Item in Daily News, 15 May 2016
North Western Province U19 emerged 2016 U19 Inter-Provincial Champions when they clinched a first-innings win over Southern Province in the three-day final ended in a draw at R.Premadasaon Friday. It, in the end became a tremendous victory for NWP as the teams they overcame on their way to this title especially the three teams competed from Western Province and unbeaten Southerners had highly talented player-compositions in their contingents.
 Man of the final Pubudu Ganegama of North Western Province |
Southerners batting first after they were asked to do so scored a reasonable 247 on the back of two good knocks by NavinduNirmal andAshen Bandara both of Aloysius. Nirmal after opening the innings was involved in two good partnerships; 105-run for the fifth wicket with Ashen Bandara and 49 with Prashan Kumara of St.Servatius for the seventh wicket before he was out as the eighth wicket to fall in Southern innings for a patient 168-ball 56. Ashen Bandara top scored for Southern with a well-made 74. PubuduGanegama of St.Anne’s, Damitha Silva of Maliyadewa and WS Wanninayake of St.Anne’s claimed seven wickets among them for NWP. Damitha Silva’s 64 at the top followed by a middle order run-fest in which PubuduGanegama made a brilliant century helped NWP amass 342 in reply. DilumSudheera of Karandeniya Central claiming three wickets took most wickets for Southern.
When Southern batted for the second time around with a first innings deficit of 95 runs lost a couple of wickets very cheaply worsening their position in this all important final before their first innings heroes, NavinduNirmal(48) and Ashen Bandara(67) came to their rescue once again to save them from humiliation. Once this pair departed, Southerners losing their grip slumped to 161 for eight with an overall lead of mere 66 runs. However, KavinduEdiriweeraof Richmond andHareenBuddila of Aloysius sharing a stubborn stand of 52 runs for the ninth wicket added some respectability to their ultimate lead of 119. Damitha Silva and KrishanRansinghe of St.Anne’s claimed 4 wickets apiece for NWP.
NWP chasing 120 to win lost a few quick wickets sliding them to 25 for four in their bid to accelerate their scoring rate to claim an outright win before they applied a defending approach to safeguard the first-innings triumph they had already achieved. When bad light stopped play, NWP had reached 46 for four with DilumSudheera claiming all four wickets to fall.
Man of the series Damitha Silva
of North Western Province
|
This is being a tournament organized and conducted by SLC with the participation of almost all players around the country who did well at school level recently attracted the attention of cricket enthusiasts not only at school level but also at levels higher than that as it was a hunting ground for the school players who have just finished their premier inter-school tournament to show their talent with a view to developing their cricketing career ahead, playing cricket at higher levels. This tournament also served as a guideline for selection of players for the National U19 Youth team targeting the home series against South Africa U19 in June and the away-series in England in July 2016.
Chief Scores
Southern Province U19 : 247 in 80 overs (Ashen Bandara 74, Navindu Nirmal 56, P S Ganegama 3/45) & 214-9 dec. in 74 overs (Ashen Bandara 67, NavinduNirmal 48, HareenBuddila 38, Damitha Silva 4/73, R K Ranasinghe 4/38)
North Western Province U19 : 342 in 111.4 overs (PS Ganegama 106, Damitha Silva 64, W S Wanninayake 45, Dilum Sudheera 3/88) & 46-4 in 22 overs (KeshanWanniarachchi 14, Dilum Sudheera 4/13)
Top performers with the bat and ball
Navindu Nirmal of Southern Province topped the batting list with 442 runs at an average of 63.14 whilst Chaturanga Pieris of WPS came second scoring a total of 336 runs including two centuries. The third spot in the batting list occupied by Lasith Croospulle of Eastern Province with 336 runs including two centuries at an amazing average of 84 that was the highest in the tournament. In the bowling department, left-arm leg-spinner, Dilum Sudheera of Southern Province captured 29 wickets to top the tournament’s bowling list whilst Damitha Silva took 28 wickets occupying the second slot. Another Southern Province bowler, Hareen Buddila collected 27 scalps to be the third highest wicket-taker in the tourney. Avindu Theekshana of Uva had the best innings analysis with 7 for 51 whilst Vimukthi Kulathunga of WPC bagged 10 wickets marking the best match analysis with the ball. Damitha Silva finished the tourney as the best all-rounder with 277 runs and 28 wickets to his credit. Ten batsmen scored 12 centuries with Avishka Fernando of WPS making the highest of 160. 343 scored by Southern against NCP was the tournament’s highest innings total.
AWARD WINNERS
Best Batsman Navindu Nirmal of Southern
Best Bowler Hareen Buddila of Southern
Man of the series Damitha Silva of NWP
Man of the final Pubudu Ganegama of NWP.