Royal's experience vs Thomian determination
By DINESH WEERAWANSA
Experienced Royal, with not less than eight coloursmen, are out to give S. Thomas' a tough time at the 119th annual Battle of the Blues cricket encounter which starts at the SSC grounds, Maitland Place on Thursday.
Apart from three freshers - opener Ravi Peiris, left-arm leggie Danushka Perera and Angelo Perera, all the other players in the Royal side are experienced campaigners and determined to make their presence felt in the big 'un.
Leading the Reid Avenue boys this season is middle order batsman Shanaka Perera, a versatile sportsman who has also excelled in rugby football as a scrum half.
Undoubtedly Royal's trump card in both batting and bowling will be all-rounder Jehan Mubarak, the son of ex-Cambridge opener Aziz Mubarak. He has aggregated 974 runs with a fluent century against D.S.Senanayake MV and captured 45 wickets this season with his off breaks.
Opening batting for Royal will be Ravi Peiris and Ruchira Jayasuriya. Their middle order looks strong with Thushan Amarasuriya, Jehan Mubarak, Umesh Gunawardena, Lasantha Liyanage and skipper Shanaka Perera.
Left-arm paceman Sanjeeva Udumalagala will share the new ball attack with right-arm fast medium bowler Umesh Gunawardena with Thushan Amarasuriya coming in at first change. In the spin department, left-arm leggies Danushka perera and Harith Rajakaruna will be supported by the off breaks of Mubarak which have been quite effective.
However, the Reid Avenue boys have not lived upto expectations this season, despite their experience and talent. They have a solitary win against Prince of Wales in 15 outings. They had a shock defeat at the hands of Trinity due to a sporty declaration by Royal captain and the rest of the matches this season were drawn. But coach Nihal Kahituwakku hopes that his lads will come out with their brilliant best in this most important assignment for the season.
Royalist Sumithra Warnakulasuriya is the highest individual scorer for either side in the series with his marathon knock of 197 made in 1980.
Of the 118 matches played in the series, Royal lead with 32 wins. Royal had the distinction of registering two successive wins in 1990 under Udaya Lakmal Wijesena and in 1991 under Rohan Iriyagolle.
Royal have often showed their fighting qualities in the 'Battle of the Blues' series. With a formidable outfit, the Reid Avenue boys are capable of producing another fine effort against the Thomians this year.
ROYAL: (from): Ravi Peiris, Ruchira Jayasuriya, Thushan Amarasuriya, Jehan Mubarak, Shanaka Perera (captain), Umesh Gunawardena, Lasantha Liyanage, Angelo Perera, Danushka Perera, Harith Rajakaruna, Sanjeeva Udumalagala, Harshan Rajakaruna, Andrew Perera.
Panadura big match this weekend
By Geeth de Mel, Panadura special correspondent and Susil Ratnaweera, Panadura North group correspondent
The 47th inter-school cricket big match between Sri Sumangala College, Panadura and Moratu Maha Vidyalaya, for the Dr. Lakshman Perera Trophy will take place on the Panadura public esplanade on March 21 and 22.
Sri Sumangala have won 13 matches in the series against Moratu Vidyalaya's eight. The rest have ended in draws.
This season, Sri Sumangala have played 12 matches losing only one while the remaining matches were drawn. Amila Perera, the skipper of the side is a fourth-year coloursman. As a batsman he has done well this year with a highest score of 100 runs against Royal College, Colombo. He is a left arm leg spinner who has been among the wickets.
Deputy skipper Nalinda Jayanath, a 4th year coloursman and keeper of the side has done exceptionally this season with the bat. He scored 92 runs against Maliyadeva and 90 runs against President's College, Rajagiriya.
The other centurion is Visan Viswajith who scored 115 not out against Dharmaraja, Kandy. Suresh Silva and Jayanath Sandakkara too have scored heavily this season.
In the bowling department, Heshan Jayawardena has been the most outstanding. He has taken over 40 wickets with best figures of 5 for 42, including a hat trick. Other bowlers of repute are Amila Sudharshana who took 6 for 23 against Dharmapala, Pannipitiya, Dilruwan Perera and Chaman Peiris are the other bowlers who have impressed.
