Trinity oust arch rivals in thriller to book final berth

Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ semi-final

By Reemus Fernando

Trinity advanced to the final of the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ cricket tournament as they pulled off exciting two wickets victory over their arch rivals St. Anthony’s in the semi-final played at the Thurstan College ground on Monday.

In a contest that went to the wire, Trinity reached a target of 203 runs with four balls to spare as the ninth wicket pair of Vibhavith Ehelepola and Tharana Wimaladharma kept their cool to secure the final berth against Richmond.

Theeraka Ranatunga was the key to Trinity’s success as he held their batting together with a valuable half century.

Chasing 203 runs to win Trinity openers kept their wickets intact till the 15th over before Sri Lanka Under 19 spinner Treveen Mathew struck twice in the same over to trigger a collapse. From being 47 for no wickets at one stage Trinity collapsed to 70 for five within ten overs.

Then it fell on the shoulders of Theeraka Ranatunga and Dinusha Peiris to repair the damage.

While Peiris scored 29 runs, Wathila Udara with a 26-ball 37 runs and Ehelepola with an unbeaten 18 runs got the team closer to victory.

Earlier, put to bat St. Anthony’s lost their first two wickets with just nine runs on the board as Vibhavith Ehelepola struck in consecutive balls to remove Mohamed Aaqil, the hero of their quarter-final victory and Januka Rathnayake. Kavindu Shehan then dropped anchor with a 141-ball 74 runs.

Shehan added 61 runs for the third wicket with Thisara Ekanayake (35) before Traveen Mathew and Janith Rathnasiri played little cameos to reach their eventual total.

Scores:

St. Anthony’s

202 for 6 in 50 overs (Kavindu Shehan 74, Thisara Ekanayake 35, Traveen Mathew 25, Janith Rathnasiri 27; Vibhavith Ehelepola 2/27, Theeraka Ranathunga 2/31)

Trinity

204 for 8 in 49.2 overs (Janith Ravishka 17, Rahal Amarasinghe 23, Theeraka Ranathunga 57, Dinusha Peiris 29, Wathila Uara 37, Vibhavith Ehelepola 18n.o.; Traveen Mathew 3/40)