CR & FC late rally fails to stop Kandy SC win

CR & FC late rally fails to stop Kandy SC win

Chris Dhambarage

Former champions Kandy Sports Club survived a strong late rally from CR and FC before recording a morale boosting 29 points to 15 points victory in their SLRFU Dialog inter club ‘A’ division league rugby tournament first round rugby encounter worked off at Longden Place yesterday.

The visitors after having built up a commanding 21-9 lead at half time came up with some stiff resistance in the second half as they went on to register their second straight win with the help of three goals and one try while the home side responded with four penalties and one drop goal.

This was of course Kandy SC’s first real challenge for the current season after having cruised to a comprehensive 69-6 triumph over CH and FC in their opening match of the tournament last week at home.

But this time Kandy SC were under tremendous pressure as they struggled a bit and also committed a series of errors in the second half which was entirely played under fading light.

In fact CR and FC staged a superb late rally to reduce the margin to just one goal mid way in the second half after full back Reza Mubarak had converted his fourth successive penalty from 25 metres out.

CR and FC then brought play into the Kandy SC territory while forcing a couple of crucial five metre line outs but they just could not add the finishing touches and convert pressure into points.

On another occasion scrum half Kavindu de Costa made a brilliant interception from their goal line and sliced through the entire Kandy SC defence but lack of support from the three quarters cost them another opportunity of scoring.

In contrast Kandy SC were able to make another splendid start to their campaign as they completely dominated the early stages while scoring three splendid tries to set the pace for an easy victory.

Sri Lanka sevens skipper and dynamic centre three quarter Fazil Marija led the way when he produced a superb dummy to touch down near the corner flag after the forwards had won possession from a five metre scrum.

Nippy scrum half and captain Roshan Weeraratne then produced an outstanding performance when he powered his way nearly 30 metres through the right flank to fall over following a superb three quarter move which was initiated in mid field.

The Kandy SC three quarters were in excellent form as they completely rattled the CR and FC defence with dynamic full back Saliya Kumara producing a breathtaking effort to form the overlap and score almost under the post.

Fly half Phil Fatumo had a good game for Kandy SC as he converted all three tries in the first half while CR and FC were able to convert three penalties during this period through their reliable place kicker and full back Reza Mubarak with fly half Ralph Laha firing across a drop goal.

In the second half of course Kandy SC could add only a try to their tally with Sri Lanka’s new find Lavanga Perera penetrating the CR and FC defence following a series of unsuccessful attempts from the back division.

Referee: Irshad Cader

Early success helps Mahanama progress

Early success helps Mahanama progress

Chris Dhambarage

Mahanama College Colombo, having already made a splendid start to the new season, is targeting the inter-school 50-over knockout title and to finish among the top five in the current under-19 division one cricket tournament.

The team which is studded with five senior coloursmen has struck early form and was able to register two morale-boosting outright victories against St. Anthony’s College Katugastota and Bandaranayake College Gampaha respectively.

This has been a huge turn around for Mahanama College who had the ignominy of losing three matches outright in the previous season against Zahira College, Prince of Wales College Moratuwa and St. Servatius College Matara while failing to register a single victory.    

However this early success has certainly provided Mahanama College the inspiration to perform well in the season as they took first innings honours over Moratu MV and drew the rest of the matches played in the third term against Maliyadeva College Kurunegala, Isipathana College, Royal Panadura and Lumbini MV.   

This has been a tremendous effort from Mahanama College considering the fact that they have experienced many difficulties and challengers in the recent past and more importantly they are still suffering without a playground of their own even for their practice sessions.

However the school has been able to maintain high standards on the field despite these major setbacks and, over the years, has continued to produce some outstanding schoolboy cricketers for the Sri Lanka under-19 pool.

In fact, last season, they had the honour of producing a prolific run getter in the form of Pawan Devinda who went on to become the first schoolboy cricketer to complete one thousand runs for that season.   

Before that they had the credit of producing another versatile cricketer in the form of Duleeka Thissakuttige who led the side with a great amount of success and also went on to represent the Sri Lanka under-19 team.

The elegant left-hander displayed his batting prowess when he struck a crucial unbeaten 70 under tremendous pressure in the second innings of the youth test match against the touring England team at the Galle International Stadium last year.

