Stunning performance by Antonians upset high riding Trinity… St. Anthony’s, going in as under dogs stun TCK to take the win on 1st Innings and displayed a stubborn performance with the bat in the 2nd Innings on a crumbling pitch to hold on to a draw at Asgiriya today. Trinity winning the toss invited St. Anthony’s to take the first use of the wicket. Antonians were in trouble on 84/5 but a fighting 75 run partnership between Buwaneka Wijethunga (42 runs) & Damithra Panditharathne (39 runs) for the 6th wicket saw Antonians scoring 188 in the 1st Innings. Kanishka Uggalpaya too contributed with 29 runs. Trinity got off to a shaky start losing 2 for 30 & lost the 3rd on 62. But they recovered well to finish the day on 97 for 3. Opening Bowler Dilan Maduranga picked up 2 wickets for the Antonians. Trinity started the day well and was cruising along before Captain Nimesha Gunasinghe broke the 64 run stand when the score was on 126. A fine spell by Nimesha saw Trinity collapsing to 139 for 8. But a fighting innings from Trinitian Sayer saw the deficit coming down but Antonian spinners fought back again to dismiss Trinity for 187, there by gaining the 1st innings win by 1 run. Skipper Nimesha Gunasinghe led the way with 5 for 44 and it was a great team effort to restrict a strong Trinity batting line up to 197. Antonian 2nd innings got off to another shaky start, loosing wickets at regular intervals. Antonians were struggling at 5 for 55 and the game was in the balance. But another fighting 6th Wicket partnership of 56 led by Vice Captain Buwaneka Wijethunga (29 runs), with Dilan Bandara (28 runs) saw Antonians reaching a safe position. SACK declared the 2nd Innings on 124, giving Trinity a target of 126 in 7 overs but the chase was a mere formality. They were 26 for no loss at close of play. Vice-Captain Buwaneka Wijethunga was awarded as the best batsman for his fighting knocks in both innings while Nirod Dhananjaya was awarded as the best fielder. St. Anthony’s regained the ‘Sir John Halangoda Trophy’ after many years & it was a spirited performance by the Antonians who went in as the underdogs. More than the Trophy, it was great to see the exemplary behavior of the Players, as well as the students during both days. Specially, the Umpires- Ranmore Martinez (ICC International Umpire) & Linden Hannible (Premier Umpire) commended the conduct of the Antonian players on the field. I would like to make this an opportunity to Thank Rev. Fr. Henry Wijeratne, Principal SACK & Rev. Fr. Araliya Jayasundara- POG for all their support & guiding our boys to behave well. I wish to congratulate the coaching unit of SACK for molding the players for this victory. My sincere thanks goes to Sunil Fernando, Piyal Wijethunga, Prasad Ranawaka and Amila Pinnaduwa who devoted their valuable time to help the young Cricketers brush up their talents. My sincere gratitude goes out to Mahesh Gunathilake for conducting a motivation session last week, which seem to have given a boost to the young Antonians. I wish to thank many Old Antonians who continued to support throughout the season even though the performance was not great at times. The names are too numerous to mention but it is my duty to thank the Australian Old Antonian Community, the Canadian branch, Antonians from Saudi Arabia/ Dubai, UK as well as Directors of Access Group, for their generous support & assistance. A special thanks goes out to all those who contributed through the ‘Antonians Bat for Antonians’ Campaign. Young Antonians have another daunting task next week, when the take on Trinity in the Limited Over encounter. They need to play their best game as they will go in as underdogs again. It will not be an easy task but Antonian Cricketers have shown Great Spirit during the past 2 days which will give us hope that they could pull it off. I wish to invite the members of various Groups to come in their numbers for the Limited over encounter on the 22nd March 2014 at Katugastota. I’m also appealing to the Presidents & Secretaries to ensure that their members are in their best behavior and request that they do not get involved in incidents which will tarnish the good name of our Alma Mater. Come & Enjoy! Rgds, Ranjith
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 16:42:41 +0000
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