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Colombo Campus secures Inter-University C’ship

The University of Colombo cricket team secured the Inter-University Cricket Championship 2026 title with an unbeaten run, completing a third consecutive championship-winning campaign at the University of Sabaragamuwa grounds on 12 September.

Colombo, who won the Inter-University Championship in 2024 and the Sri Lanka University Games (SLUG) in 2025, carried that momentum into this year’s tournament, going through the competition without a single loss.

The team was coached by Heshan Thilakaratne and captained by Savith Basnayake, with Anishka De Zoysa serving as vice captain and Sanjeewa Jayasinghe as Master-in-Charge.

Colombo opened their campaign with a six-wicket win over Eastern University after bowling them out for 143.

Left-arm spinner Devindu Kekirideniya took three wickets and went on to finish as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker.

They followed that with a nine-wicket win over the University of Rajarata, dismissing their opponents for just 67, with Kekirideniya and Sajitha Vithanage taking four wickets each.

In their final group match against the University of Wayamba, Colombo batted first for the first time in the tournament and posted 316 for the loss of nine wickets in 50 overs.

Janitha Shehan led the way with an impressive 116 off 94 balls. The match was reduced to 44 overs due to rain, but Colombo still secured a comfortable 147-run victory.

Kekirideniya took another three wickets, with Thewin Amarasinghe and Vithanage claiming two each.

Colombo then defeated the University of Peradeniya by eight wickets in the quarter-final, bowling them out for 84.

De Zoysa took three wickets for just seven runs, before Amarasinghe’s 45 helped Colombo reach the target in 17.4 overs.

The semifinal against the University of Sri Jayewardenepura proved to be the closest contest of the tournament.

After Ja’pura made 231 for nine, Colombo slipped to 164 after losing Amarasinghe and Shehan in quick succession, needing another 47 runs with three wickets in hand.

Kekirideniya then held his nerve, scoring an unbeaten 37 to guide Colombo home with 2.3 overs to spare.

In the final, Basnayake won the toss and invited the University of Kelaniya to bat. Colombo bowled them out for 143, with Maleesha Silva and Kekirideniya taking three wickets each, before completing a six-wicket win.

Amarasinghe top-scored with 56, with Vithanage finishing unbeaten on 41. Amarasinghe ended the tournament as the leading run-scorer with 249 runs at an average of 49.80, followed by Shehan with 228 runs at 57.00.

Kekirideniya topped the wicket-taking charts for the second consecutive year with 18 wickets at an average of 6.89, while Vithanage claimed 12 wickets.

Basnayake recorded nine dismissals, including eight catches and a run-out, finishing third in the tournament’s dismissals chart.