Since then he has turned out to be a permanent member of the youth national team and also had the distinction of touring India for the one-day quadrangular involving the hosts, Australia and the West Indies.

This year as well the players have shown a lot of commitment and determination and the manner in which they recorded the two outright victories against St. Anthony’s College Katugastota and Bandaranayake College Gampaha was really outstanding.

In fact they completely dominated the fixture against the Antonians where they triumphed by a comprehensive margin of ten wickets following a season-best effort of five wickets for 15 runs from the off-spinner Dulanjana Seneviratne who so far has captured over 30 wickets this year.

The former Sri Lanka Schools under-17 player produced another excellent spell of bowling to claim eight wickets for 45 runs in the drawn fixture against Isipathana College and also captured seven wickets for 29 runs against Moratu MV.

In addition their victory over Bandaranayake College Gampaha was fashioned by two of their most experienced players all rounder Subuddhi Kaushalya who hit a fighting half-century and Dinuka Chamath who returned career best figures of six wickets for 42 runs.        

Subuddhi Kaushalya has already made some splendid contributions to the side as a genuine all rounder having captured over 25 wickets and scoring more than 350 runs while Dinuka Chamath has lived up to expectations as their key bowler claiming over 22 wickets from seven outings played so far. 

This season Mahanama College will be captained by the experienced fast bowler Nayana Prabath who has got into his rhythm during the last couple of outings after having missed out the earlier matches due to injuries.      

The Mahanama College First XI Cricket Pool for 2013/14 season:

Nayana Prabath (Captain), Kalana Ashan, Shanith Kavinda, Niduka Welikala, Subuddhi Kaushalya, Dulanjana Seneviratne, Umesh Sachith, Gihan Sanjeewa, Kalindu Lakshan, Dinuka Chamath, Senura Welagedera, Ishara Rashmika, Milinda Abeysuriya, Sahan Peiris, Thanula Wickremasinghe, Dilshan Dananjaya, Manjula Perera (Coach), Kelum Gangodawila (Assistant Coach), Leslie Harishchandra (Master-in-Charge)

Upcoming fixtures:

January 6/7: v Dharmapala MV Pannipitiya at Kalutara

January 13/14: v Zahira College Maradana at Katunayake

January 21/22: v De Mazenod College at Kandana

January 24/25: v Trinity College Kandy at Asgiriya

January 28/29: v Joseph Vaz College at Wennappuwa

February 6/7: v St. Servatius College Matara at Kalutara

February 10/11: v Maris Stella College Negombo at Katunayake

February 17/18: v Thurstan College at Kalutara

March 21/22: v D. S. Senanayake College (Big Match) at P. Sara Oval

March 30: D. S. Senanayake College (one-day game) at SSC ground

Plate champs Sri Lanka remains third in Asia

Plate champs Sri Lanka remains third in Asia

Chris Dhambarage

The Sri Lanka men’s rugby team completed the 2013 HSBC Asian Rugby Sevens Series on a high note when they clinched the Plate Championship in the fourth and final leg which was worked off at the Yio Chu Kang Sports Complex in Singapore last week.

The Tuskers after having failed to make an impact on the opening day of the event bounced back into recognition magnificently to beat Chinese Taipei by a convincing margin of 38 points to nil in the final encounter.

Their success also had a great amount of significance as the Sri Lankans were able to secure the third position in the Asian Rankings with a tally of 37 points behind the winners Japan (47) and runners up Hong Kong (45).      

Even then the Sri Lanakans will be quite disappointed that they could not make it to the Cup Championship category after having suffered a shock 12-17 defeat at the hands of China.   

“I think we made a lot of mistakes in the match against China where the three quarters dropped the ball on many occasions when they were very close to the try line.  

“This was also the first time we were playing against China in the entire sevens series this season and may be the players were completely unaware of their opponents strengths and weaknesses.

“Anyway this was no excuse for our defeat in this vital game because we played very badly throughout the game and that also put the team out of contention for the Cup Championship,” lamented the Sri Lankan coach Niloufer Ibrahim.

