Category: Cricket News

Sunday, 14 October 2007-Sunday Observer

By Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Thurstan College scored a historic ten wicket victory over St. Anthony’s College Katugastota in their annual inter school cricket tournament match concluded at Bauddhaloka Mawatha yesterday.

This was Thurstan’s first win in 26 years having last defeated the Antonians way back in 1980. The visitors were bowled out for 141 runs in their second attempt with last year captain Buddhi Samarawickrema capturing four wickets.

Earlier Thurstan took a good first innings lead thanks to three half centuries from Geeth Kumara, Umesh Karunaratne and Chaminda Perera.

St. Anthony’s: 135 and 141 (G. Dissanayake 52, K Ekanayake 19, B. Samarawickrema 4 for 10, R. Wijeratne 3 for 28, C. Gamage 2 for 28).

Thurstan: 269 for 6 decl (G. Kumara 61, U. Karunaratne 61, C. Perera 61, K. Ekanayake 4 for 84) and 10 for no loss

The 44th Annual Big Match encounter with Isipathana ended in a tame draw at SSC grounds. The match was played on Feb 23rd & 24th 

Thurstan came out favourites for this match after having a very successful season.

They were put into bat by Isipathana and declared shortly after tea on the first day for 272 for 8 wickets . Isipathana, the under dogs for this game batted at snail pace till past tea on the 2nd day to be all out for 219 on this placid SSC wicket which offered no help to the bowlers. In the remaining time Thurstan rattled up 79 for 3 wickets before bad light put a halt to the game.

Charith Wickramaratna was declared the Man of the match for his all round performance, Kanishka Amarasinghe was awarded the best Batsman for face saving batting & Umesh Karunaratna, the best bowler for marathon spell of 34 overs & 4 wickets

There was much fun with the colourful THURSTAN JUNIOR OBU UNITY BLOCK providing music & entertainment for the whole family

Thurstan 1st Innings 272 for 8 dec [ 74 overs ]
– Charith Wickramaratna 67 [8-4?s in 207 min, 111balls], Geeth Kumara 43, Buddhi Samarawickrama 25, Achala Ramanayaka 23, Tiral Jeramiah 24, Charith Perera 41, Lilan Fernando 3 for 64, Sasith Jayasinghe 3 for 38

Isipathana 1st Innings 219 [ 114.1 overs ]
– Manisha Ayomal 56 [212 balls] Lilan Fernando 35, Kanishka Amarasinghe 84 [143 balls, 13-4?s, 1-6], Charith Wickramaratna 2 fo 30 Umesh Karunaratna 4 for 53

Thurstan 2nd Innings 79 for 3 wickets
– Charith Wickramaratna 31, Hasitha Perera 25

MATCH DRAWN

Thurstan continued their impressive batting form in the new year in their 11th Match vs St Sylvester’s & the 12th match St Sebastian’s at the home grounds.

The top and middle order continue to perform well which arguers well for the coach Dinesh Weerasinghe as he has the confidence that even one or two fails others will rally round to make a substantial score. The host of spinners in their ranks has taken the bulk of the wickets with only one recognized paceman in the side.

This will be of concern for the coach as he approaches the big match as the SSC wicket tradionally helps the fast bowlers in the pre lunch session .

The match with St Sylvester’s was affected by rains which was unusual for the month of January

Thurstan are due to play another 4 matches before the big match.

Old Thurstanites Sports Club which is captained by the present Thurstan Captain Buddhi Samarawickrma continued their winning steak winning all there three second rounds matches in the Colombo District Cricket Association tournament. They were unbeaten in the first round 3 matches also.

Only two veteran Old Thurstanites are playing in this side – Deepal Maduarapperima & Sirosha Gunatillaka [ 1979 -82 vintage ], all other are the present college cricketers.

This affords the much needed exposure to play with adults at tournament level.

Under 15 cricket team has entered into semi finals of the Division 1 tournament conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association after many years. They are to play Prince of Wales. The date of the match is yet to be confirmed.

Buddhi Samarawickrama cracked an unbeaten 46 runs to be adjudged the Man of the Match as Thurstan coasted to a 22-run victory against St. Joseph’s in the St. Joseph’s Twenty 20 Knockout Cricket Tournament finals at Darley Road on Sunday.

