The 1st XI Cricket Encounter between Royal College and Prince of Wales College took place on the 8th and 9th of February at the Sinhalese Sports Club Grounds. The match is played for the Memorial Trophy named after Dr. O. L. F. Senarathne, the first from Prince of Wales College to represent Ceylon in cricket.

The match, being played at the venue for the upcoming Royal – Thomian, provided an opportunity for the Royalists to familiarize themselves with the pitch conditions. Both teams managed to secure massive totals of over 300 runs, limiting the two days of play to a single inning by each team.

The Royalist’s batting attack was lead by the skipper Geeshath Panditharathne himself, who put up a good 150 runs, remainig in-form till the declaration. He was also joined by Deputy Thiran Dhanapala and Naveen Withanapathirana both scoring 61 and 52 runs respectively.

In return the Cambrians, putting up a good fight, managed to secure 323 runs. It was during this inning that Lasith Embuldeniya surpassed the 100 wicket mark, becoming the 2nd in the history of cricket at Royal to do so. Royal College won the 1st innings and retained the O. L. F. Senarathne Trophy.

MATCH SUMMARY

Royal College (1st innings) 346/8 dec. in 87.5 overs

Geesdhath Panditharathna 150*

Thiran Dhanapala 61

Naveen Withanapathirana 52

Prince of Wales College (1st innings) 323 in 33.4 overs

Lasith Embuldeniya 4/97

Duvindu Hettiarachchi 3/29

 

Result – Match drawn