However Ibrahim was really pleased with the overall performances of the Sri Lankan sevens team which maintained their consistency in all four legs worked off in Malaysia, Thailand, India and Singapore respectively.   

“I must commend the entire team for putting up a tremendous performance on the second day of the tournament where they simply swept aside all opponents to win the Plate Championship.         

“I think this was a fantastic effort from the team considering the fact that our preparations for this event were somewhat hampered because of the Serendib Cup tournament at home and we had only a couple of training sessions before leaving to Singapore.  

“The hot and humid weather conditions in Singapore further hampered our few workout sessions before the start of the tournament and the players were lacking in match practices before the first two games against Indonesia and the Philippines.”

Niloufer Ibrahim was full of praise for his nippy scrum half Srinath Sooriyandara who became the third highest try scorer of the entire tournament with 18 tries just behind Thomas Mcqueen of Hong Kong (19 tries) and Lomano Lemeki of Japan (27 tries).  

“I think for me Srinath Sooriyabandara and Sandun Herath were the pick of the players because they were simply outstanding throughout the series and made a huge impact for the side through their all round brilliance.     

“We of course missed the services of third row forward Shenal Dias who was not available for selection and in addition Sajith Saranga was forced to keep away during the latter stages of the series due to injuries.   

“We got to find few more talented players from the outstations and the main target should be to beat Hong Kong next season to reach the the number two position in the Asian Sevens Rankings,” added the Sri Lankan sevens coach.    

HSBC Asian Sevens Series final standings

Team                                     Malaysia      Thailand       India              Singapore    Total

Japan                                     12                   12                   11                   12                   47      

Hong Kong               11                   11                   12                   11                   45

Sri Lanka                   9                      10                   10                   8                      37

South Korea             10                   9                      6                      9                      34

Philippines               5.5                  8                      8                      6                      27.5

Malaysia                   8                      5                      9                      5                      27

Thailand                    7                      7                      7                      4                      25

Chinese Taipei         5.5                  3                      4                      7                      19.5

China                                     2                      4                      3                      10                   19

Singapore                 3                      2                      5                      3                      13

Kazakhstan              4                      6                      2                      -                       12

Indonesia                 -                       -                       -                       2                      2

UAE                            1                      0                      0                      1                      2

Caption:

The Sri Lanka sevens rugby team that won the Plate Championship in Singapore 

End.

Richmond, St. Peter’s secure outright victories

Richmond, St. Peter’s secure outright victories

Chris Dhambarage

Richmond College Galle and St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya grabbed major honours as they notched up impressive outright victories in this week’s inter school Under 19 cricket tournament matches which concluded yesterday.

Richmond College powered their way to a smashing eight wicket victory over S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia at the Galle International Stadium while St. Peter’s College came back strongly to pull off an exciting two wicket win over Isipathana College at the FTZ ground in Katunayake.

The match winner for Richmond College was their spinner A. K. Tyronne who snapped up six wickets in the second innings to skittle out the Thomians for just 129 runs in the second innings and to finish with a match bag of nine wickets.

All rounder Samitha Jayatilleke was the only batsman to offer any kind of resistance for S. Thomas’ College as he went on to complete a fighting unbeaten half century.

Earlier Richmond College went on to extend their first innings lead to 59 runs before declaring at 178 for 8 wickets with Tharindu Ratnayake and Saveen Nanayakkara claiming four wickets each.            

Meanwhile St. Peter’s College came from behind with a tremendous performance to beat Isipathana College outright by 2 wickets in their inter school under 19 cricket encounter which concluded at the FTZ ground in Katunayake yesterday.

The Peterites after conceding a first innings lead of 47 runs to their opponents hit back strongly through their bowlers while bundling out Isipathana College to just 124 runs in the second innings with Vinu Mohotty, Thaneesha Weerakoon and Sahan Nanayakkara causing the damage.      

St. Peter’s College chasing a victory target of 171 runs lost wickets at regular intervals but a fighting half century from Oshan Karunaratne and useful contributions from the tail enders helped them to complete a thrilling victory at the end.    

