Kithuruwan Vithanage was also among the runs scoring 130 for Tamil Union against CCC at Havelock Park. All the matches will continue on day two today.

DAY ONE SCORES

l At Havelock Park: Tamil Union: 377 in 87.3 overs (Kithuruwan Vithanage 130, Manoj Sarathchandra 63, Chamika Karunarathne 50, Jeevan Mendis 40, Tharanga Paranavitana 30, Lahiru Madhushanka 4/77, Lahiru Gamage 3/83) vs CCC

l At FTZ Katunayake: SSC: 275/7 at close in 80 overs (Dimuth Karunaratne 125, Dasun Shanaka 59, Kavindu Kulasekara 38, Minod Bhanuka 21, Dilruwan Perera 4/70, Prabath Jayasooriya 2/59) vs Colts

l At P. Sara Oval: Chilaw Marians: 190 in 61.2 overs (Mahela Udawatte 52, Ashen Silva 52, Sachithra Serasinghe 33, Raveen Yasas 25, Dhanushika Bandara 5/36, Nalin Priyadarshana 4/61)

Army SC: 65/4 at close in 27 overs (Arosh Janoda 2/9)

l At Colts: NCC: 265 in 62 overs (Chaturanga de Silva 83, Angelo Perera 59, Thimira Jayasinghe 37, Pawan Wickramasinghe 27, Chathura Peiris 4/60, Thilaksha Sumanasiri 2/29, Amila Aponso 2/72)

Ragama CC: 43/6 at close in 21 overs (Farveez Maharoof 3/14)

PLATE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND

Sahan Wijeratne of Baduraliya SC hit an unbeaten 102 runs against Moors SC in the Plate championship match of the Premier League Tier ‘A’ Inter-Club cricket tournament at BRC grounds yesterday. All the matches will continue today.

DAY ONE SCORES

l At BRC: Badureliya SC: 300 in 88.1 overs (Sahan Wijeratne 102 n.o., Saliya Saman 38, Nimanda Madusanka 31, Vishva Wijeratne 27, Dilanka Sandakan 5/52) vs Moors SC

l At Bloomfield: Galle CC: 301 in 86.3 overs (Damitha Hunukumbura 97, Nilushan Nonis 65, Minhaj Jaleel 40, Shalika Karunanayake 34, Chalana De Silva 26, Kasun Rajitha 5/57, Chathura Randunu 3/85)

Saracens SC: 0/0 at close in 1 overs

l At Panagoda: Bloomfield: 290/8 in 92 overs (Nipun Karunanayake 98, Nisal Francisco 79, Vinod Perera 31, Dinuka Hettiarachchi 5/95, T. N. Sampath 2/72) v BRC

Premier League Tier ‘B’ Inter Club Cricket

Roscoe Thattil scores 175 for Air Force (main heading)

Roscoe Thattil of Air Force SC scored a fine 175 off 190 balls with fours against Kalutara PCC on the first day of their Premier League Tier ‘B’ Inter-Club cricket match played at Surrey ground Maggona yesterday.

Lahiru Sri Lakmal (Air Force SC) and Lakshan Rodrigo (Lankan CC) also made hundreds against Kalutara PCC and Navy SC respectively. All matches will continue today.

DAY ONE SCORES

l At Maggona: Air Force SC: 426/9 decl in 79.2 overs (Roscoe Thattil 175, Lahiru Sri Lakmal 115, Harshana James 33, Nalin Wijesinghe 20, Ruchira Silva 4/98, Rasika Fernando 2/66, Thenuka Dhananjaya 2/80)

Kalutara PCC: 7/1 at close in 5 overs

l At Moors: Lankan CC: 364/5 in 90 overs (Lakshan Rodrigo 133, Sasheen Fernando 96, Chanaka Ruwansiri 65 n.o., Lal Kumara 26, Madura Madhusanka 2/33) vs Navy SC

l At Welagedara: Kurunegala YCC: 63/3 at close in 23 overs (Chanaka Komasaru 2/22) vs Ports Authority

l At Sooriyawewa: Kalutara TC: 238/5 at close in 90 overs (Sulan Jayawardena 76 n.o., Tharindu Sriwardene 58, Nipuna Gamage 43, Risith Upamal 31, Suwanji Madanayake 3/45) vs Police SC – (YK

Both schools have proud histories of their rugby prowess and clashes between them have always provided fans with thrilling fare.

