131st Battle of the Blues ends in a draw

Rambukwella steals the limelight

By Samiddha Ratnayake
Ramith Rambukwella scored a hurricane 165 off 148 balls to give a dream shattered Royal College some consolation in their drawn 131st Battle of the Blues cricket encounter against S. Thomas’ College at the SSC grounds yesterday.

The big-made Royalist reached his century at a pace of run-a-ball and scored the next 65 runs off only 48 deliveries. The innings included 21 fours and five mammoth sixes that saw Royal declare their second innings shortly before tea at 288-4 and leave the Thomians to chase 258 for victory off a minimum of 64 overs. When bad light ended play with six overs remaining to be bowled the Thomians were 194-7.

When play began on the third and final day, Royal having surprisingly conceded a first innings lead of 31 runs to S Thomas’ had only one intention in mind that was to go for some quick runs and declare giving themselves sufficient time to bowl the Thomians out a second time. They had a total of 111 overs for the day to decide on a timely declaration.
Openers Kithruwan Vithanage and Rambukwella showed clear intent of aggression by posting a stand of 81 off 85 balls. Vithanage contributed an aggressive 45 off 43 balls (7 fours) before falling to off-spinner Umesh Fernando.

Imal Liyanage didn’t last for long when he was run out for two. Unfortunately for him, the call was from Rambukwella, but Ashen Fernando was too quick to return the ball to wicket-keeper Sachin Peiris, who took off the bails in a flash. Through out the day, the Mt. Lavinia lads showed great commitment on the field, which was a total contrast to Royal who leaked more than 40 runs on day two due to poor fielding.

Waruna Dissanayake provided an ideal foil for Rambukwella. Though he didn’t score much, he made sure that his big hitting partner got most of the strike. In a partnership worth 89 runs, Waruna’s contribution was only 22. Rambukwella scoring freely reached his century with a gentle sweep off Nilaksha Fernando and it seemed the Thomian bowlers were at a loss to stop the run flow off his bat. When he brought up his 150, ardent Royal followers were hoping to see him shatter the all time record of 197 held by Sumithra Warnakulasuriya since 1980. But Nilaksha Fernando ended his stay at 165 by gleefully accepting a return catch. Rambukwella also passed 1,000 runs for the season during his innings reaching the mark with his 67th run. Royal declared their innings with Rambukwella’s dismissal.

The Thomians made their intentions quite clear from the inception of their innings that they were not interested in the run chase. Skipper Dinesh Walpita set the tone for their innings with a 128-ball half-century and although they lost three wickets for 53, Walpita and Ashen Fernando who scored 55 off 78 balls ensured them a draw. When Fernando was sixth out at 151 there were 14 overs remaining. Chamoda Pathirana and Neomal Wickremasekera stuck it out together for nearly eight overs before bad light concluded play making the contest go down as the 64th draw of the series.

Awards
Man of the Match:
Ramith Rambukwella
Best Batsman:
Pasan Wijewardena
Best Bowler:
Bhanuka Rajapakse

60th Battle of the Golds encounter

Listless draw at Moratuwa

By M Naushad Amit
The annual ‘Big Match’ between Prince of Wales and St. Sebastian’s ended in a tame draw for the 33rd consecutive year with both sides failing to make an impression at De Soyza Stadium, Moratuwa yesterday. St. Sebastian’s who went out as favourites failed to live up to expectations as their in-from batsmen failed to deliver the goods for them. In contrast Prince of Wales’ all-rounder Shehan Jayasuriya stole the show with an impressive five-wicket haul to restrict St Sebastian’s to a first innings total of 157 and followed it up with a valiant knock of 61 in the second innings.

St. Sebastian’s who resumed at 47-3 in reply to the Cambrians first innings of 185 fared disappointingly to be dismissed 28 runs behind their opponents total, their top order failing to resist the spin attack unleashed at them. Sanitha de Mel made a defiant 51 to take St. Sebastian’s to a respectable total from 83-6. Jayasuriya ended with figures of 5/40 and left-arm spinner Buddhika de Alwis supported with 3/49.

The Cambrians in their second innings made a token declaration at 167-6 leaving St Sebastian’s eight overs to score 196. At stumps they were 23-2.

Antonians stave off defeat

By M. Minhaz in Kandy
It was grit and determination by the St. Anthony’s College batsmen which helped them to stave off defeat and baulk Trinity College in their 94th ‘Battle of the Blues’ which ended in a draw at the Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy yesterday. This was the 18th draw in a row in the series and the last time a decision was reached in the series was in 1992 when the Antonians romped home victors under Umesh de Alwis.
This was a match which the Trinitians’ hopes of a win were visible. They were right on top on the first day when they bundled out the Antonians for 126 but failed to take the initiative when their frontline batsmen failed and they were 145 for 7 and did not have the runs to go for the kill on the second.

Continuing from their overnight score of 145 for 7 they batted on the second to a total of 202 and they had a lead of 76 runs but hardly sufficient to post a win without batting a second time.
Left arm spinner Adil Reyal bowled best for the Antonians to caputure 5 for 90 and this was his only contribution in the match as he collected a ‘pair’ in the match being dismissed for a duck for both innings.

The Antonians trailing behind by 76 runs lost two early wickets but a stubborn stand of 55 for the third wicket by two under 16 cricketers Manoj Sarathchandra (46 off 139 balls) and Yohan Woods (14 off 114 balls) brought some respite to the Antonians. But with the total at 104, the Antonians ran into more problems as their middle order batting slumped and the total crumbled to 114 for 7 wickets, losing four wickets cheaply for 8 runs. But another defiant stand for the eighth-wicket between Aravinda Premaratne 28 not out off 107 balls) and Milinda Ranasinghe (16 off 59 balls) took the sting off the Lions attack. They put on 43 runs and this effectively steered the Antonians to safety.

Former Trinity College cricket captain of 1957 Uvais Odayar was the chief guest and presented the awards.
St. Anthony’s 126 and 184 (91.5) (Aravinda Premaratne 28 n.o., Milinda Ranasinghe 16, Sumudu Liyanage, 15, Rushan Jaleel 4/32, Akila Jayasundera 4/54).
Trinity 145-7 contd 202 (53.1) (Suresh Wickrema 42 n.o., Akila Jayasundera 15, Adil Reyal 5/90, Aravinda Premaratne 2/34, Kanishka Ranaraja 2/15).

Sri Jayawardenapura recovers after early collapse

St. Thomas’ left-arm spinner Pradeep Ananda and off-spinner Gihan Benedict wrecked the batting of traditional rivals Sri Jayawardenapura by sharing eight wickets between them in the 34th Battle of Kotte cricket encounter which began at Braybrooke Place yesterday.
By the close in reply to Sri Jayawardenapura’s first innings of 181-9 declared, St Thomas’ had made 52-2.
Sri Jayewardenepura MV who decided to bat first was destroyed by Benedict and Ananda who reduced them to 84-7 at the end of first session. But Isuru Kariyawasam rescued the innings with a determined knock of 55 to help them to their final total figuring in two valuable partnerships with Dulaj Madushanka and Yohan Vanhoff which raised the total by 98 runs. The match will be continued today.
Sri Jayawardenapura MV 181-9 dec (67) (Isuru Kariyawasam 55, Dulaj Madusanka 31, Thilina Maduranga 28, Navod Illukwatta 26, Pradeep Ananda 4/43, Gihan Benedict 4/54)
St. Thomas’ Kotte 52-2 (23) at close (Rangeeth Peiris 19 n.o.) – [MNA]