De La Salle meets St. Peter’s Negombo in explosive final

De La Salle meets St. Peter’s Negombo in explosive final  

Chris Dhambarage

Two equally good teams De La Salle College Mutwall and St. Peter’s College Negombo will be hoping to create history when they clash in the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association Under-17 Division Two Tournament final on Tuesday at the Thurstan College ground.

Both schools are looking to clinch the division two championships for the first time after having made it to the final following some outstanding performances during the preliminary round of the tournament.

In fact De La Salle College had the credit of creating one of the biggest upsets in the tournament when they knocked out the more fancied St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya by 95 runs in a quarterfinal fixture played at De Soysa Stadium in Moratuwa.   

De La Salle College then powered their way into the final while recording a convincing six-wicket victory over Karandeniya Central in the semifinal encounter at the same venue. 

Earlier in the first round De La Salle College had the satisfaction of overcoming Thurstan ‘B’, St. Anthony’s Panadura, Prince of Wales ‘B’ and Ananda MV Kottawa to emerge as the group champions.

They never looked back from there onwards and went on to create more upsets while defeating Ananda College ‘B’, Sri Sumangala Wariyapola and Theraputta Amabalantota MV in the second round. 

Meanwhile St. Peter’s College Negombo also had a highly successful tournament as they launched their campaign with convincing victories over Harischandra MV Negombo, Basilica College Ragama and Henegama Central College in the first round.

Their only setback in the beginning was the first round defeat which they suffered at the hands of St. Sebastian’s College Katuneriya and they had to be satisfied with the runner-up position in their group.

However later they made amends and went on to avenge that defeat by overcoming the same opponents in the semifinals after having earlier beaten Sri Sumangala MMV Wariyapola in the quarterfinals.   

The teams

St. Peter’s College Negombo (from): Udith Dilsara (Captain), Nipuna Rukshan (Vice-captain), Lahiru Madhushan, Krishan Lahiru, Nipun Buddhi, Chamara Dilshan, Yohel Antipas, Sajith Pramuditha, Nishan Pieris, Dinal Pramil, Milan Sachin, Buddhika Madhusanka, S. Umesh,  Tharindu Srinath, Lakshan Sandaruwan, Gihan Sudeepa (Coach), Lakshman Samaranayake (Master-in-Charge)

De La Salle College (from): Kavin Fernando (Captain), Madhawa Fernando (Vice-captain), Sangeeth Fernando, Ashen De Silva, Eranda Kushlan, Gihan Perera, Mohommed Razeem, Chathura Devendra, Kanishka Madhusanka, Nimesh Silva, Suminda Fernando, Nalin Vaas, Arjuna Fernando, Felix Dias (Coach), M.C. Werapitiya (Master-in-Charge)