Zahira shock Ananda

Under 19 Cricket  

by Reemus Fernando  

Zahira knocked the daylight out of Ananda as Raaed Rizwan scored an unbeaten century to seal a remarkable victory and the fate of the two top teams in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘B’ Limited Overs cricket tournament at Maradana on Thursday.

In what turned out to be the most decisive round of matches in that group, Thurstan beat Dharmasoka by a huge margin to top the group, while Ananda were fighting to secure the second place in their group to book a quarterfinal berth. A victory would have helped them overtake St. Sylvester’s in the Group ‘Z’ points table. Zahira, who were searching for their first win of the tournament had other ideas as they contained the cricket powerhouse to 171 runs before cruising to a seven wickets victory with many overs to spare.

Chasing the target Raaed Rizwan hammered eight fours and five sixes in his unbeaten knock (106 runs in 80 balls) and put on a second wicket stand of 18 runs with Mohamed Yasir (50).

In contrast, Ananda’s formidable batting line up, which produced some strong performances during the first part of the tourney failed to deliver at the crucial stage.

With the victory Zahira also relived Mahinda, who were monitoring the progress of the match from elsewhere. Had Ananda won yesterday’s match it would have probably dented Mahinda’s chances of advancing to the knockout stage as the third best team in Group ‘X’.

In the other Tier ‘B’ matches, St. Peter’s beat St. Anthony’s, Wattala to complete the group stage unbeaten, Thurstan beat Dharmasoka to emerge champions in their group and Mahinda beat Dharmaraja.

The teams advancing to the knockout stage from Tier ‘B’ are (unofficial): (from group ‘X’) St. Peter’s, Maris Stella, Mahinda, (from group ‘Y’) Isipatana, Lumbini, Moratu Vidyalaya, (from group ‘Z’), Thurstan and St. Sylvester’s.

Meanwhile, in a Tier ‘A’ encounter Royal handed D.S. Senanayake their fifth defeat in group ‘Y’.

Match Results

Thurstan beat Dharmasoka at Ambalangoda

Scores:

Thurstan 357 for 3 in 50 overs (Tharindu Harshana 54, Pasindu Ratnayake 55, Vihas Thewmika 112, Bawantha Jayasinghe 113n.o.)

Dharmasoka 229 all out in 32.2 overs (Hasitha Rajapaksha 96, Maneesha Rashmika 27, Ishan Anuradha 21; Nipun Premaratne 4/45, Bawantha Jayasinghe 2/66, Vihas Thewmika 2/31)

 Zahira beat Ananda by seven wickets at Maradana

Scores:

Ananda 171 all out in 47 overs (Nushal Dharmarathna 24, Nethma Karunarathne 25, Sachin Jayasinghe 23, Iruth Gimshan 23, Hansaja Jayasinghe 26; Chamod Lakshan 4/31, Mohamed Humaid 2/33)

Zahira 174 for 3 in 30.2 overs (Mohamed Yasir 50, Raaed Rizwan 106n.o.; Isuru Ayesh 2/21)

 Mahinda beat Dharmaraja by five wickets at Lake View

Scores:

Dharmaraja 183 for 9 in 50 overs (Pulindu Perera 33, Sachintha Dissanayaka 59, Malitha Hapuarachchi 25; Shehan Hasaranga 2/32, Kushan Madusha 4/20, Hiruna Mandila 2/38

Mahinda 186 for 5 in 38.2 overs (Pramesh Madubashana 73, Hiruna Mandila 69)

St. Peter’s beat St. Anthony’s Wattala at Bambalapitiya

Scores:

St. Anthony’s 103 all out in 31.3 overs (Dilip Fernando 23; Niman Umesh 4/24)

St. Peters 105 for 4 in 25.5 overs (Dilana Damsara 45n.o.; Amitha Sandeepa 3/22)

Tier ‘A’

Royal beat DSS at Wijerama

Scores:

DSS 181 for 9 in 50 overs (Gaviru Senhas 29, Abhishek Liyanarachchi 35, Vishwa Shiwanka 55; Dan Poddiwela 3/36, Venusha Akash 2/48, Gishan Balasooriya 3/25)

Royal 187 for 5 in 33.5 overs (Sineth Jayawardena 20, Sadisha Rajapaksha 37, Uvindu Weerasekara 61n.o., Lahiru Gangewatte 24; Poorna Sulakshana 3/42)