They have proved worthy group decider’s with a consistent display of quality rugby against all their opponents in this year’s league tournament and appear to have peaked at just the right time to provide a grand finale to the present schools rugby season.

The game will be a battle between Isipathana’s speedy three quarters and Science’s mobile forwards.

Science had a fairly lean first couple of matches compared to their own high standards but improved their game as the season progressed and despite ending behind group leaders Isipathana as per the points table, have picked up their game from the second match onwards. In the ongoing league tournament they have four wins in a row over St Anthony’s Kandy (40-28), St. Peter’s (13-10), Dharmaraja Kandy (54-7) and Kingswood Kandy (53-5).

For Science Tharindu Maduranga has been a tower of strength and has led from the front and emerged as one of the leading points scorers this season. Hashan Madumadawa, Nishad Niranjan, Thanuja Maduranga and Supun Dilshan have bonded into a powerful unit.

Meanwhile the high riding Isipathanians also have four emphatic wins on their way to this decider brushing aside Dharmaraja Kandy (61-15), St. Anthony’s Kandy (43-17), Kingswood Kandy (53-05) and then beating St. Peter’s College 36-21 with ease last week. Flanker Devin Gunaratne and their versatile number eight Wagesha Weerasinghe will be the men to watch. Weerasinghe is arguably the player of the season and the Science defence will have their work cut out to keep this talented player shackled.

Scrum half Bandara is a bundle of energy and a good reader of the game and is well supported in the back division by 15-year-old fly half Malinda Ruberu, centres Sumudu Rankothge, skipper Kushan Indunil and wingers Chamod Fernando and Padmasanka. Fullback Wickramaratne has been a revelation in his ability to join the line and his speed has brought him rich rewards this season.

Isipathana who have swept all before them will be the firm favourites but they know that they are up against a strong side and a loss to Science will not only prevent them achieving top spot in their group but will also take away some of the gloss of their grand performances this season.

Be prepared to witness a bruising battle between two great school teams with more than just a point to prove.

The Thomians have not tasted success since 2013 when they triumphed 29-20 at Havelock Park under the leadership of fly half Devin Jayasinghe.

This time they seem to have a great chance of regaining the trophy after being unbeaten having won both their previous games played for the season against St. Joseph’s College Colombo and D.S. Senanayake College at Longden Place.

S Thomas’ are currently enjoying one of their finest seasons in the ongoing Singer division one league tournament under experienced Samoan coach Tevita Tulagaese, affectionately called ” Laga” by all his fans in Sri Lanka. Their best effort probably came earlier in the season when they won the inter-school rugby Sevens trophy under Laga after a lapse of more than one and half decade. In the final they beat the favourites for the title Isipathana to clinch the trophy at Havelock Park.

Last week they scored their second successive victory thrashing D.S. Senanayaka College by 40 points to 6 to go along with their 32-3 win over a hapless St. Joseph side in their first outing.

The Thomians are led by their hardy hooker Pandula de Silva.

Royal of course will be hoping to produce an improved performance after their close call against Wesley College which they narrowly won 17-14 at Longden Place.

Last year Royal under the leadership of Bhanuka Gamage and head coach Sanath Martis had a great season where they emerged the undisputed kings of schools rugby clinching the coveted Singer League trophy after four years. To go along with this they rewrote Royal-Thomian rugby history when they demolished S Thomas’ 52-0 at Havelock Park which is todate the highest score by a team in this traditional encounter. The previous best was 39-3 in 2002 by Royal under Zulki Hameed. The Thomians’ biggest victory in the series is 22-0 under Charya de Saram in 1991. Incidentally last year’s Royal College unsung hero and the highest try scorer in the league tournament, number eight Supun Warnakulasuriya emerged the first and only rugby player from both schools to score a hat-trick of tries. He touched down on four occasions to enable Royal achieve that record 52-0 win.