+At Galle (Richmond beat S. Thomas’ by 8 wickets)

S. Thomas’: 119 and 129 (Samitha Jayatilleke 51 n. o, Sanesh de Mel 32, A. K. Tyronne 6/51, Saveen Nanayakkara 3/40)

Richmond: 178-9 decl (Kelum Nanyakkara 53, Wanindu Pasaranga 28 n. o, Tharindu Ratnayake 4/61, Nilaksha Sumanasiri 4/29) and 71-2 (Sithara Gimhana 35 n. o).

+At Katunayake (St. Peter’s beat Isipathana by 2 wickets)

Isipathana: 217 and 124 (Dhanura Dilanka 34, Chameera Dissanayake 24, Vinu Mohotty 3/22, Thaneesha Weerakoon 3/35, Sahan Nanayakkara 2/39) 

St. Peter’s: 170 (Dineth Thimodya 36, Janith Liyanage 53, Chemila Obeysekera 20, Torry Thabrew 5/48, Chameera Dissanayake 4/51) and 172-8 (Oshan Karunaratne 60, Dineth Thimodya 28, Janith Liyanage 28, Chameera Dissanayake 2/35).

End.

Maliyadeva cricketers to do their best in 125th year

AT THE SCHOOL NETS

Maliyadeva cricketers to do their best in 125th year

Olcott’s dream lives on

Chris Dhambarage

Maliyadeva College Kurunegala with eight top coloursmen and several other senior all-rounders in their ranks are banking on the experienced players to deliver the goods in the current inter-school under-19 cricket season.

As the only team currently playing in the division one tournament from the Kurunegala District, Maliyadeva College, one of the pioneer Buddhist cricket-playing schools in the country, is once again determined to showcase their talent and potential during the current season.

In fact this season will be quite a significant one for Maliyadeva College who are celebrating their 125th anniversary after the institution was founded in 1888 by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott.      

In fact last season they made it a memorable occasion when they went on to beat their traditional rivals St. Anne’s College by an innings and 35 runs in their annual Battle of the Rocks, big match after a lapse of 49 years.     

Maliyadeva College could also be proud to be associated in participating in the first-ever cricket match between two Buddhist Schools in the country when they clashed with Dharmaraja College Kandy way back in 1893.

And since then the school has grown in stature to emerge as one of the leading cricket-playing schools from the outstation having produced some outstanding cricketers in the calibre of Ranjith Madurasinghe, Eric Upashantha, Jeewantha Kulathunga, and Rangana Herath with all of them representing the country at the highest level.

In fact Rangana Herath emerged as the world’s leading Test wicket taker for 2012 while Eric Upashantha had the opportunity of serving Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) as a national selector last year.  

   

This time Maliyadeva College will be captained by all-rounder Kusal de Silva who is one of the senior members from the previous season’s big match winning team along with vice captain Chandima Bandara.

Both these players have started the new season on a high note having made some significant contributions during the third term matches as they look forward towards consolidating their position during the remaining fixtures.

Maliyadeva College of course had the bitter experience of losing four matches outright last season against Richmond College Galle, Thurstan College, St. Servatius College Matara and Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda.

But this time they have looked more confident on the field having recorded two first innings victories against Rahula College Matara and Dharmapala MV Pannipitiya while losing just a solitary match against Ananda College away from home.

The significant feature in this year’s team is that the side is studded with three promising Sri Lanka under-19 pool players namely vice captain Chandima Bandara, wicketkeeper batsman Minod Bhanuka and all-rounder Keshan Wijeratne.      

In fact Minod Bhanuka was their leading run getter last season where he accumulated over 900 runs inclusive of two hundreds against Rahula College Matara (154) and Royal College Panadura (137) in addition to scoring four good half-centuries.

He has certainly continued from where he left last season, having already notched up two splendid centuries against Dharmapala MV Pannipitiya (141) and Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa (133) during the third-term fixtures.

In addition dashing opener Sharinda Dassanayake missed out the opportunity of scoring two centuries this season when he was dismissed for 91 against Kingswood College Kandy and remained unbeaten on 87 in the game against Mahanama College.    

Vice captain and left-arm spinner Chandima Bandara is undoubtedly their main strike bowler having so far captured over fifteen wickets including two four-wicket hauls against Kingswood College Kandy and Dharmapala MV Pannipitiya respectively.

