Ananda enter under 17 final with a four wicket win over Thurstan

by Chris DHAMBARAGE

Ananda College entered the finals of the under-17 inter school cricket tournament by beating Thurstan College by four wickets in the semi-finals played at CCC grounds yesterday.

The Anandians restricted their opponents to 140 and then reached their target with four wickets and five overs to spare. Man of the match Ruwinda Sharmaine hit an unbeaten 32 with three boundaries to add the finishing touches after they had slumped to 72 for 4 at one stage.

Earlier Sachithra Perera and Pasindu Madushan snapped up three wickets each to dismiss Thurstan College for a modest 140 after they had been put into bat. Thurstan had an opening stand of 60 runs but the rest of the batting failed to consolidate their position. Opener Udara Munasinghe was the only batsman to reach double figures and his fighting knock of 65 included just a solitary boundary. In addition the extras contributed a total of 30 runs.

The second semi-final between Mahanama College and St. Benedict's College will be played at the same venue today with the final scheduled for Tuesday.

Thurstan: 140 in 50 overs (Udara Munasinghe 65, Sachithra Perera 3 for 20, Pasindu Madushan 3 for 23)

Ananda: 142 for 6 in 45.1 overs (S. Devage 21, R. Jayaratne 20, Ruwinda Sharmain 32 n.o.).