Nalanda College and Mahinda College continue strong form in Murali Harmony Cup

Nalanda College continued with their impressive early-tournament form with another clinical display on day two of the Murali Harmony Cup 2016, defeating Kaluthara Maha Vidyalaya to remain group leaders.

Batting first, Nalanda College made 118 runs thanks to a sensible run-a-ball 51 by S.D. Wijewardana who anchored the innings for his team.

Lakshan and Silva were impressive with the ball for KMV each bagging three wickets for 27 runs.

Set a target of 119, KMV were in all sorts of early trouble as Subasinghe struck for Nalanda with three quick top order wickets sending Jayawardena, Kavinda and Nayanajith back to the pavilion without scoring.

KMV never could recover from their bad start and were eventually bowled out for 66 runs.

Mahinda College (126 runs) had a close call against Kingswood College (121/7) as they won by five runs at Mullativu in what was easily the match of the day.

Batting first, Mahinda College stumbled earlier on as they lost their first two wickets for 12 runs. However, a collective batting effort which rallied around Skipper Welihinder (39 runs with four fours and two sixes) saw them through to a decent total.

A target of 122 was always going to be a challenge for Kingswood College given the depth of Mahinda College’s bowling. However, Kingswood did well in the middle overs with Liyanage and skipper Chandrasiri scored 29 and 27 respectively to bridge the gap.

Kaushalya (19) and Wijesiriwardena (11) batted well under pressure however, thanks to some brilliant fielding by the Mahinda College wicket-keeper Dulsara, we saw two brilliant run outs inflicted out of a two very ordinary balls.

The last six balls of the game went without a single run being conceded and Mahinda College walked back victorious and unbeaten. 

In other fixtures St. Joseph’s College, Seenigama Combined Schools, Zahira College, K & M Combined Schools, TBCS and Jaffna Combine Schools registered wins in the Men’s Tournament.

Earlier in the day former Sri Lanka Captain and Foundation of Goodness Trustee Mahela Jayawardena visited Oddusudan’s IODR Oval and spent time with the teams talking about the game.

He then proceeded to Mankulam to witness the ladies matches and finally made his way to Kilinochchi.

Scores in brief:

St. Joseph’s College 186/5 (20/20 ov), Monaragala Combined 108 (18.2/20 ov)

Royal College 111 (20/20 ov), Seenigama Combined Schools 112/6 (18.0/20 ov)

Zahira College 130 (20/20 ov), Jaffna Central College 84 (15.4/20 ov)

St. Aloysius 109 (19.4/20 ov), K & M Combined Schools 110/6 (19.5/20 ov)

TBCS 138 (16/20 ov), MVCS 46 (13.1/20 ov, target 142)

UPCCS 93 (19/20 ov), Jaffna Combine Schools 94/4 (14.1/20 ov)