Under 19 Cricket

by Reemus Fernando

St. Sebastian’s Moratuwa produced a strong performance against St. Peter’s in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ match at Bambalapitiya. At one stage the Sebs looked almost set to record an outright victory but rain interruptions prevented the match progressing to an interesting finish.

Richmond produced their best performance in the tournament so far when they earned first innings points against Lumbini at Darley Road. Pubudu Mihiranga collected a match bag of nine wickets. The match was hampered by rain in the afternoon session.

In a Tier ‘B’ match, De Mazenod forced St. Anthony’s Wattala to follow on at Kandana. The visitors managed to hold on to a draw. The home team took first innings points.

In the other Tier ‘B’ match, Pesandu Sanjan and Manuga Guruge fought back to restrict St. Sebastian’s Katuneriya to 141 for 9 wickets at stumps in reply to St. Thomas’ 151 runs at Katuneriya. For the home team Maheesha Sithum was the hero as he took eight wickets.

Results

Richmond record first innings win against Lumbini at Darley Road

Scores:

Lumbini 92 all out in 44.5 overs (Dinal Sewmina 26; Pubudu Mihiranga 5/33) and 115 for 7 in 54 overs (Ashan Shanilka 55; Pubudu Mihiranga 4/44)

Richmond 81 for 5 overnight 175 all out in 65.1 overs (Nikil Jayaweera 26, Minaga Ariyadasa 21, Shehan de Zoysa 54; Yashod Kavindu 2/33, Kanishka Rangana 2/19, Praveen Maneesha 3/55)

Sebs dominate at Bambalapitiya

Scores

St. Peter’s 146 all out in 38.5 overs (Joshua Sebastian 34, Jason Fernando 41, Thareen Sanketh 24n.o.; Adesh Almeida 6/31, Milantha Silva 2/47) and 105 for 6 in 34 overs (Dilana Damsara 50; Joshua Sebastian 33; Malintha Silva 3/17, Koshendra Fernando 2/40)

St. Sebastian’s 152 for 4 overnight 275 for 9 decl. in 78 overs (Ryan Dissanayake 46, Adesh Almeida 62, Lashen Fernando 26, Shefan Fernando 50n.o., Koshendra Fernando 37; Ethan Ransilige 2/28, Tharin Senvidu 2/43, Thareen Sanketh 2/45, Enosh Peterson 2/15)

Tier ‘B’

De Mazenod on first innings at Kandana

Scores

De Mazenod 305 for 8 decl. in 66 overs (Sharith Sudeena 66, Neshan Dias 62, Shevan Menusha 27, Dinosh Jelon 28, Praneeth Vithanage 22, Geenod Perera 27, Thisanga Semith 28n.o., Savinu Chanthula 20n.o.; Chamod Sandeepa 2/58, Akash Thejaka 3/58)

St. Anthony’s Wattala 132 all out in 71.3 overs (Harsha Weerasooriya 44, Hithesh Ruwanda 23; Sherith Sudeena 4/32, Praneeth Vithanage 4/22) and 109 for 7 in 42 overs (Shanel Yogarathna 21, Ridma Colombage 20n.o.; Sharith Sudeena 2/50, Savinu Chanthula 2/27, Dinidu Sasmith 2/05)

St. Thomas’ 151, St. Sebastian’s 141/9 at Katuneriya

Scores

St. Thomas’ 151 all out in 44.5 overs (Pesandu Sanjan 51, Manuga Guruge 25n.o., Loshitha Diksith 24; Maheesha Sithum 8/58)

St. Sebastian’s Katuneriya 141 for 9 in 37.5 overs (Menura Akarshana 63, Maheesha Sithum 33; Manuga Guruge 4/27 , Pesandu Sanjan 2/31)

By A Special Sports Correspondent

Kandy SC recorded another very important win in the domestic league rugby tournament by overcoming Colombo Hockey & Football Club (CH&FC) in a closely contested game at the Race Course in Colombo. Kandy SC are showing some early promise to be stake holders of the cup championship in the league tournament, but CH showed that the Nittawela Club’s goal line can be breached if one works very hard and intelligently.

