Kusal and Banuka put Royal in command
DINESH Weerawansa
A sparkling century by vice captain Kusal Perera (142) and an
aggressive knock of 87 by Banuka Rajapakse put Royal College in a strong
position on day one of their 130th Battle of the Blues three-day cricket
encounter against S.Thomas’ College, Mt.Lavinia begun at SSC grounds,
Colombo yesterday.
In reply to Royal’s healthy first innings total of 313 for 9
declared, S.Thomas’ were struggling at 54 for 4 at close.
Many wondered the controversial decision of Thomian captain
Raveenthiraja Nirrushan who opted to field first after winning an
important toss last morning. But his decision was proved right early in
the Royal innings as the Reid Avenue boys were reduced to 35 for 2.
The Thomian opening bowlers Chamod Pathirana and Dinesh Walpita did
well to make use of the early life of the wicket to remove Royal openers
without much effort. Chalaka Bogoda was the first to go when the total
was on three, caught by Faahim Saleem off Pathirana for one. When the
Royal total progressed to 35, opener Sahan Hettiarachchi was bowled by a
vicious delivery from Saleem for 16.
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Royal fans invade the field to congratulte Kusal Perera
following superb knock of 142 in the 130th Battle of the
Blues at SSC grounds yesterday. |
But the Thomian joy was sort lived as Royal’s No.3 and 4 batsmen -
Banuka Rajapakse and Kusal Perera started smashing S.Thomas’ bowlers to
all corners of the picturesque SSC grounds. Their 144-run alliance for
the third wicket put Royal in a commanding position.
A helpless Thomian captain Nirushan tried as many as eight bowlers to
break this partnership. But Peiris was successful in removing Rajapakse,
caught by Pathirana, only after Royal total progressed to a double
Nelson.
The duo was simply unstoppable as they exposed all weak links in the
Thomian bowling attack. Rajapakse was the more aggressive of the two,
hitting three sixes and 11 fours in his 110-ball innings of 87 runs,
made in 164 minutes. At the other end, Perera kept his innings together,
picking mainly the bad deliveries to go for his usual strokes. His
marathon knock of 142 included 19 power packed boundaries, off 191 balls
in 248 miniutes.
Perera became only the 24th Royalist to score a century against
S.Thomas in the 130-year-old Battle of the Blues history and accounted
for the seventh highest individual innings for Royal, behind Sumithra
Warnakumasuriya (197), Anushka Polonowita (165), C.J. Fernando (160 n.o),
D.B. Gunasekera Jnr. (148), Rochana Jayawardena (145 n.o) and Gamini
Perera (the present Royal coach -144).
Royal took lunch with their Nelsoneon total of 111 for the loss of
two wickets. At the wicket were, Kusal Perera on 43 and Rajapakse on 41.
They took no time in completing their half centuries immediately after
lunch.
Perera played a slow but steady anchor role to keep their innings
together. Rajapakse had some entertaining strokes, including a massive
six over long on off the most successful Thomian bowler this season -
Chamal Fonseka, who came to the big ‘un on a high note with nearly 75
wickets this season. At tea, Royal were 259 for 5 with Perera unbeaten
on 122, together with skipper Abeykoon on one.
S.Thomas’ started their run chase with a bang, losing opener Faahim
Saleem for a ‘duck’, leg before wicket to Abeykoon, even before they put
a single run on the board. Three of the four Thomian batsmen out due to
leg before wicket decisions with the other being a needless run out.
S.Thomas’ finished the day at 54 for 4 in 19.4 overs.
The first task for the Thomians when play resumes this morning would
be to avert follow on. They have to score a further 110 runs to make
Royal bat again with only six wickets in hand.
Leading mobile communication company Dialog Telekom is the proud
sponsor of the Battle of the Blues, powering Sri Lanka’s premier
inter-school ‘big match’ for the ninth successive year.
ROYAL COLLEGE
1ST INNINGS
CHALAKA BOGODA c Saleem b Pathirana 01
SAHAN HETTIARACHCHI bSaleem 16
BANUKA RAJAPAKSE c Pathirana b Peiris 87
KUSAL PERERA c Kerner b Fonseka 142
KITHRUWAN VITHANAGE c Saleem b Kermer 16
HAROOM MOWJOOD c Fonseka b Kumarasinghe 06
YASITH ABEYKOON st Peiris b Fonseka 25
RAMLITH RAMBUKWELLA run out 01
CHARUTHA RAJARATHNA not out 05
LAKSHITHA DE SILVA st. Peiris b Saleem 02
Extras: 12
Total: (for 9 wkts decl.) 313
Batting time: 76.3 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-35 3-179, 4-222, 5-255, 6-300, 7-304, 8-306.
Bowling: Walpita 6-0-38- 0; Pathirana 11-5-31-1; Saleem 8.3- 0-37-2;
Nirushan 1-0-6-0; Kumarasinghe 21-2-73-1; Fonseka 9-0-50-2; Peiris 16-2-55-1; Kermer 4-0-18-1.
S. THOMAS’ COLLEGE
1ST INNINGS
FAAHIM SALEEM lbw b Abeykoon 00
ASHEN FERNANDO lbw b Rajaratne 22
CHULAKA KUMARASINGHE run out 03
RAVEENTHIRAJA NIRRUSHAN not out 19
ALDRIAN KERNER lbw b Thanthirigoda 01
CHAMOD PATHIRANA not out 00
Extras: 09
Total: (for 4 wkts at close) 54
Batting time: 19.4 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-16, 3-41, 4-54.
Bowling: (todate) Abeykoon 6-2-10-1; Silva 5-1-13-0; Ranaratne 1-0-7-1;
Rajapakse 2-0-9-0; Mowjood 2-0-7-0; Thanthirigoda 0.4-0-1-1. |
