Bens enter semis with four wicket win over Royal

Chris Dhambarage

St. Benedict's College powered their way into the semifinals with an exciting four wicket victory over Royal College in their Lemonade Cup inter-school under 17 division one tournament last quarterfinal fixture worked off at the CCC grounds in Maitland Crescent yesterday.

After restricting their opponents to a modest 154 runs from 48 overs the Benedictines reached their target in the 42nd over with four wickets to spare.

Praneeth Fernando (35) and Rukshan Weerasinghe (29 n.o.) added the finishing touches for the Bens with a vital sixth wicket partnership of 55 runs after Nisal Fonseka had made a top score of 40 inclusive of two sixes and five boundaries.

Earlier man of the match Eranga Ratnayake snapped up four wickets for 15 to dismiss Royal College for 154 runs after they had been put into bat.

Banuka Rajapaksa hit a solid half century with the help of three sixes and five boundaries and also put on 74 runs for the second wicket along with Waruna Dissanayake.

St. Benedicts' College will now take on Mahanama College in Sunday's second semifinal at this same venue. The first semifinal between Ananda College and Thurstan College will be played today and the final is scheduled for Tuesday.

Royal: 154 in 48 overs (B. Rajapaksa 51, R. Rambukwella 18, S. Ruwantha 2 for 30, E. Ratnayake 4 for 15)

St. Benedict's: 158 for 6 in 41.2 overs (N. Fonseka 40, P. Fernando 35, R. Weerasinghe 29 n.o, R. Rambukwella 2 for 29, D. Seneviratne 2 for 19)