Vidyartha fight back to force a draw

By S. M. Jiffrey ABDEEN - Kandy Sports Corr.

Vidyartha College, Kandy made a gallant fight back to hold Trinity College to an honourable draw in their inter school cricket match concluded at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy yesterday.

The match went on till 6.10 p.m. as there was an interruption of play for about 90 minutes.

For Vidyartha College leading the fight back was T. Dissanayake who scored 110 with 16 fours while K. Wijekoon scored 74. Rushan Jaleel took 3 for 96 to end up with match figures of 10 for 193 and his season's tally to 84 wickets.

For Trinity 15-year-old Niroshan Dickwella scored 101 with 9 fours.

Chief scores:

Vidyartha College: 192 and 308 for 5 wickets in 71 overs (T. Dissanayake 110, C. Wijekoon 21, S. Abeyratne 21, K. Wijekoon 74, D. Kulathillake 27 not out, Rushan Jaleel 3 for 96).

Trinity College: 344 for 7 decl. in 58.1 overs (Kithmal Wimalaweera 86, Niroshan Dickwella 101, Dinuk Weeraratne 26, Suresh Wickrema 32, Kavind Jayasuriya 49, R. Jaleel 22, L. Herath 2 for 69).

Rajans regain Warnapura Trophy

By S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen, Kandy Sports Corr.

A tantalising spell of left arm spin bowling from Ramesh Yapa Bandara who took 5 for 27 helped Dharmaraja College to regain the Bandula Warnapura trophy after a lapse of three years when they beat Nalanda College, Colombo on the first innings in their inter school cricket match concluded at Open Prison Camp grounds at Pallekelle yesterday.

Nalanda College who were 129 for 5 overnight in reply to Rajans total of 194 all out crumbled against the spin of Ramesh Yapa Bandara who took all the five wickets which fell yesterday while Medium Pacer Tharindu Dandeniya took 4 for for 45.

Rajans batting a second time scored 275 for 8 wickets off 74 overs. Bhuwaneka Ekanayake made a welcome return to form after a series of low scores when he slammed 135 with 5 sixers and 17 fours displayed a lot of aggression.

Nishantha Rodrigo, Secretary, Old Nalandians Sports Club presented the Bandula Warnapura Trophy to Dharmaraja College.

Dharmaraja College: 194 and 275 for 8 wickets at close (Buwaneka Ekanayake 135, Theekshana Welagedara 21, Hemal Munaweera 39 not out, S. Gunawardena 3 for 35, S. Tennekoon 3 for 36).

Nalanda College: (129 for 9 overnight) 176 all out in 56.2 overs (D. Jayasinghe 49, Tharindu Dandeniya 4 for 45, Ramesh Yapa Bandara 5 for 27).

Richmond refuse to continue and forfeit match

S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen, Kandy Sports Corr.

High drama was witnessed as Richmond College, Galle, refused to continue with the match alleging that the wicket was not suitable for batting and decided to forfeit the match outright in their inter school cricket match against St. Anthony's College, Katugastota played at Katugastota yesterday.

At the time the Richmondites refused to continue with play they were 109 for 4 in their second innings, still requiring a further 77 runs to avoid an innings defeat with over the sessions of play remaining and the time was 12.15 p.m. Trouble brewed up before the first ball for the day was bowled when the Richmondites complained of footmarks close to the wicket. But the umpires who inspected it said that it was not in the danger zone and they could continue batting. They also attended to the damage.

The Richmondites continuing at their overnight score of 128 for 8 were dismissed for 136 conceding a lead of 186. Being asked to follow on the Richmond team batted with aggression to score 109 for 4 in just 19 overs. In fact this was much better than their first innings performance. But defeat was staring at them.

The two umpires were of strong opinion that play could be continued and made the following endorsement on the score sheet "Richmond College refused to continue the game after 4 wickets were down at 12.15 p.m. and informed the two umpires that they are giving the outright win to St. Anthony's College."

St. Anthony's College: 322 for 8 wkts declared.

Richmond College: 128 for 8 overnight continued 136 all out in 42.1 overs (Adil Reyal 3 for 30, Kasun Ekanayake 3 for 30, Erande Seneviratne 2 for 16) and 109 for 4 in 19 overs (Y. Lanka 36, T. Nadeera 23, I. Samarasuriya 12, Adil Reyal 2 for 52, T. Bandara 1 for 23, E. Seneviratne 1 for 13).