Skipper Kusal de Silva is another key player in their bowling armory having provided some excellent support throughout the third-term matches and had a four-wicket haul against Richmond College Galle.        

Former Sri Lanka under-15 player Damith Silva is another talented player in the Maliyadeva College batting line-up having produced his best effort in the match against Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa.      

The Maliyadeva College First XI Cricket Pool for 2013/14 season:

Kusal de Silva (Captain), Chandima Bandara (Vice Captain), Sharinda Dassanayake, Minod Bhanuka, Sachintaa Peiris, Prabash Keppetipola, Keshan Wijeratne, Tharindu Punchihewa, Damitha Silva, Damith Perera, Pubudu Irundaka, Arju Tennekoon, Gimantha Bakmeewewa, Bhanuka Chandrasiri, Channa Tillekeratne, Lakshan Somaweera, Namindu Somaratne, Dulaj Ranatunga, Dilshan Kollure, Damith Gunathilake (Coach), Shirantha Bandaranayake (Master-in-Charge), Mahinda Uduweralla (Assistant Master-in-Charge).

Upcoming fixtures:

January 2/3: v Mahinda College Galle at Kurunegala

January 7/8: v Revata MMV at Balapitiya

January 14/15: v S. de S. Jayasinghe MMV Dehiwela at Kurunegala

January 23/24: v Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda at Kurunegala

January 30/31: v St. Sylvester’s College at Peradeniya

February 6/7: v Thurstan College at Kurunegala

February 14/15: v Dharmaraja College at Lake View

February 21/22: v D. S. Senanayake College at Wijerama Mawatha

February 26/27: v Nalanda College at Kurunegala

March 7/8: v St. Anne’s College (Big Match) at Welagedera Stadium

March 9: v St. Anne’s College (one day) at Welagedera Stadium

Hambantota Sharks a deadly danger

Dialog Inter-Club Rugby Premier League starts November 15

Hambantota Sharks a deadly danger

Chris Dhambarage

Havelocks Sports Club will face a daunting task in their attempt to retain the coveted league title for the second successive year when the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) organised Dialog Inter-Club Rugby Premier League Tournament gets underway on November 15 in Colombo.

The Havies created a major sensation last season as they went on to clinch the ‘A’ division league championship after a lapse of many years while overcoming some of the more fancied teams.

However this time Havelocks SC will be under tremendous pressure and will confront the newcomers Hambantota Sharks in the curtain-raiser match of the tournament on November 15 under lights at Havelock Park.

In fact the number of teams participating in the league tournament has now increased to ten with the Hambantota Sharks coming into the scene and also tipped to create  a couple of surprises during the first round.

The Havies of course will miss the services of their veteran coach Tavita Tulagaese (Laga) who has moved to Longden Place after a highly successful stint with the Park Club last year.     

     

Havelocks SC will have a new Tongan coach cum trainer Paula Kaho for the new season and few other foreign players including Tongan centre three quarter Aisea Hava who recently represented Japan in the HSBC Asian Five Nations Rugby Tournament.

In addition they will have the services of some outstanding players in the calibre of last year’s captain Henry Terrence, national players Shenal Dias, Sandun Herath, Chamara Dabare, Shehan Pathirana, Mohammed Sheriff and seasoned campaigners Ashen Karthelis and Kavinda Jayasena.

Meanwhile former champions and last year’s runner-up Kandy Sports Club will come out for the first time when they take on CH and FC in their opening match of the tournament on November 16 at the Nittawela Stadium.       

Kandy SC of course will start their campaign under the guidance of new coach Neil Foote but will have the services of several national players including Sri Lanka sevens captain Fazil Marija.

However the pick of the matches during the opening week will be the high profile confrontation between CR and FC and the Up Country Lions SC on November 16 at the Jayathilaka Stadium in Nawalapitiya.

The Up Country Lions SC put up a stunning performance on their ‘A’ division debut last season to finish fourth in the final points table and was knocked out in the semi-finals of the Clifford Cup Tournament by Havelocks Sports Club by a solitary point 32-33.   

CR and FC are hoping to produce an improved performance after their last year’s debacle with the return of several Sri Lanka players including former Sri Lanka skipper Dushanth Lewke, Sri Lanka winger Vishwamithra Jayasinghe, Kasun de Silva, Anuja Perera and former Sri Lanka full back Reza Mubarak.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club is another team which will be making a determined effort to win the league title as they will take on Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club on November 16 at Welisara.

