Victory by an innings and 85 runs!

9 wicket haul by Lasith Embuldeniya.

Crowds begin to flock at the De Soyza Cricket Stadium, Moratuwa as the Royal team sets out from Reid Avenue early morning heading for their encounter against Prince of Wales College. After some commendable play in the last few matches, the team is ready to take down yet another team.

Luck seems to be in the air for Royal as the morning kicks off with them winning the toss and electing to bat. An eager Naveen Withanapathirana along with Hasitha Samarasinghe begin the days session giving a head start to Royal whilst displaying some impressive talent, making it to 100 runs with no fall of wickets.

Prince of Wales lays its first blow at 111/1 taking off Naveen (54) and making way for Ronuka Jayawardane. The game continues at a steady rate with the next wicket falling at 159/2 bringing Vice captain Geeshath Panditharathna to the pitch. Prince of Wales seems to get back as they strike again at 172/3 taking out Hasitha right after his half century at 73 runs.

Royal is fast to retaliate as Geeshath makes his way to a half century alongside Umesh Sooriyabandara’s laudable efforts. It’s a good partnership for the side as they raise the score to 267 giving a tough time to the fielders. Prince of Wales makes a strike finally at 267/4 taking out Geeshath for 70 runs. Another strike on Royal breaks through at 272/5 as they take out Umesh for 34 runs. Helitha Vithanage makes his way to the pitch soon followed by the captain of the side, Harith Samarasinghe who take the teams score to 284/5 as they end their innings.

Prince of Wales begins play with some misfortune as Helitha makes the first strike from Royal’s side, soon after bringing an end to the days play leaving the opponent side at 20/1.

The match begins once again next morning, with Helitha making yet another strike early up, soon followed by Embuldeniya taking three wickets, with two in the same over bringing down Prince of Wales to 27/5. Captain of the side, Harith is quick to add in his contribution as he strikes twice more pushing the batsmen to an uncomfortable 64/7. Shan Tennakoon takes his first wicket for the day at 75/8 followed by Harith making his third strike for the day at 78/9. Shan goes on to take yet another wickets cutting short the Prince of Wales’ innings at 85 runs.

Once again after lunch, play begins with Royal making a head start from Lasith’s strike at 6/1. Ambuldeniya seems to be in perfect rhythm as he goes on to take three more strikes for the session pushing the batsmen to 48/4. Shan joins in as he makes the next strike at 56/5 followed by Harith eager not be left out breaking through at 74/6. Soon after pushing the score to 82/7, Shan takes his second wicket for the day. Ambuldeniya decides to shine once again as he makes his six wicket haul for college, striking at 86/8 and 90/9. Tennakoon ends the Prince of Wales innings as he takes his third wicket for the day at 116 runs.

The match comes to an end with Royal scoring 284/5 in their 1st innings and Prince of Wales scoring 85 and 116 runs respectively in each of their two innings.

The impressive performance by the Royal side marks a grand victory for College as the team emerges victorious by an innings and 83 runs.