Thomian-Sebastian final should go down to the wire

Thomian-Sebastian final should go down to the wire

Chris Dhambarage

Two well balanced teams S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia and St. Sebastian’s College Moratuwa will clash in the final of the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association Under-17 Division One Tournament on October 1 (Tuesday) at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo.

This match is of great importance to both teams as they have made it to the final after a lapse of many years following some real hard work and commitment during the preliminary round and in the final round of the competition.

Incidentally the Thomians will be making their appearance in an under-17 tournament final after a break of 14 years having last won this tournament way back in 1999 under the captaincy of Meshad Peiris.

The Sebastianites too have faced a similar experience in the past as they will be hoping to win this championship after a lapse of nine years having last triumphed in the year 2004 under the leadership of Dilhan Cooray.

This time of course both teams have experienced mixed fortunes and are looking to add the finishing touches which will certainly give them a huge morale booster ahead of the up coming First XI cricket season.

Even then S. Thomas’ College will have a slight edged over their opponents considering the fact that they have defeated some of the more fancied and strong teams on their way into the final.

In fact the lads from Mount Lavinia had the distinction of overcoming the defending champions Royal College Panadura during a second round encounter and also had the better of former champions St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya in the pre quarterfinals.

S. Thomas’ College captained by Sri Lanka under-17 player Ravindu Tillekeratne notched up four good victories in the first round against     Piliyandala Central, Dharmapala MV Pannipitiya, Lumbini Colombo and Carey College.

They of course suffered two shock defeats at the hands of Mahanama College and D. S. Senanayake College but yet qualified for the second round of the tournament as the third placed team from their group.       

    

In contrast St. Sebastian’s College finished as the group champions after the completion of the preliminary round where they were able to beat their traditional rivals Prince of Wales, Isipathana, Veluwana MV, Thurstan and President’s College Kotte while going down against Wesley.   

However in the second round S. Thomas’ College produced some outstanding cricket to remain unbeaten with victories over Thurstan and Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa before overcoming St. Joseph’s and Lumbini in the quarterfinal and semifinal respectively.

St. Sebastian’s College also produced the same kind of form during the latter stages of the tournament as they cruised towards victory against Thurstan in the quarterfinals and defeated St. Anthony’s College Katugastota in the semifinals.  

The teams

St. Sebastian’s College (from): Visal Senanayake (captain), Muditha Fernando (vice captain), Avishka Fernando, Pramesh Fernando, Nimesh Bandara, Kusal Lakthilina, Gayan Silva, Sachintha Fernando, Lahiru Heshan, Laksitha Pieris, Shashika Fernando, Sandaruwan Fernando, Praveen Perera, Ashair Warnakulasooriya, M. Amju, Nalin Wijesinghe (Coach) and Frank Cooray (Master in Charge)

S. Thomas’ College (from): Ravindu Tillekaratne (captain), Sachitha Jayathilake (vice captain), Dulanja Silva, Rashmika Opatha, Dilendra Gunathilake, Ushen Fernando, Yohan Mendis, Chenutha Wickramasinghe, Sajana Silva, Tharindu Rathnayake, Navod Fernando, Kanishka Perera, Duvindu Thilakaratne, Deelaka Weeraratne, Ishan Saseth, Dinesh Kuamarasinghe (Head Coach), Dilshan Mendis (Assistant Coach) and B. H. M. Wijeratne (Master in Charge)