The first half was dominated by Kandy and the visitors ran down four beautiful tries. But CH played better cohesive rugby in the second half to punch three holes in the Kandy defence and make the match look exciting and a close one. If there is a side that must be feared it is CH & FC because there is a coach on the ‘bench’ with his thinking cap on, all the time. That man is Sanath Martis. The Gymkhana Club has one win this season and that came against Police (39-27). The side lost to Police Sports Club and Air Force earlier in the tournament. Kandy SC is exciting to watch as always and collected their points through six tries, three conversions and a penalty. The winners led 24-7 at half time.

Havelocks SC remained unbeaten going into the third round of the league tournament by beating Police Sports Club by 17 points to 15. The game was a closely contested one and both teams did well to adapt to the conditions of playing under floodlights and negotiating the dew.

Last season’s league champions CR&FC also had to sweat before beating a fighting Navy Sport Club outfit in their match played at Longden Place. This match was also played under floodlights. It was quite pleasing to see the return of third row forward Omalka Guneratne for the Red Shirts. He touched down twice while the other promising player in the host team was Viduna Amneth who also produced two tries. Zubair Doray was in fine form and slotted in three penalties to swell the score.

Possibly the game of the week was between Army Sports Club and new entrants Sri Lions SC where the soldiers recorded a convincing 32 point to 15 win. The match was played at Panagoda. Now this is the third straight defeat for Sri Lions and they must now think seriously about the road ahead of them in this very competitive domestic league tournament where there are eight other sides demanding a slice of the rugby cake. Sadly Sri Lions are not living up to the preseason hype that was generated in their favour. Sri Lions badly needs a place kicker who can show some accuracy in taking spot kicks. All their three tries went unconverted. If one goes down to the score sheet, Army scored just one try more than Sri Lions, but the scoreboard for the soldiers looks impressive because of well-taken conversions (3) and penalties (2). The other team in the tournament Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club received week off from games.

Sri Lanka Rugby, the organiser of the tournament, must think hard as to how to beef up spectator turn out at matches. It’s pretty saddening to see some sides of the stands, especially at Havelocks Sports Club, virtually deserted at matches. There are rounds doing the talk in the rugby circles at home that the governing body for rugby in Sri Lanka must think of bringing back foreigners to play in the domestic rugby tournaments.

Sherleen Amelia Thassim won the Girls’ Singles title of the Inter-Club Tournament, one of the main competitions organized and conducted by Saudi Badminton Federation. Sherleen, 15-years of age, representing her club, Al-Faisaly BC from Al-Majmah, which is approximately 200km away from the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, competed in the Under-17 age group and won the Girls’ Singles gold medal at the core tournament to move up in ranks.

The tournament featured professional badminton clubs from Saudi Arabia, where the shuttler with Sri Lankan roots claimed the gold medal with ease in the final. She has been in constant form with her training schedule of five days of extensive practice to achieve the plum in her age category.

Recently, Sherleen was elected as the Head Prefect at her school Al Roward International School because of her dedication, commitment, and leadership qualities as a student in the 10th grade. She is an outstanding American-Sri Lankan talent, who also speaks fluent Arabic. The grand-daughter of late S.B.C. Thassim, who was one of the founders of Y.M.M.A, Maligawatta catering for the poor, Sherleen is on the brinks of representing Saudi Arabia at international level.

During the second week of January 2025, Sherleen is set to compete in the Elite 8 Tournament that will be held in Jeddah. This is where the top tier Under-17 girls will come together to be ranked among the best. In 2023, she managed to bag the bronze medal in Singles and silver Medal in Doubles in the Under-15 category. Her brothers, Noah (13) and Kayan (14), who are also from Al Rowad International, played for the boys Under-15 category and secured multiple medals for their respective professional clubs hosted by the Saudi Badminton Federation.