Royal College’s thrilling 94-run victory over Ananda College was the highlight of last week’s Inter-school Under-19 cricket tournament. The Anandian skipper Dinesh Chandimal’s personal milestone of scoring 1000 runs this season was also a notable individual performance.

Sri Lanka Under-19 World Cup team member and Sri Lanka Schools Captain Chandimal is the leading run-getter of the ongoing season and he reached his 1000 runs to be the first to achieve the feat when he did so in the match against Royal.

After reaching the 1000-run mark on the first day of the match, Chandimal went through an agonizing phase of play on the second day as their wickets fell like a pack of cards, resulting a defeat that had come on their way after 24 long years in the series between the two schools.

Ananda College had recorded eight outright victories in the season before going down to Royal in that match which could be dubbed ‘the battle of the giants’ of the season.

Playing on their home grounds, Ananda were the strong favourites. Even after being bowled out for 212 in the first innings with a slender deficit of 23 runs, Ananda wouldn’t have imagined that a defeat so frustrating would be the final result.

It was the Royal’s mantra of the season, ‘Either to play for a result or get out,’ that paved the way for them to earn this remarkable win. It was only a week ago that Royal coach Gamini Perera told ‘Sunday Island - Sportstar’ that he would encourage his team even to declare with a deficit in the first innings totals to go for an outright win.

Royal made a bold declaration at 168 for eight offering the Anandians a target of 193 to win in the last session. At one stage, the Anandians seemed heading for a draw as their last pair made it to the last over but finally luck smiled on the faces of the brave Royalists as Ananda resistance came to an end in the penultimate ball.

Elsewhere, at Ambalangoda, Mahanama made a remarkable comeback from a disappointing 56 all out in their first innings to record a thrilling 105 run victory over Devananda College.

Devananda skipper Supun Priyanga with a fierce spell of pace bowling picked up seven wickets to restrict Mahanama to 56. In reply, Devananda scored 122 runs.

The turning point of the match came on the second day when Lahiru Weerakoon anchored Mahanama innings with an unbeaten 60 helping them to post 265 runs.

From then on, it became a contest between the Mahanama pacies and the struggling Devananda batsmen.

Right-arm, left-arm pace combination of Maduka Dharmawardena and Tharaka Cooray restricted Devananda to 122 runs for them to to cruise to the win. The duo bagged eight and nine wickets respectively.

Meanwhile, in the junior cricket circle, Seethawaka MMV made a major upset as they beat Royal College ‘A’ team in the Western Province Semi-final of the Inter-school Under-13 tournament.