This season Royal are trying their very best to carry out the same winning momentum even though they are playing with only four coloursmen and 11 freshers. They won their first match of the season against D.S. Senanayake College Colombo 36-10 before being rattled by Wesley.

The Royal College outfit is captained this year by that experienced dashing number eight and Sri Lanka national under 19 prop forward Nikila Gunadeera with another experienced player scrum half Ashok Wijeykumar as his deputy. Royal is coached by Sanath Martis, one of the best known school coaches who is also the head coach of the Sri Lanka under 19 rugby team. Ex-national rugby captain Dushanth Lewke will be his assistant.

T.A. Silva former Army and Sri Lanka national full back will be the kicking coach. This traditional encounter was inaugurated in 1962 and the first match ended in a draw.

Present tally stands at 28 wins to Royal College and 18 to S. Thomas’ College with five ending in draws.

In 1979 this match was not played due to a dispute regarding the date for the encounter.

It was in the last quarter of play that Havies managed to pull away from the Army when they scored two back to back tries.

The match got off to fabulous start with prop forward Dushmantha Priyadarshana for Havies and Ashoka Jayalal for Army scoring in quick time. Samantha Lakshan and Gayan Salinda both missed the conversions and the scoreline stood at 5-all.

Off a three quarter move centre Hirantha Perera then went over the line and Lakshan missed the conversion again to put Havies in front by 10-5. Gayan Salinda fired across a penalty for Army to close the gap to 10-8.

Havies increased the lead to17-8 with a try scored by second row forward Janik Jayasuriya and Lakshan made the conversion.

Just before lemons Army scored through Imanka Ariyapala and Salinda missed the important conversion. At half time the score read 17-15 in Havelock’s favour.

After the break Salinda and Lakshan put over a penalty each to take the score to 20-18.

Havelocks scored again when Hirantha Perera touched down under the post for an unconverted try after collecting an off load from skipper Sadun Herath. Score Havies 25, Army 18.

Two superb back to back tries by Herath and Nishon Perera sealed the match for Havies with both of them being converted by replacement fly half Rimzie Jamaldeen.

Navy who suffered a shock 16-11 defeat at the hands of Police last week at Police Park, are really putting everything in to get a win against CR. They were seen hard at practice this week preparing to pull off a morale-boosting victory.

The CR outfit which registered a runaway victory last week against the formidable Army side by 19 points to 13 at Army grounds in Diyagama will have to play really well to beat Navy on their home grounds at Welisara.

With both these teams equally matched, a close tussle for supremacy can be expected.

In another match today formidable Kandy SC outfit will be hosted by Air Force at Ratmalana. Kick off at 4 pm.

Army-Havies should be a thriller

The confrontation between Havelock SC and Sri Lanka Army in the Dialog ‘A’ Division League Rugby Championship match at Havelock Park on Sunday under lights at 6.30 pm will turn out to be a closely fought out affair.

Havies will miss the services of experienced fly half and national player Dulaj Perera due to an injury and his place will be taken by ex national player Niroshan Fernando who will play as fly half.

Burly lock forward Jason Melder will be in the starting lineup for today’s game allowing former S Thomas College flanker Sudarshana Muthutantri to play in his pet position at number eight. Former CR and FC flanker Sithum Peiris will play as second row forward.

The forte of both teams has been their power-packed forwards.

The Army ‘eight’ led by their captain cum national player Asoka Jayalal, Sameera Wickramanayaka, Dileepa Niroshan, Nalaka Maduranga, veteran Nishantha Kobbekaduwa, Upul Abeynayaka, Chameera Silva and Manoj Silva has to give a terrific display in the loose and secure ball position if they are to pull this game through because the Army lads will be given a torrid time by the Park club forwards.

Gallant Army three quarters led by vice captain Imanka Ariyapala has to rally around his co-three quarter line, if they are to stop the free flowing Havies three quarters led by dashing national player cum centre Danushka Ranjan.

Police will host CH and FC at Police Park in another match today. Kick off 4pm. – (WAI)