Rajans in strong position

S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen Kandy sports corr

CRICKET: Dharmaraja College were in a strong position at the end of the first days play in their centenary Big Match - the Kandy's "Battle of the Maroons" against Kingswood College, which began at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy yesterday. The match will be continued today at 9.30 a.m.

Rajans Skipper Upesh Wijesiri called correctly the toss in this historic match and invited the Kingswoodians to bat on a wicket which did not hold terrors.

Opening the innings for the Kingswoodian were the Senaratne brothers elder Indika and the younger Prasad who was dismissed cheaply with the score at 21. Kingswoodians lost two more wickets and were in a sort of trouble with the scoreboard reading 53 for 3.

But a fourth wicket stand of 59 between skipper Demintha Dahanayake (83) and Asiri Amerasinghe (12) resurrected the innings.

Demintha Dahanayake played an elegant innings which had 12 fours and faced 120 deliveries and in all batted for 168 minutes before holing out a catch to Chandimal Ratnayake off the bowling of off spinner Rukshan Sooriyarachchi. Next Dahanayake put on 48 for the fifth wicket with Roshan Lokuge who made 43 with 6 fours and a six off 51 balls.

Roshan Lokuge who was hitting the ball hard found a good partner in Niroshan Perera who made 52 not out with 5 fours and 1 six off 52 balls and this pair put on 54 for the seventh wicket. Off spinner Rukshan Sooriyarachchi bowled best to capture 5 for 47 off 18 overs.

Rajans openers Chamila Ambagaspitiya and Dhanushka Mitipolarachchi put on 44 before they were separated, wicket keeper Bhuwaneka Ekanayake who came in next is unbeaten on 26 at close and this pair has put on so far 54 runs.

KINGSWOOD COLLEGE - 1st Innings (Prasad Senaratne b C. Ratnayake 6, Indika Senaratne lbw Ratnayake 26, Krishan Silva ct. T. Perera b T. Balasooriya 6, Demintha Dahanayake ct. Ratnayake b Sooriyarachchi 83, Asiri Amerasinghe ct. Ekanayke b Sooriyarachchi 12, Roshan Lokuge st. Ekanayake b Sooriyarachchi 43, Nirmal Jayasuriya ct. Ekanayake b Sooriyarachchi 0, Niroshan Perera not out 52, Heshan Cooray ct. and b Sooriyarachchi 8, Chathuranga Samarakoon not out 6, EXTRAS (b8, lb5, w2) 15. TOTAL (for 8 wkts decl.) 257.

FALL: 21, 40, 53, 112, 160, 162, 216, 246.

BOWLING: Tharindu Balasuriya 8-2-22-1, Chandimal Ratnayake 7-1-42-2, Tharindu Perera 15-3-54-0, Samitha Rajapakse 11-0-50-0, Rukshan Sooriyarachchi 18-0-47-5, Dhanushka Mitipolarachchi 7-1-31-0.

DHARMARAJA COLLEGE 1st Innings (Chamila Ambagaspitiya ct. Hettige b Prasad Senaratne 29, Dhanushka Mitipolarachchi not out 32, Bhuneka Ekanayake 26 not out, EXTRAS (b8, lb3) 11. TOTAL (for 1 wkt) 98.

FALL: 44.

BOWLING: Chathuranga Samarakoon 4-1-10-0, Niroshan Perera 8-2-14-0, Anuradha Hettige 4-0-14-0, Prasad Senaratne 6-1-18-1, Heshan Cooray 10-6-21-0, Demintha Dahanayake 2-0-11-0.