zak Foulkes, Jacob Duffy, Blair Tickner, Michael Rae, Kristian Clarke

[Cricinfo]