By Afzal Laphir

St Anthony’s College Kandy became joint champions at the recently concluded Under-15 Division ‘1’ tournament by virtue of the final against Nalanda College ending in a no-decision.

The Antonians batting first in the rain-affected game at Thurstan College grounds in Colombo, reached 117 for 4 wickets before declaring. Yohan Senanayake top scored with 41 and Sanuka Kalpana remaining unbeaten on 32, Nalanda in response finished at 13/1.

It is pleasing to see the emergence of yet another strong Antonian junior side which ensures their foundations are strong and stable. Credit should go to the coaching staff, the school administration and the loyal old boys for this success, having been able to nurture these players during two disruptive years when very little junior cricket was played.

This was the second occasion in the last four years that an Antonian Under-15 side had emerged as joint champions of the Division 1 tournament. In 2019, under the captaincy of Lahiru Abeysinghe, they were deprived of being outright champions when the final against St Joseph Vaz College was called off early due to bad light. The Antonians restricted the opponents to 35/3 in 28 overs after declaring their first innings at 166/5 (45 overs) with skipper Lahiru making 63. In addition to the successes of the Under-15 side, their Under-13 (in 2018) and Under-17 (in 2017) sides reached the finals in the respective Division ‘1’ tournaments, to showcase the strength of junior cricket at St. Anthony’s College over the past few years.

Despite difficult personal circumstances this year, coach Susantha Basnayake had done tremendously well to keep the youngsters motivated through a tight schedule. The Antonians played their six group games over a five-week period and a further four knock-out games until the finals. The team adopted a positive approach throughout the group stages, helping them to win a game outright which is not an easy task when total overs are limited to 100 overs. In this game against St. Anne’s, the Antonians declared their first innings after only 16.5 overs, scoring at over 10 runs per over to reach 168/5 and dismissed the opponents for 71 and 81 in a total of 75 overs.

Another impressive feature of this team has been the shared contribution from multiple players. Although the batting revolved around the left-handed pair of Sadew Amarakoon and Yohan Senanayake, each scoring a century, they had five other batsmen with at least one half-century to their credit in skipper Okitha Fernando, Minon Kemitha, Sanuka Kalpana, Kaushika Kumarasinghe and Ryan Gregory.

In the bowling department, leg-spinner and skipper Okitha 5/19, Kaveesha Samaratunge 5/07 with his slow left-arm orthodox and right-arm pace bowler Kaushika Samarasinghe 5/14 have captured five-fers. These three bowlers have been ably supported by left-arm spinner Ryan Gregory and pace bowlers Tishan Fernando (vice-captain) and Minon Kemitha. The two wicket keepers in the squad are Hasada Sethunge and Dinul Wijesinghe.

The performance of this junior side has further underlined the belief that Antonian cricket is in good hands for many years to come.