Thurstan taking the first lease of the wicket made 173 runs in their allotted 20 overs. While Buddhi Samarawickrama top scored with 46, Hasitha Peiris and Kanishka Alwitigala scored valuable 37 and 32 runs respectively.

In reply, the hosts just managed to score 151 runs for the loss of 9 wickets.
Thurstan bowler Shehan Perera, who took a hat trick in a first round match on Saturday was named the Best Bowler in the tournament. The champions Thurstan was awarded a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 along with the Challenge Trophy.

Thurstan entered the final after routing Nalanda in the semi-final played in the morning. In the rain curtailed semi-final, Thurstan reached a massive 133 runs in 12 overs mainly on the back of a fine 72 runs by Praneeth Jayasinghe.

Thurstan duo, Rishi Ukwatta and Shehan Perera took two wickets each to restrict Nalanda to 85 runs in their 12 overs.
The Best Batsman and the Player to hit Most Number of Sixes awards went to St. Benadict’s batsman Tharindu Heshan, who excelled in the preliminary round matches with a 46 ball hundred against Isipatana. He hammered a 117 runs in just 46 balls. It included 10 fours and 10 sixes in his score.

Scores in the semi-final
Thurstan- 133 for 7 in 12 overs (Praneeth Jayasinghe 72, Kanishka Alvitigala 18; Gihan Rupasinghe 3/26)
Nalanda-85 for 8 in 12 overs (Gihan Rupasinghe 33, Lahiru Wickramasinghe 15; Rishi Ukwatta 2/11, Shehan Perera 2/12)

Scores in the final
Thurstan- 173 all out in 20 overs (Buddhi Samarawickrama 42 n.o., Hasitha Perera 37, Kanishka Alwitigala 32; Dimuth Karunaratne 3/26, Nirmal Rajapakse 2/23, Rajive Wijesinghe 2/38)

St. Joseph’s- 151 for 9 in 20 overs (Roshen Silva 57; Rishi Ukwatta 2/25)

THURSTAN-ISIPATHANA 42^nd  CRICKET ENCOUNTERAT SSC GROUNDS ON FEBRUARY 25^th & 26^th , 2005

The annual Big Match 42^nd in the Series was played for the first time without the usual music, papare bands and merry making associated in a match of this nature. This was sequel to decision made by the two Principals & the Big Match Organizing Committee which was endorsed by the Ministry of Education to refrain from merry making in respect of the many thousands who lost their lives due to the Tsunami catastrophe of December 26^th .The match commenced with the Chief – Guest Mr Prasanna Abeyratna who has the unique honor of the being first student at Thurstan being conducted in procession by the Thurstan Junior band and the 2 teams being introduced. Isipathana was put into bat by the Thurstan skipper  who banked his successful pace duo will capitalize on the usually lively first hour at SSC. But after taking the first wicket at 6 and a drop catch at the next over off Waduge & wayward bowling helped Isipathana to lay the foundation to score the highest Total in this traditional encounter when they declared at 308 for 9.Tharaka Waduge literally tore into the Thurstan attack to score a blistering 90 in 87 balls with one six and 13 fours, was unfortunately dismissed due to a careless stroke just short of a well deserved century with few minutes to lunch. Skipper Dilan Anuradha who anchored the Innings stroked a fluent 68 off 132 balls with 8 fours and Isuru Vindana a fine 62 from 88 balls with 5 fours helped Isipathana to achieve this big total. Thusrtan replied aggressively and ended the first day at 110 for 3 in 29 overs with the wicket keeper – opening batsman Hasitha Perera leading the way with a fluent 72 in 62 balls with 11 hits to the boundary. 2 quick wickets at the tail end of the day helped Isipathana to come back to the game.The second day started badly for Thurstan losing wickets at regular intervals until an aggressive 59 by Lahiru Gamage saved Thurstan from the ignominy of a follow-on. In the second Innings too Isipathana went on another run spree rattling 202 for the loss of 1 wicket before making a token declaration. The highlight was the unbeaten 102 by Visuddi Kaluwitharana with one six & 17 fours and thus being the 4^th Isipathanian to score a century in a big match and the tally four all as 4 Thurstanites have also achieved this feat.Thurstan replied with 90 for 2 with Hasitha Perera unbeaten on 73 with 2 sixes & 11 fours thus becoming only the second Thurstanite to score twin fifties, other being Sathyapriya Liyanage in 1982.The match ended in a tame draw with all honours taken by Isipathana with Kaluwitharana adjudged the best batsman, Chatuska Wickrmarantna the best bowler & Tharaka Waduge as the man of the match. Many records were broken in this match. Highest Total in the series,  one century, seven 50’s aggregate of 820 runs for loss of only 22 wickets eclipsing 809 for 25 wickets in 1995. Record second wicket partnership for Isipathana 139 between Waduge & Anuradha.

