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76th Battle of the Maroons:
Nalanda depend on seniors to deliver the goods
NALANDA College with five coloursmen in their ranks are banking heavily on the senior players to deliver the goods when they take on the traditional rivals Ananda College in the 76th annual inter school Battle of the Maroons cricket encounter on Saturday and Sunday at the SSC grounds, Maitland Place. The Nalandians have just concluded a successful season while recording three good victories over Isipatana College, Richmond College Galle and Lumbini Maha Vidyalaya. In addition they have proved their dominance on more than a couple of occasions and have run out of time or overs to complete their task. The Nalanda team is studded with some good all-rounders who have performed their role quite effectively and successfully with both bat and ball. They could be proud of having produced the highest wicket taker this season in the form of Gihan Rupasinghe. The third year coloursman have lived upto his reputation as a promising leg spinner claiming over 90 wickets in the current inter school season. Rupasinghe is undoubtedly their most experienced player and is also a member of the Sri Lanka spin bowling squad and Sri Lanka under 19 pool. He produced his best performance this year taking a matchbag of fifteen wickets against Richmond College Galle. He was the main architect behind their success and came close of capturing all ten wickets in an innings. His fantastic figures of nine wickets for 77 runs in the first innings against Richmond College is easily the best bowling figures for the Nalandians in the current season. He followed up this with a six wicket haul in the second innings and to bundle out the opposition for just 139 runs. Rupasinghe also had a matchbag of 12 wickets in the game against Dharmapala MV which they came close of winning outright. Rupasinghe's efforts of six wickets for 41 in the first innings and six wickets for 70 runs in the second innings helped Nalanda dismiss the Dharmapalians in both innings for under two hundred runs. But the Nalandians ran out of time and overs and eventually had to be settled down with a draw. Rupasinghe also had a memorable game against Isipatana College where he carried his team to a thrilling victory almost single handedly. The Nalandians were sliding towards defeat at one stage having collapsed to 143 runs in their second innings leaving the opposition a victory target of 101 runs. But Rupasinghe came out with another deadly spell of bowling as he turned a certain defeat into a fantastic win capturing five wickets for 13 runs. Rupasinghe also returned superb figures of five wickets for 39 against Maliyadeva College Kurunegala, five wickets for 11 runs against S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia, six wickets for 36 runs against Wesley College, six wickets for 51 runs against Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda. Incidentally Nalanda's only setback this season was against Dharmasoka College where they narrowly escaped defeat losing nine wickets for 95 runs while chasing a modest 131 runs for victory at Ambalangoda. The Nalanda team will be captained by fourth year coloursman Yasas Hewawitharana who is a right-hand top order batsman and their opening bowler. He has led the side with an example scoring over six hundred runs and also capturing over 30 wickets from 15 games. His deputy will be another fourth year coloursman Sakura Wijethunga who is a left-hand top order batsman and their regular wicket keeper of the side. The Nalandians certainly have a strong batting line up and there are three centurions in the side. Third year coloursman and opening batsman Sachithra Serasighe is undoubtedly their most successful run getter this season with over 900 runs to his credit. He has been their main stayer where the batting is concerned scoring centuries against Sri Rahula College Matara (106), Richmond College Galle (102) and Dharmapala MV (105). Serasinghe has also proved his all-round talent returning career best figures of 7 for 34 against Sri Rahula College and claiming a five wicket haul against S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia. The Nalandians have certainly proved their batting and have crossed the three hundred run mark on three occasions and have gone pass the 250 run mark on five occasions. Another batsman who has been among the runs this year is Tharindu Attanayake who has two centuries to his credit. The fourth year coloursman and elegant right-hander has so far accumulated over 630 runs from 15 matches. Attanayake's best effort of 174 runs against Royal College was quite a significant one because it came at a critical stage after the entire top order had collapsed for under 50 runs. The Sri Lanka under 19 poolist however took up the challenge and went about his task in style helping his side reach a formidable 300 for 9 in their first innings. Attanayake also cracked a magnificent 111 against S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia in a match which was severely affected by the bad weather on both days. There were only batting points to take in this game as both teams scored well over seven hundred runs for the loss of only 20 wickets. The Nalandians of course had the satisfaction of scoring over three hundred runs and also the psychological advantage of taking a first innings lead of exactly one hundred runs. Tharindu Attanayake set the pace for the Nalandians with an attractive century scoring 111 with three sixes and 14 fours. His seventh wicket stand of 115 runs with newcomer Ashan Priyanjan really gave Nalanda the advantage. The Nalandians also grabbed major honours in their match against Wesley College. In fact Nalanda came closer of pulling off this game after having forced the Wesleyites to follow on. Skipper Gihan Rupasinghe had a highly successful game where he demonstrated his talent and potential as an all-rounder. Rupasinghe stroked an elegant 115 in their first innings total of 261 for 7 and followed up with a matchbag of nine wickets.
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