Thurstan College outplayed Isipathana College to win the 45th One-Day encounter played for the W.A. De Silva Memorial Trophy today(9th March) at the P. Sara International Cricket Stadium.
Thurstan College skipper Thanuga Palihawadana won the toss and elected to bat first which is out of fashion for most of the schoolboy teams nowadays. Thurstan openers Tanuja Rajapaksha and Dinal Induwara picked up right where they left off at the SSC a few weeks ago in the three-day encounter, resuming their dominance at the crease.
Both openers put on a superb 134-run partnership, maintaining a run rate of just over six runs per over. Rajapaksha, unfortunately, fell for a well-compiled 67, an innings of high class. The Thurstan middle order played around Dinal Induwara, who went on to score a superb century—one he narrowly missed in last year’s one-day encounter.
Former captain and Sri Lanka youth cap Vihas Thewmika added the cherry on top to the Thurstan innings by scring 45 ball 52 taking the Thurstan score over 300.
In reply, Isipathana College batters couldn’t do much as they crumbled like a house of cards. Right from the outset, Thurstan’s bowlers were on target, giving nothing away for the Isipathana batters to capitalize on. The only notable performance with the bat came from Dilpa Ruwanka, who fought hard for his 40.
Yovun Silpa was the pick of the bowlers for Thurstan, causing all the carnage in the middle by grabbing four wickets up front. Vihas Thewmika was once again superb with the ball, claiming three crucial wickets.
This season will go down in Thurstan’s history books, as they emerged as the U19 Division Tier ‘B’ champions while also securing the Blackham Wijewardene Trophy and the W.A. De Silva Trophy—all in the same year