Thomians set for early victory

BY DINESH Weerawansa

ROYAL COLLEGE were bowled out for their lowest first innings big match total in 44 years as S. Thomas' took command after the opening day's play of their 126th Battle of the Blues three-day encounter which began at Singhalese Sports Club grounds, Colombo yesterday.

Having restricted Royal to a pathetic first innings total of 94 all out, S. Thomas' survived early shocks to make a commanding 152 for 2 at close.

The Thomian skipper Vidyesh Subramaniam surprised many when he won the toss and invited Royal to take the first lease on a perfect batting strip. But fourth-year coloursman Subramaniam had other ideas.

S.Thomas' were looking forward to make the early life of the SSC track against an unimpressive Royal batting line-up which has been off colour in their lead-up to the big'un. The Thomian bowlers backed their captain's decision with some tight early spells.

It was one of the worst batting displays in the Battle of the Blues series recent history and Royal's lowest first innings total in 44 years. They were bowled out for 67 runs in 1961 under N. Senanayake.

The only other instances where Royal were bowled out under one hundred runs since then had been in 1988 (95 and 87 all out to lose by an innings) and in 1999 (80 all out in second innings to lose by four wickets).

There was no better example of a pathetic batting display as the Reid Avenue boys were all at sea ever since they lost the first wicket with the total on one when medium paceman Ashan Peirs trapped opener Sukitha Senaratne leg before wicket for a 'duck'.

Royal progressed to 17 for one after the first hour of batting last morning but since then, the wickets started tumbling. The best partnership of the Royal innings was 39 runs for the fourth wicket between opener Ravinath Gunasekera (24) and Malinga Maligaspe (21) after skipper Dimithri Siriwardena was out for four.

But their partial recovery could not keep the Royal innings together as they lost their last seven wickets with the addition of just 31 runs - slumping from 63 for 3 to 94 all out, 20 minutes before tea last evening. If not for a couple of missed catches and relaxed bowling by the Thomiams, the Royal total would have been even lower.

Extras, numbering 22, was the second highest scorer while just two of the 11 Royal batsmen entered double figurers, which speaks of the shameless batting by the Reid Avenue boys. There were three 'ducks' in the Royal innings, which lasted 254 minutes in 53.4 overs.

Obviously, the early instructions for the Thomains from their coach Ranil Abeynaike was to get the wickets of Dimithri Srriwardena early. It was just that the Thomian bowlers did, in removing the star Royal batsmen in quick succession.

Siriwardena, of whom much was expected after scoring over 1,000runs this season, lasted just nine balls. Having hit a boundary off Nigel Adams, Siriwardena was leg before to quick bowler Sanjeev Mendis for four.

Opening bowler Ashan Peris (3 for 16 off 11.4 overs) and first change bowler Sanjeev Mendis (3 for 20 off 12 overs) were the most impressive amongst the Thomian bowlers to share six wickets between them while two other Royal batsmen became victims of Thomian skipper Subramaniam's leg breaks.

S. Thomas' lost both their openers - Naveen Perera (4) and Shashrika Pussegolla (32) by their first 50 runs but one drop bat Ashan Peiris (64 n.o) and last year's skipper Kaushal Silva batting at No.4 (35 n.o) gradually took control as they shared an unfinished 102-run third wicket partnership as the match went in to semi darkness to complete the minimum number of 100 overs set for the day.

The outcome of the match would greatly depend on how the duo fare this morning for quick runs. The Thomians now have a lead of 58 runs with eight first innings wickets in hand.

Leading mobile telecommunications provider, Dialog GSM is the proud sponsor of the second oldest inter-school match of the world. It's CEO, Dr. Hans Wijesuriya who has come out with a novel idea of raising one million rupees for the recent tsunami victims.

Even though Royal did not score over 100 runs, the sponsors still decided to contribute an additional Rs. 50,000 towards the worthy cause.
 

ROYAL COLLEGE - 1ST INNINGS R.Gunasekere c. Punchihewa b. Banlasubramaniam 24 Sukitha Senaratne lbw b. Peiris 0 Gayan de Silva c. Pussegolla b Adams 3 Dimitri Siriwardena lbw b. Mendis 4 Malinga Maligaspe c. Silva b. Mendis 21 Akitha Bandara run out 0 Samith Nandamulla lbw b. Mendis 0 Dulanjaya Wijeratne b. Balasubramaniam 7 Nadun Punchihewa c. Silva b. Peiris 8 Eranga Godamune c. K’ratne b. Peiris 5 Haroon Mowjood not out 0 Extras: 22 TOTAL all out 94 BATTING TIME: 254 minutes, 53.4 overs. FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1, 2-19, 3-26, 4-63, 5-65, 6-65, 7-74, 8-89, 9-89, 10-94. BOWLING: Sajith Karunaratne 13-5-21-0, Ashan Peiris 11.4-4-16-3, Sanjeev Mendis 12-4-20-3, Nigel Adams 9-2-16-1, Balasubramaniam 8-4-12-2. S. THOMAS’ COLLEGE - 1ST INNINGS Shashrika Pussegolla c. Bandara b. Siriwardena 32 Naveen Perera b. Godamunne 4 Ashan Peiris not out 64 Kaushal Silva not out 35 Extras 17 TOTAL for two wickets at close 152 BATTING TIME: 195 minutes, 46 overs. FALL OF WICKETS: 1- 12, 2-50. BOWLING (todate): Godamune 9-0-47-1, Punchihewa 11-4-32-0, Siriwardena 4-0-12-1, D. Wijeratne 10-3-27-0, Mowjood 12-3-30-0.