St. Joseph Vaz’s remarkable rise culminates with promotion to top division

by Reemus Fernando

St. Joseph Vaz’s College Wennappuwa regained a spot in the top Division of the country’s premier Under 19 cricket tournament just a year after being demoted as they beat Lyceum International Wattala by 74 runs in the Under 19 Division II Tier ‘A’ cricket tournament semi-final at Hingurakgoda on Monday.

Chasing a target of 197 runs to win Lyceum were shot out for 122 runs as off-spinner Mathisan Fernando grabbed seven wickets to go pass the 50 wickets milestone for the season. Mathisan completed a match bag of eleven wickets.

St. Joseph Vaz’s were a totally transformed unit under the tutelage of Denuwan Rajakaruna this season. They recorded seven outright victories in the tournament proper to reach the knockout stage. The team captained by Shehara Fernando beat Dharmapala (by innings and 104 runs), St. John’s, Panadura (by an innings and 47 runs), Maris Stella Thimbirigaskatuwa (by 197 runs), Piliyandala Central (by ten wickets), Kalutara Vidyalaya (by innings and 22 runs), St. Peter’s Negombo (by innings and 11 runs) and Sri Devananda Ambalangoda (by 33 runs). The other tournament match against Lyceum ended in a first innings win. They eliminated Royal College Panadura in the quarter-final with an eight wicket victory before sealing the final sport and the Division I promotion with an outright win over Lyceum in the semi-final yesterday. Among the other impressive performances this season was their outright win against St. Sebastian’s College Katuneriya, a Division I team.

Himal Ravihansa has a
tally of 105 wickets.

The team’s only blemish this season was the outright defeat at the hands of Division I powerhouse St. Thomas’ College Matara.

Of the best performers for them this season leg spinner Himal Ravihansa stood out. He has passed the 100 wickets milestone in 12 matches.

Ravihansa has 105 wickets against his name now. His impressive tally includes 12 five wicket hauls. He has bagged more than ten wickets in a match on five occasions.

Randeer Dinesh is the Master in Charge of cricket of this transformed outfit.

Scores:

St. Joseph Vaz’s

172 all out in 78.1 overs (Shehara Fernando 26, Kavinda Rathnayaka 55, Savio Fernando 25, Eshan Mihiranga 48; Kavindu Kaushalya 3/48, Rasith Nimsara 3/53, Tharusha Ranasinghe 2/19) and 148 all out in 70.2 overs (Shehara Fernando 30, Induwara Jayasekara 20, Savio Fernando 23, Eshan Mihiranga 38; Kavindu Kaushalya 4/40, Tharusha Ranasinghe 5/50)

Lyceum Wattal

a 124 all out in 44.1 overs (Vinuth Thisaraka 24, Pravishka Nadeen 36, Rasith Nimsara 35; Himal Ravihansa 3/50, Thathnula Liyanage 2/20, Mathisan Fernando 4/20) and 122 all out in 41.3 overs (Tharusha Ranasinghe 44, Pravishka Nadeen 20; Mathisan Fernando 7/55)