NCC unlucky, draws dominate second round
A round-up of the second round of matches of the Sri Lanka Under 23 Youth Tournament Division 1
Sa'adi Thawfeeq
19-Jul-2010
Group A
Nondescripts CC was extremely unlucky to miss out on victory by a mere one run in their Under-23 Youth Division I tournament match against Navy SC at Welisara. Set a target of 110 for victory off 14 overs, NCC ended up on 109 for 6 and thus had to be content with only first-innings points.
The offspin of Umesh Udayanga (5-63) and the slow left-arm orthodox bowling of Roshan Wijenayake (5-33) left NCC with a small target to chase in the fourth innings. However luck was not on their side. For NCC, former Sri Lanka U-19 cricketer Rishan Kavinda's century and Angelo Perera's stroke-filled knock of 85 enabled them to gain a useful first-innings lead of 94.
None of the other matches came anywhere close to achieving a winning result, with all of them ending in draws.
The 18-year-old cricketer from the South, Shehan Jayasuriya of Prince of Wales, gave Moors SC a convincing lead on the first innings against Burgher RC at Braybrooke Place. Jayasuriya scored a brilliant century as Moors declared at 387 for 9 in reply to BRC's 179.
The offspin of Maduka Liyanapathiranage helped Chilaw Marians to a close 37-run first-innings advantage over Bloomfield at Reid Avenue. Bloomfield were well placed at 156 for 5 overnight and set to overhaul Chilaw Marians' first innings score of 259, but thanks to Liyanapathiranage's probing offspin, they managed only 222. The only consolation for Bloomfield was Amal Atapattu who took eight wickets in the match with his left-arm spin.
Group B
Eighteen-year-old former St Sebastian's slow left-arm bowler Anuk de Alwis (6-74) bowled Moratuwa SC to first-innings points over Seeduwa Raddoluwa CC. In another match Ragama CC got the better of Colombo Colts CC also on the first innings.