The Sailors captained by third row forward Rohitha Rajapaksa will once again field a star-studded line-up last year's Sri Lanka skipper Yoshitha Rajapaksa, Chula Susantha, Dinusha Chathuranga, Sajith Saranga, Saliya Handapangoda, Jason Dissanayake and Suranga Pushpakumara.

  

Team                                                 Captain                                 Coach

                                               

Havelocks SC                       Dhiran Warnakulasuriya                         Paula Kaho                

Kandy SC                  Fazil Marija                                      Neil Foote

Navy SC                     Rohitha Rajapaksa                                     Stefano 

Up Country Lions SC         Srinath Sooriyabandara               Imthisham Marikar

Army SC                    Asanga Perera                                Ben McDubble

Police SC                   Jeewan Amaradasa                                   Nizam Jamaldeen

CR and FC                 Ishan Noor                                        Tavita Tulagaese (Laga)  

Air Force SC                         Charith Seneviratne                                  Chandana Deepthi

CH and FC                 Indika Udayakumara                                Sanath Martis

Sharks SC                 To be named                                               Nihan Gunaratne   

The 1st week fixtures:

November 15: Havelocks SC v Hambanthota Sharks SC at Havelock Park

November 16: Navy SC v Air Force SC at Welisara, Up Country Lions SC v CR and FC at Nawalapitiya, Kandy SC v CH and FC at Nittawela, Army SC v Police SC at Diyagama

Lanka clears initial hurdle towards Cup final

HSBC Asian Rugby Series 4^th and final leg

Lanka clears initial hurdle towards Cup final

The Sri Lanka men’s rugby team cleared their initial hurdle in their attempt towards reaching the Cup Championship final by recording two good victories on the opening day of the HSBC Asian Rugby Series fourth and final leg which commenced in Singapore yesterday.

The Tuskers started their campaign in a spectacular manner by recording a rousing 43 points to nil victory over Indonesia and then followed up with an exciting 17-15 triumph over the Philippines to secure the top position in group ‘C’.

Their success against the Philippines had a great amount of significance as they were trailing 12-15 going into the last few seconds of the game after Srinath Sooriyabandara had done the early scoring with two superb tries in the first half to increase his overall aggregate to a staggering 86 points in the series.

However it was skipper Fazil Marija who really turned the game in Sri Lanka’s favour by producing a dazzling performance where he blew off the Philippine hopes of an upset victory by producing an 80 metre dash to score under the post.          

Earlier Sri Lanka went on a scoring spree in their opening fixture of the tournament while completely outplaying Indonesia who was making their debut in this year's HSBC Asian Sevens Rugby Series.

The Sri Lankans scored four early tries in the first half to build up a commanding 26 nil lead at half time and went on to add three more tries to their tally in the second half and to complete a morale boosting victory.   

Jason Dissanayake and Sandun Herath scored two tries each while Saliya Kumara, newcomer Lavanga Perera and Sudarshana Muthuthanthri scored a try each for the winners. (C.D)

The Cup Championship quarterfinal line up: Hong Kong v Philippines, Korea v Chinese Taipei, Japan v Malaysia, Sri Lanka v China

The Singapore Sevens Standings

Group A                    P          W        L          PF       PA       PTS

Hong Kong               2          2          0          46       0          8

China                                     2          1          1          24       24       4         

Singapore                 2          0          2          14       60       0

Group B                    P          W        L          PF       PA       PTS

South Korea             2          2          0          59       0          8

Malaysia                   2          1          1          43       21       4

UAE                            2          0          2          0          81       0

Group C                    P          W        L          PF       PA       PTS

Sri Lanka                   2          2          0          60       15       8

Philippines               2          1          1          54       17       4

Indonesia                 2          0          2          0          82       0

Group D                    P          W        L          PF       PA       PTS

Japan                                     2          2          0          85       0          8

Chinese Taipei         2          1          1          14       38       4

Thailand                    2          0          2          7          68       0

Note: Tabulated under played, won, lost, points for, points against and total points.