Ananda College and St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya, played probably the most thrilling encounter so far in the ongoing Inter-School Under-19 Cricket season as they poured in a lot of excitement to a rather lukewarm two-day season in their match that ended on Wednesday (7) at Ananda Mawatha.

Meanwhile, Vimanga Perera from Maliyadeva College, Dilanka Auwardt from St. Benedict’s College and Imesh Udayanga from Dharmasoka College were in the limelight achieving personal milestones in other matches played during the week.

What made Ananda versus St. Peter’s encounter so fascinating was the dramatic fight back of Anandians and the impressive bowling performances from both sides which restricted the two formidable batting line-ups to low scores. Being bowled out for 59 in the first innings and being 69 for five wickets while chasing 226 to win, their middle-order batsmen Sachin Devage and Ruwinda Shamen put up a back-to-the-wall partnership of 127 runs for the sixth wicket to make a huge turn-around in the match. Eventually the Anandians pulled off a two wickets victory.

The match was previewed as an opportunity for the Anandians to take avenge for their historic defeat suffered two years ago at the same ground at the hands of the same opposition. St. Peter’s inflicted the first defeat of the Anandian’s in the Under-19 tournaments after long years in the 2006/07 season and the Anandians saw the absence of their regular wicket-keeper Dinesh Chandimal in that match as the major setback for them. With five outright victories under their belt and with three wins in a raw and Chandimal captaining them this season, they were eager to take avenge.

Meanwhile St. Peter’s were also eager to repeat the feat they did two years ago. They had just recorded a ten-wicket victory over St. Benedict’s College. The Petes had ended the Bens’ winning streak of three wins in a raw and were looking to finish Anandawinning streak as well. The Petes had almost come close to accomplishing that task when a sixth wicket partnership between Sachin Devage and Ruvinda Shamen made a huge u-turn in the match. Being 69 for five, they took Ananda score to 196 and from then on Devage batted with the tail-enders to pull off an exciting two wickets victory. Incidentally, Devage’s unbeaten knock took the gloss off a fierce bowling attack of Chathura Peiris who picked up six wickets in the first innings to skittle out Ananda for 59. It also overshadowed his own team-mate Madumal Jayaratne’s match bag of 10 wickets.

The two teams have strong batting line ups but it was the bowlers who called the shots. Spearheaded by their speedsters (Peiris and Madumal), the bowlers of both teams dominated the match and by the end of the second day one could hardly remember that there was a double centurion (Peterite skipper Angelo Perera scored a double century against Nalanda early in the third term) playing in the match and the tournament’s leading scorer (Chandimal) who had almost scored a double century a few days back.

Meanwhile, a double century from Vimanga Perera took Maliyadeva College to a huge victory over Revata College in their Under-19 match at Balapitiya. The unbeaten double ton is the first such knock by a Maliyadeva cricketer in the Under-19 tournaments in recent times.

The last week was special to Dilanka Auwardt of St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena. The spinner with the highest number of wickets this season went pass the 50-wicket mark in a remarkable fashion. Auwardt had an eight-wicket feat including a hat-trick. Incidentally, his hat-trick accounted for the first three wickets of the Thomian first innings. But the Bens couldn’t capitalise on his performance as Thomians fought back in the second innings with a late order revival.