Skipper Devin bowls Royal to victory

by Sajeewa Jayakody

Royal College skipper Devin Pathmanathan led the way by capturing four wickets for 17 runs when they to give them third outright win of the season beating Dharmaraja College, Kandy by 129 runs in their inter-school cricket match, which concluded at Royal College grounds, Reid Avenue yesterday.

After being set a target of 235 runs in 53 overs, Royal bowlers bowled out Dharmaraja for 106 in 46.2 overs. A fine bowling performances by left arm spinner Devin Pathamanadana wrecked the Rajan batting order picking up four wickets for 17 runs. Off spinner Poorna Aluthge captured two for 42 while right arm fast bowler Chamika Karunaratne had three scalps for just seven runs. Karunaratne had already captured two wickets and finished with a match-bag of five wickets.

Two Royal batsmen scored half centuries in the match and their fine bowling performances brought victory against the famous hill capital school. Right handed Hashen Ramanayake, who scored 82 runs in the first innings continued his brilliance performances making a sparkling unbeaten 40 inclusive of four sixes when they declared at 185 for 3. Another right hander Isuru Gunatilleke hit 53 runs with eight fours yesterday following his 41 runs in the first innings. When Royal set a target of 235, Milan Abeysekera had scored an unbeaten 51 with eight boundaries.

Royal: 184/9 declared in 55.2 overs (Hashen Ramanayake 82, Isuru Gunatilleke 41, Lakshan Silva 4 for 38, Kavindu Dimuth 2 for 5) and 185/3 declared in 31 overs (Isuru Gunatilleke 53, Milan Abeysekera 51 n.o, Hashen Ramanayake 40 n.o, Sampath de Silva 28).

Dharmaraja: 134 all out in 35.4 overs (Rumesh Ranasinghe 44, Nuwan Karunaratne 39, Lasith Embuldeniya 4 for 19, Chamika Karunaratne 2 for 24, Anupa Tillekeratne 2 for 38) and 106 all out in 46.2 overs (Dineth Lanka 32, Lochana Bandara 24, Aravinda Vithanachchi 21, Devin Pathmanathan 4 for 17, Poorna Aluthge 2 for 42, Chamika Karunaratne 3 for 17).