Sri Jayawardenapura pull off stunning win

Sri Jayawardenapura MV pulled off a stunning five run win over Royal College, Panadura as Denuwan Jayawardena with a four wicket haul and Jayandu Sankalpa with an unbeaten half century excelled for the winners in the Under-19 Division II Tier ‘B’ final at BRC Ground on Thursday.

Chasing a target of 137 runs to win Royal’s top order could not convert their promising starts to match deciding knocks as bowlers led by Denuwan Jayawardana took wickets at regular intervals. Their late order however threatened to take the game to the wire with Milinda Sanjaya and Naveen Silva adding valuable runs. That threat was doused by Chamod Supun and Sankalpa who took the crucial wickets of the number nine and ten batsmen.

It was Sankalpa’s unbeaten half century that helped Sri Jayawardenapura post a total which proved substantial eventually. They were in deep trouble at one stage after having lost seven wickets for 71 runs but Sankalpa held their batting together with his back to the wall knock which came in 138 balls. Sankalpa who was batting from the first over saw four batsmen getting out without scoring a single run. Kavishka Gihan with 23 runs and Biyanka Thameera with a 51-ball 18 runs were the others to make contributions with the bat.

Royal bowlers will find the defeat hard to absorb as they bowled their heart out. Pacie Yasith Fernando did early damage removing openers for no scores before Naveen Silva rattled three middle order batsmen in quick succession. Their spinners did well to keep the pressure on. Hasantha Warunajith’s ten overs cost him just 18 runs and Milinda Sanjaya who took one wicket gave away just 14 runs in his ten overs.

Scores:

Sri Jayawardenapura MV

136 all out in 46.1 overs (Jayandu Sankalpa 50n.o., Kavishka Gihan 23, Biyanka Thameera 18; Yasith Fernendo 2/24, Naveen Silva 3/25, Sachin Jayasinghe 2/31)

Royal

131 all out in 46.3 overs (Bathiya Sathsara 16; Biyanka Thameera 2/20, Denuwan Jayawardana 4/22) (RF)