Thomians will endeavour to repeat ’07 effort

DINESH WEERAWANSA

S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia will make every endeavour to repeat their 2007 `big match’ performance when they confront their traditional rivals Royal College, Colombo in their 130th Battle of the Blues three-day cricket encounter which starts at the Sinhalese Sports Club grounds in Maitland Place, Colombo tomorrow.

They had one of the most experienced teams last year and came to the 129 then counter with confidence, having won seven matches during that season. They showed early signs of a successive big match win when they had Royal reeling at 149 for 7 before No. 7 batsman Charith Fernando rescued Royal with a fighting century.

Last pair

That not only put Royal in a commanding position but put pressure on Thomians. It was the Thomian last pair which finally saved them from follow on last year.

But the lads from Mount Lavinia are not going to make the same mistakes again. All what they want to do is to repeat that wonderful big match win - by an innings and 44 runs, which made Royal eat humble pie in 2007 in little over two days.

The honour of leading S. Thomas’ at the 130th encounter goes to Raveenthiraraja Nirushan, the third-year coloursman who is a left-handed top order batsman. Besides skipper Nirushan, there are only two other senior players in the Thomian side - vice captain Dinesh Walpita and opening batsman Faheem Saleem.

Unlike their opponents, S. Thomas’ do not have an outstanding record to boast of this season. They have just three wins to their credit against Dharmaraja, Isipatana and Wesley. They have had a moderate season with two defeats at the hands of Ananda and St. Joseph’s.

Healthy Total

If the Thomians are to put a healthy total on the board, then the willow of experienced Saleem should talk fast. With over 1,000 runs to his credit this season, opener Saleem provides the backbone of the Thomian batting. The aggressive stroke play of S. Thomas’ captain Nirushan too could well be a decisive factor. Nirushan has aggregated over 1,300 runs during the last two seasons.

Besides Saleem, the rest who could be counted on to prop up their batting would be skipper R. Nirushan who has notched up over 650-runs so far.

Despite fielding a fresher-laden side, the team from Mount Lavinia are determined not to worry too much about season’s track records. They strongly believe that what matters is how they play during the most crucial three days of the season and they are ready to face the challenge.

Their young blood has already proved their class with Chamal Fonseka capturing nearly 75 wickets this season with his left-arm leg spin bowling. Fonseka’s leg breaks is the deadliest weapon in the Thomian bowling armoury and Royal batsmen cannot afford to make too many mistakes against his vicious bowling.

Test captain

Former Sri Lanka Test captain Duleep Mendis heads the list of celebrated former Thomian cricketers. Mendis, who is currently the CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), holds the record for the highest individual innings for S. Thomas’ with his marathon knock of 184 runs made in 1972. It was his second successive big match century, having made a blistering 103 in 1971. He went on to lead Sri Lanka national team after becoming the first Sri Lankan to score twin centuries in the one-off Test in Chennai in 1982.

The only other Thomian to score successive big match hundreds is B.M.C.S. Mendis’ 124 and 112 in 1992 and 1993 respectively.

The highest ever Thomian partnership was registered only two years ago when captain Ashan Peiris (161) and Nisham Mazahir (162) who made merry against the Royal bowling to erase the previous mark of 186 runs held by Ian Pieris (123) and Geoff Wijesinghe (64) since 1953.

The 238-run stand between Ashan Peiris and Mazahir was the first and the only double century partnership for S. Thomas’ in the Battle of the Blues series.

Opener Upeka Fernando, who played from 1995 to 1998, holds the highest individual aggregate for S. Thomas’ 394 runs.

Second Victory

The maiden big match win for the Thomians was registered in 1882 under F.W. MacDonnel who was the losing captain the first two encounters. He also led S.Thomas for their second big match victory in 1883.

Galle Face grounds, which hosted 13 encounters until 1912 and the CCC grounds have been the happy hunting venues for S. Thomas’.

Out of their 34 big match wins, nine each have been registered at these two grounds. True that S. Thomas’ would go in as the underdogs but they are determined to prove what the Thomian grit is all about. They know that they will be playing against a team which looks better than them on paper.

But skipper Nirushan has cautioned his boys on the importance of being consistent and that they should make the least number of mistakes to turn the form book upside down.

Despite an average season with a relatively inexperienced team, S. Thomas’ has a talented set of cricketers who are capable of bouncing back at any stage. Hence, Royal will not be in a position to take things for granted.