Royal College cruised to an easy eight wickets victory over Ananda College to win the Inaugural Inter-school Under-19 Twenty-20 Tournament title in the final played at De Soysa Stadium, Moratuwa, yesterday.

Chasing 92 runs to win, opener Sahan Hettiarachchi cracked 41 runs in just 27 balls inclusive of six fours and one six to leave little work for their fancied pair Bhanuka Rajapakse and Kusal Janith who scored the winning runs with as many as six overs to spare. Rajapakse and Janith combined for an unbeaten 45 run partnership. While Rajapakse scored 29 runs in 26 balls (3x4s), Janith hit 19 runs in 18 balls (1x6, 1x4).

Although a worthy finalist Ananda looked a pale shadow of their repute as they crumbled for a lowly 91 runs after deciding to bat first. While as many as eight batsmen got out without reaching double figures an unbeaten 15 runs from Pasindu Madushan, their top scorer, helped them anchor the late order to survive the 20 overs.

Paceman Lakshan Landewela who lived under the shadow of Royal’s big scoring batsmen and wicket-taking bowlers throughout the entire season emerged a match winner for them in the final encounter of the season as he gave Royal the initial breakthrough.

In a tight spell of four overs, Landewela picked up three wickets for just 17 runs. He was well aided by skipper Yasith Abeykoon who also picked up three wickets. Landewela was adjudged the Man of the Match in the final and Best Bowler in the final.

Ananda 91 all out in 20 overs (Dinesh Chandimal 10, Sachin Devage 11, Prabodha Seneviratne 11, Pasindu Madushan 15 n.o.; Yasith Abeykoon 3/20, Lakshan Landewela 3/17)