Leg spinner Julian de Zilva picked up a five wicket haul after putting on a valuable ninth wicket partnership of 58 runs with Dushan Hemantha for Colombo South A to beat defending champions Kandy by 49 runs in the Prima Champions Trophy Under-15 Inter District tournament final, at Colts Ground yesterday.

St. Peter’s College all rounder Zilva batting at number 10 contributed with an unbeaten 30 runs and figured in a 58 run partnership that saw the home team recover from 159 for eight at one stage to post 230 in their allotted 48 overs.

Chasing the target Kandy looked set to cruise to their second consecutive title with skipper Rajitha Jayatunga anchoring the top order with a solid half century. But fine bowling by leg spin duo Zilva and Hemantha made Colombo make a strong come back. With the duo going great guns the middle and late order batting line up rattled like a pack of cards.

From being 160 for five wickets at one stage, they crumbled for 181 runs. Their last five wickets fell within the space of three runs. While Hemantha picked up the prize wickets of top scorer Jayatunga (58) and the next highest scorer Ron Chandraguptha (32) Zilva snared the late order. Kandy’s last four batsmen were out for ducks against Zilva.

Earlier, put to bat, Colombo were off to a disastrous start as they lost their first wicket for just four runs. After skipper Ronaka Ahangamage and Lahiru Milantha made a second wicket stand of 39 runs, wickets started to fall at regular intervals. At one stage Colombo were 110 for six wickets but Isuru Gunathilaka and Gaurav Deva chipped in with valuable knocks for them to make a recovery. While Gunathilaka hit 35, Deva scored 40 runs inclusive of one six and two fours.

Deva was adjudged the Best Batsman in the final for his knock. Dushan Hemantha received the Best Bowler award while Julian de Zilva won the Man of the Match award.

Colombo South A 230 for 9 in 48 overs (Ronaka Ahangamage 30, Lahiru Milantha 21, Isuru Gunathilaka 35, Gaurav Deva 40, Dushan Hemantha 21, Julian de Zilva 30n.o; Rochana Hettiarachchi 2/35, Dilshan Malalasena 2/41)