Young Rovers Sports Club - cricket champions

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

Young Rovers Sports Club, Hatton won the Twenty20 Inter-Club Cricket Championship for the C.B. Ratnayake Trophy organised by the Nuwara Eliya District Cricket Association by defeating Ginigathena Cricket Club by 14 runs in the finals played at the Race Course grounds, Nuwara Eliya yesterday.

Former Minister of Sports and present Minister of Private Omini Bus Services C.B. Ratnayake was the chief guest and he distributed the awards with the Mayor of Nuwara Eliya Mahinda Kumara Kahandagamage and Chief Secretary, Nuwara Eliya S. Kumarasiri. Young Rovers SC batting first made 114 and Ginigathena Cricket Club who won the limited over championship replied with 100 all out.

Minister C.B. Ratnayake speaking on the occasion said that the game of cricket is becoming extremely popular with more and more schools taking to the sport despite the high cost. They should be given all the support and make their tasks easier by providing cricket equipment at a lower cost and also by constructing venues closer to their schools so that the cost of transport and the hassle could be reduced.

Young Rovers SC: 114 all out in 20 overs (Dilshan Manawadu 29, Susantha Jayawardena 3 for 20, N. Balasuriya 3 for 18).

Ginigathena CC: 100 all out in 19.5 overs (A. Ishan 15, N. Balasujriya 12, S. Naveen 3 for 18, S. Anil 3 for 15).

Individual awards: Best Bowler - Susantha Jayawardana (Ginigathena CC), Best Batsman - Dilshan Manawadu (Young Rovers SC), Man of the Match - Dilshan Manawadu (Young Rovers SC), Man of the Series - S. Naveen (Young Rovers SC).

A softball tournament for the lesser known clubs in the district was also played for the C.B. Ratnayake Challenge Trophy and Selingents CC, Ginigathena emerged champions with Ambewela CC as runners-up.