Of the 16 matches played, Moratu Vidyalaya lost to Ananda Sastralaya, Kotte while the rest were drawn. The team is led by third years coloursman Asitha Priyal Perera, a prolific run-getter who has topped 460 runs this season. He is the wicket keeper of the side.
In the batting, Osada Warnapura has been the most outstanding with a total of 880 runs including two centuries. The other centurion in the side is Warna Peiris, who scored 100 not out against Maris Stella, Negombo followed by four half centuries. Prasanna Fernando, Manoj Desapriya and Lakruwan Fernando are the other batsmen of repute.
Among the bowlers, Prasanna Fernando has been the most outstanding. He has topped 50 wickets this season. The other good bowlers are medium pacer Osada Warnapura, Manoj Deshapriya and Lakruwan Fernando.
Mr. I. D. Piyaratne, Principal of the Sri Sumangala College and Mr. J. M. de R. S. Gunatilake, Principal of Moratu MV have given their wholehearted support and cooperation for the big match.
Masters-in-charge of cricket of the two schools are Mr. Upul Gunatilake and Mr. W. D. P. Wimalasena respectively.
Mr. P. Premadasa of Sri Sumangala College and Mr. Kusum Pinnadoowa of Moratu MV are the coaches of the two schools respectively.
The 6th one-day limited-over cricket encounter will be held on March 29 at the De Soysa Stadium, Moratuwa.
Taxila Central College in two wins
Taxila Central College, Horana, defeated Sri Medhankara College and Ananda Sastralaya, Matugama, in two inter-school cricket matches played at Horana recently.
Sri Medhankara College: 171 (R. Pathirana 41, P. Asanka 33, M. Kanewela 28, P. Rajasekera 4 for 72, L. Dedigamuwa 3 for 24, V. Perera 3 for 64) and 107 for 9 (M. Kanewela 24, P. Asanka 24, V. Perera 4 for 43)
Taxila Central College: 237 (P. Rajasekera 103, S. Thuduhena 35, N. Palihawardena 28, M. Dharmawardena 24, P. Asanka 4 for 60, M. Kanewela 3 for 71) and 42 for 3 (V. Perera 18, M. Priyadarshana 2 for 18)
Ananda Sastralaya: 216 (A. C. Weerasinghe 60, K. S. Janakantha 32, A. Urinda 32, A. Janaka 20, L. Chaturanga 22, A. Paranagama 22 n.o, V. Perera 4 for 57, P. Rajasekera 3 for 69) and 159 (A. C. Weerasinghe 46, L. Chaturanga 22, V. Perera 4 for 78, P. Rajasekera 3 for 55)
Taxila Central College: 216 (S. Bulathgama 80, P. Prasanna 41 n.o., S. Thuduhena 21, K. S. Kanakantha 4 for 75) and 163 for 3 (S. Bulathgama 76 n.o, V. Perera 39, P. Prasanna 32).
Kandy MC takes to leatherball cricket
By S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy sports group correspondent
The Kandy Municipal Council which has done a lot for the development and promotion of sports in the Kandy town will break new ground when it introduces leatherball cricket to the under-privileged through its 35 Community Centres and 22 playgrounds spread across the length and breadth of the hill capital this Wednesday (March 18) under the auspices of the Mayor of Kandy, Harindranath Dunuwille.
Harindranath Dunuwille, it must be recalled, had a brilliant cricketing career at Trinity College as a left-arm spinner and attacking bat, winning his cricket Lion in 1965.
He also represented the Combined Colleges and the Board XI. Assisting him in this novel project is former Sri Lanka Schools Upcountry and Dharmaraja cricketer Harold Ranasinghe, the famous Dharmaraja cricketer and sports Journalist Upananda Jayasundera, Hafiz Marikkar MMC and the Colombage brothers Ranjith and Edward who both played for St. Sylvesters College, and B. P. Ranasinghe.
On Wednesday (March 18) at 4.30 p.m. the Playgrounds and the Community Centres will be presented with the necessary materials to start with and regular cricket practices will be held at the Getambe grounds, which will be forerunner to a first-ever inter-playground hard ball cricket tournament.
An unique feature of this project is that it is open only to those who had never played leather ball cricket even at school level, which means that only green horns will be taken in and put through their paces with a view of unearthing talent among the softball cricketers. Some of them are experts at the game of softball cricket but no leather ball, due to the lack of opportunities.