The Lemonade Trophy Inter-School Under-17 Cricket Tournament and Prima Champions Trophy Inter-District Tournament produced some exciting performances during the course of the last week.

From all of them, two swashbuckling knocks from St. Anthony’s College bat, Manoj Sarathchandra in the Prima Champions Trophy could be highlighted as the most remarkable achievement of the week.

Representing Kandy District Under-15 team, Sarathchandra scored back-to-back scores over 180 runs. His first knock of massive 186 in just 138 balls, inclusive of 22 fours and seven sixes, came in their match against minnows Nuwara Eliya District on Monday (Sep. 22). That knock and an unbeaten century from Yohan Woods propelled their innings to a massive 420 for five in 50 overs. The second big hit of Sarathchandra came on Wednesday (24) when he scored 184 as part of another big total of 331 for six against Kegalle District.

The match between Kandy and Kegalle produced another outstanding performance. Sashi Gunasekara, a speedster from Dharmaraja College, Kandy, in a fierce bowling spell, picked up eight wickets for just 18 runs to restrict Kegalle to mere 59 runs. Five-wicket hauls from T.N. Rupasinghe and R. Kavindu for their District teams and a century from Nimna Karunaratne were other highlights of that match.

Although he couldn’t be among the leading wicket takers of the tournament, leg-spinner Arjuna Perera of St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena, could make a mark with a fine three-wicket haul. Playing against a tough opposition, he managed to bowl the most economical spell of the tournament. In a ten-over spell, he gave away just one run to take three wickets!

Meanwhile in the Inter-School Under-17 Elephant Lemonade Trophy Tournament, some emerging teams recorded historic victories.

Skippered by Sajith Ruberu, Mahanama College reached the quarter-final of the Tournament for the first time in its history by beating Sri Jayewardenepura MV by nine wickets on Thursday (25). After their Under-17 team won the Division-II championship to earn the Division-I promotion back in 1983, under the captaincy of Vipula Sittemige, they had not reached the quarterfinal stage of this Tourney.

St. Thomas’ College, Matale, playing in their debut Under-17 Division-I tournament, reached the pre-quarterfinal stage. The Thomians were promoted to Division-I after they reached the quarterfinals of Division-II tournament last year.

Playing in a tough group that also included Trinity College, Kandy, Nalanda College, Colombo, and S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, they secured the pre-quarterfinal berth recording three vital victories in the second round. Their promotion to pre-quarterfinals left another Thomian outfit in disappointment. S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, too had recorded three victories but they failed to secure their place due to the better run rate of the Matale Thomians.