Another unique feature was that for the first time, a set of brothers have captained the big match – Nisal Gamage in 1981 & Sithuka Gamage in 2005 for Thurstan.

Isipathana 1^st Innings – 308 for 9 declared in 74 oversTharaka Waduege 90, Dilan Anuradha 68, Isuru Vindana 62, Gayan Wijesinghe 29, Pubudu Viraj 25. Ranga Nirosh Ratnayaka 3 for 60, Sithuka Gamage 3 for 76, Rishy Ukwatte 2 for 51 

Thurstan 1^st Innings – 220 all out in 67.1 oversHasitha Perera 72, Lahiru Gamage 59, Sithuka Gamage 25, Buddhi Samarawickrama 24Chatuska Wickramaratna 3 for 58, Tharaka Waduge 2 for 66, Liyan de Silva 2 for 48, Sachith Jayasinghe 2 for 30

 Isipathana 2^nd Innings – 202 for 1 dec Visuddi Kaluwitharana 102 not out , Liyan de Silva 56 not out, Tharaka Waduge 39

 Thursatan 2^nd Innings – 90 for 2 in 17 overs Hasitha Perera 73 not out

 MATCH DRAWN

THURSTAN – ISIPATHNA 25^th LIMITED OVER ENCOUNTER

AT P .SARAVANAMUTTU STADIUM ON MARCH 6th , 2005

The Silver Jubilee encounter was playedwith colored clothing and white ball, but it was a day game.All arrangements were made to play it as a day- night game at Premadasa Stadium, but Tsunami put paid to this arrangement.The game commenced with the 2 teams being introduced to the Chief Guest Nimal Warusawithrana who had sponsored the Radio commentaries of this game since inception. The match is played for the W A de Silva trophy who was the father of Nimal, now deceased.

The game commenced with Isipathana winning the crucial toss & sent Thurstan into bat. They immediately struck gold by dismissing the danger man, the scorer of twin 50’s in the big match Hasitha Perera for a duck. Thurstan never recovered from this blow and were one time reeling at 96 for 6 and due to sensible batting by the lower order scored 158 in 49.1 overs. Tharaka Waduge was the principle destroyer of the Thurstan Innings with 4 for 31.He continued his form with a blistering knock of 53 in only 38 balls.  His dismissal brought the left handed Liyan de Silva who continued his touch from the big match & scored 40 runs in 48 balls with 5 fours. When bad light stopped play Isipathana were 151 for 4 in only 33.1 overs and were declared winners by the Parabola system in operation for the match, by virtue of a faster run rate

All the awards of this game went to Tharaka Waduge for magnificent all round display and thus became the first person to achieve this feat of being the best batsman, bowler & man of the match.With this win, Isipathana stalled Thurstan’s seven year winning streak and took home the W A de Silva trophy for good by virtue of winning 14 of the 25 games played. The sponsors will offer a new trophy next year.  

Thurstan 158 in 49.1 overs Praneeth Jayasinghe 15 Achala Ramanayaka 14, Sithuka Gamage 15, Lahiru Gamage 19 Kanishka Elvitigala 27 Ranga Nirosh Ratnayaka 16 T Waduge  4 for 31(10), A Janoda 2 for 27(6.1)

 Isipathan 151 for 4 in 33.1 overs Tharaka Waduge 53 Dilan Anuradha 19 Liyan de Silva 40, K Elvitigala 2 for 44 (7) Rishi Ukwatta 1 for 21 (7)

 Isipathana winners by a faster scoring rate  

Compiled by Priya Paranavitane