St. Peter’s meet Thomians for a place in the semis

Under 17 Division 1 Cricket quarter-finals

by Reemus Fernando

A close contest is on the cards when St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya meet S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia in the Under 17 Division I Cricket quarter final at Reid Avenue today.

S. Thomas’ captained by Rajindu Tillakaratne will have a slight edge over their counterparts due to the strength in their batting department.

They have a leading batsman in the tournament in Dineth Goonawardena. Thilakaratna will also have Sadev Soysa and Kavindu Dias sharing batting responsibilities.

Left-arm spinner Vihanga Rodrigo, off-spinner Darien Diego, paceman Dias, skipper Thilakaratna and Goonawardena form a formidable bowling department as well.

For St. Peter’s skipper Lashmika Perera, paceman Virul Amarapala, Salith Gallalge, left-arm spinner Yathindra Jayaweera, Sasindu Silva and Dilan Damsara have shared the bowling responsibilities during the tournament. The new ball is likely to be shared by Virul Amarapala and Ethan Ransilige.

In the batting department, Damsara is the top scorer while hard-hitting batsman Oween Salgado, Enosh Peterson, skipper Perera and wicketkeeper-batsman Nathen David have made notable contributions.

The Thomians were the runners-up in their group in the first round and beat President’s College Kotte in the second round before eliminating Moratu Vidyalaya in the pre-quarter-final.

St. Peter’s reached the second round as the ‘best third team’ and beat Maliyadeva in the second round before eliminating one of the favourite teams Wesley in the pre-quarter-final.

Teams:

St. Peter’s (from):

Lashmika Perera (Captain), Oween Salgado, Ethan Ransilige, Enosh Peterson, Dilana Damsara, Nathen David, Salith Gallage, Virul Amarapala, Sasindu Silva, Chandupa Thanapathi, Vishwa Dias, Yathindra Jayaweera, Joshua Xavier, Raveesha Caldera, Tharun Cornara, Sanuka Damviru, Rasindu Fernando, Sadeesha Kariyawasam, Senusha Fernando, Pawan Senavirathna.

S. Thomas’ (from):

Rajindu Tillakaratne (Captain), Dineth Goonawardena, Kavindu Dias, Sadew Soysa, Arith Adikaram, Lishan de Silva, Avinash Fernando, Panduka Atapattu, Darien Diego, Shenal Fernando, Ramitha Ellawala, Dhevin Jayasuriya, Nimitha Senaratne, Vihanga Rodrigo, Sachithra Gunasinghe, Yasindu Gunaratne, Achintha Rumean.