Sports
Mahanama crush St. Servatius’ to take tournament leader title
Under 19 Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
Mahanama recorded crushing innings and 75 runs victory over St. Servatius’ as they established themselves as the leaders of the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ cricket tournament at the Bloomfield ground on Sunday.
Centuries by Chamika Heenatigala and Sithum Vihanga set the stage for their second outright victory of the season as they posted 360 for six wickets declared on the second day morning.
Anuka Wijewardana, Sithum Vihaga and Chamika Heenatigala then shared bowling honours to dismiss the team from Matara twice.
Deciding to bat first, Heenatigala and Vihanga put on 187 runs for the fourth wicket. Heenatigala scored 106 runs (in 171 balls) inclusive of eight fours and a six. Vihanga’s 102 (in 136 balls) was inclusive of two fours and six sixes.
Mahanama are the only team to score two outright victories in the Tier ‘A’ tournament and have also registered two first innings wins so far in the tourney. The unbeaten team are the leading team in the top tier irrespective of the group they are in.
For St. Servatius’, it was their second outright defeat.
In the other matches on Sunday, Trinity took control against Maliyadewa at Asgiriya and St. Thomas’ Matara took first innings lead against Moratu Vidyalaya.
Results
Mahanama record massive win at Bloomfield
Scores:
Mahanama 304 for 5 overnight 360 for six decl. in 77 overs (Chamika Heenatigala 106, Sithum Vihanga 102, Dulnith Sigera 45, Eshan Withanage 36n.o.; Chalana Indusha 2/47)
St. Servatius’ 190 all out in 50.2 overs (Viran Chamuditha 95, Praveen Madushanka 20n.o.; Sithum Vihanga 3/36, Anuka Wijewardana 3/41, Geeth Sandaruwan 2/35) and 95 all out in 45.3 overs (Sanju Dilshan 24; Anuka Wijewardana 4/32, Chamika Heenatigala 2/18)
Trinity dominate at Asgiriya
Scores
Trinity 215 all out in 67.1 overs (Dimantha Mahavithana 45, Pulisha Thilakarathne 53, Aadham Hilmy 30, Sethmika Senevirathne 24; Dimath Rivisahan 3/69, Thaveesha Balasooriya 4/60)
Maliyadeva 53 for 6 in 16.4 overs (Pehesara Bandara 30; Thisal Yapa 4/32)
Twenty wickets fall on day one at Uyanwatta
Scores
St. Thomas’ 195 for 9 decl. in 47.5 overs (Ochintha Chamika 46, Pesandu Sanjan 100; Isuru Nidharshana 2/28, Vihanga Nethsara 3/68, Sandun Sudharshana 3/37)
Moratu Vidyalaya 105 all out in 41.5 overs (Sanjana Senevirathne 45; Pesandu Sanjan 3/33, Manuga Guruge 5/24)
A Sri Lankan innings that never really got going eventually parked itself at middling total of 219, as they were bowled out in 49.3 overs in the second ODI in Colombo. It’s a total England will fancy themselves to chase down as they look to level this three-match series.
Sri Lanka’s innings was headlined by Charith Asalanka’s 45 off 64 and Dhananjaya de Silva’s 40 off 59, but at strike rates of 67.79 and 70.31 it tells you all you need to know about how well England kept a lid on the innings.
For the visitors the wickets were spread out, with Adil Rashid, Jamie Overton and Joe Root picking up two apiece, the latter with the final two balls of the innings. There were also wickets for Liam Dawson, Rehan Ahmed and the returning Will Jacks.
And much like in the first ODI, England’s varied attack – no less than eight options were used across the innings – sought to give little away. “Keeping the stumps in play,” was Harry Brook’s refrain, speaking after losing the toss, and on an uber-dry surface with boundaries square and behind mostly protected, the onus was on the Lankan batters to use their feet in order to access the boundaries at extra cover and deep midwicket.
That sort of strokeplay however proved detrimental to the Lankan cause with four of their top five falling in their attempts to access the boundaries in front of square. Kamil Mishara sought to bring some impetus to the innings after a miserly early burst from the England seamers, but his attempted lashing cover drive could not clear Ben Duckett in the circle, who held on at the second attempt.
Pathum Nissanka, who had patiently waded through the opening powerplay when the scoring rate sat below four an over, then sought to capitalise on his added time in the middle, but only managed to loft an inside-out drive to long-off.
Later on in the innings Dhananjaya whacked one low to Root at midwicket, before the set Asalanka found deep midwicket with a slog sweep.
And arguably Sri Lanka’s best batter at accessing those regions, Kusal Mendis, ran himself out for a ground-out 26, when he cut one straight to point and absentmindedly set off for the single. The throw from the fit-again Jacks was pinpoint and found Mendis easily short as he sought in vain to fling himself back to safety.
There were promising stands between, notably a 42-run effort between Nissanka and Mendis and 66 between Dhananjaya and Asalanka, but none of the batters involved were able to push on and up the rate of scoring over any concerted period of time.
Pavan Rathnayake’s 29 off 34 had also shown promise, but he fell foul looking to clear the straight boundary as he sliced one to long-off, and in the process silenced an energetic Khettarama crowd.
The frustrating nature of Sri Lanka’s innings was illustrated by the fact that five batters scored at least 25 and faced at least 30 deliveries, but the highest score remained Asalanka’s 45.
England, to their credit, stuck to and executed their plans well. The use of eight bowlers – six of them spinners – meant Sri Lanka’s batters were ever really able to get a measure of any one bowler. And while the lengths were consistent, the pace of the deliveries was varied. It meant that even when a set batter such as Nissanka sought to take on the attack, Rashid was able to successfully deceive him in the flight.
Dunith Wellalage once more looked enterprising during a late cameo, but despite finding two boundaries in his brief stay, his 20 off 19 was far less damaging to England’s cause than had been in the first ODI.
England bowled 40.3 overs of spin across their innings, breaking their previous record of 36. That came in Sharjah in 1984-85, when Norman Gifford captained England at the age of 44, and took four wickets. The team wore black armbands during the first ODI after his death last week.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 219 in 49.3 overs (Charith Asalanka 45, Dhananjaya De Silva 40; Joe Root 2-12, Jamie Overton 2-21, Adil Rashid 2-34) vs England
(Cricinfo)
(Cricbuzz)
Sri Lanka elected to bat first in the second ODI against England at the R Premadasa International Stadium
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Janith Liyanage, Pavan Rathnayake, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Jeffrey Vandersay, Asitha Fernando
England: Rehan Ahmed, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, 4Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (capt), Jos Buttler (wk), Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid
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