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by Dinesh Weerawansa

Royal made a respectable 71 for one at close in their second innings on a second day which had even exchanges at the 123rd Battle of the Blues three-day encounter against S. Thomas' continued at the SSC grounds Maitland Place, Colombo yesterday.

Having restricted S.Thomas' to 217 for 9 declared in the first innings, Royal now has an overall lead of 37 runs with nine second innings wickets intact. This was after Royal batsmen had an unimpressive show on day one, making a modest 183 all out.

Royal proved the shocks when the Thomians began day two at the overnight first innings total of 20 for no loss. Paceman Tharaka Kottahewa trapped the Thomian one drop bat Denham Williams in the very first over for two. His new ball partner Chaminda Vidanapathirana added salt to Thomians wounds as clean bowled M.P.A.Rodrigo for a 'duck' as the Thomians were reeling at 21 for 3.

But the Thomian grit was evident at this stage as opener Heshan Peiris and Sri Lanka Youth World cup all-rounder Jeevan Mendis immediately started the rescue operation. They negotiated the Royal bowlers carefully as they made a slow but a steady start. Once they had a good look at the bowling they made the Royalist sweat under hot Sun in an entertaining 111-run fourth wicket stand, which put the Mount Lavinia boys out of trouble.

Mendis was the more aggressive of the two as he blasted the Royal attack to all corners of the ground in a blistering innings of 88, made off 138 balls with 12 boundaries. Peiris made 54 off 104 balls with five fours before being caught at the first slip by Vidanapathirana off Ganganath Ratnayake with the total on 132. It was a lucky breakthrough for the Reid Avenue boys as Mendis' attempt for square cut the Ratnayake delivery hit the wicket keeper's gloves and came towards the slip cordon as Vidanapathirana made no mistake with the catch.

Mendis and Peiris, the two men who anchored the Thomian innings, departed within the space of 36 runs as Royal came back into the picture. S.Thomas', who recovered to 132 for 3, again lost the upper hand they gained as they were reduced to 170 for 6 due to some courageous and penetrative Royal bowling, led by that 16-year-old fresher Tharaka Kottahewa, son of Royal warden Amaradasa. He was the pick of the Royal bowlers with 4 for 39 off 15 overs and narrowly missed the all-time record for the best bowling analysis by a fresher.

Kottahewa (4 for 39), Vidanapathirana (3 for 68) and Ratnayake (2 for 65) bowled heart out to make sure the Thomians wont get a commanding first innings lead, which at one stage looked eminent. S.Thomas' had to be satisfied with a lead of only 34 runs before the declaration came at 217 for 9.

Royal openers - Mendis and Arunaprakash quickly wiped out the deficit in a 56-run opening stand in just 15 overs. But with the departure of Mendis, caught by J.Mendis off Mohammed for 22, Royal were very watchful in negotiating the remaining 14 overs for the day, which produced just 15 runs as they finished the day at a handy looking one down for 71.

ROYAL - 1ST INNINGS 183 

(R. C. P. Wijeratne 41, V. Arunaprakash 39, B. M. A. J. Mendis 3 for 20)

S.THOMAS' - 1ST INNINGS 

H. S. Peiris c Vidanapathirana b Ratnayake 54 A. G. Rajawasan c Ratnayake b Kottehewa 4 D. H. L. Williams lbw b Kottehewa 2 M. P. A. Rodrigo b Vidanapathirana 0 B. M. A. J. Mendis lbw b Kottehewa 88 D. V. H. Gunawardene c Arunaprakash b Vidanapathirana 32 J. K. Silva c Wijeratne b Kottehewa 2 T. P. J. S. Peiris c Keenawinna b Vidanapathirana 18 M. T. D. Fernando c Keenawinna b Ratnayake 3 R. D. Mohamed not out 5

Extras (B-2, LB-4, W-3) 9

TOTAL (for 9 wickets decl.) 217

DID NOT BAT: V.A. Balasubramaniam

FALL OF WICKETS: 18 (Rajawasan), 20 (Williams), 21 (Rodrigo), 132 (H.S. Peiris), 168 (Mendis), 170 (Silva), 197 (Gunawardene), 210 (Fernando), 217 (T.P.J.S. Peiris).

BOWLING: Vidanapathirana 16.1-2-68-3 (W-3), Kottehewa 15-2-39-4, Ratnayake 24-6-65-2, Mendis 4-0-13-0, Chamikara 12-3-26-0.

ROYAL - 2ND INNINGS 

N. S. C. Mendis c Mendis b Mohamed 22 V. Arunaprakash 
not out 32 P. Chamikara not out 7 

Extras (B-5, LB-1, NB-4) 10 TOTAL (for 1 wkt at close) 71 FALL OF WICKET: 56 (Mendis). 

BOWLING (to-date): Fernando 3-0-18-0, T.P.J.S. Peiris 4-0-20-0 (NB-4) Rodrigo 1-1-0-0, Mohamed 7-4-9-1, Mendis 6-3-8-0, Balasubramaniam 4-1-7-0, Williams 4-2-3-0. 

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