Isipatana take the major honours
Chris DHAMBARAGE
Isipatana College put up a fine all round performance to snatch the
honours on the opening day of their 47th annual inter school Big Match
against the traditional rivals Thurstan College played for the Blackham
Wijewardena Memorial Trophy at the SSC ground in Maitland Place
yesterday.
Isipatana reached a competitive 221 runs in their first innings after
been put into bat and then struck two early blows through seamer Samitha
Sulochana who sent back both openers with a hostile opening spell.
However Thurstan recovered and went on to finish the day on 91 for
two wickets. Skipper Shihan Kamileen was batting on 31 with four
boundaries along with Javed Siyabalapitiya. The pair have so far put on
38 runs for the unfinished third wicket.
Earlier Isipatana College recovered from a middle order collapse to
post a decent first innings total mainly due to a captains knock of 86
from Thivanka Ranasinghe. The solid right hander played the sheet anchor
role under tremendous pressure after they had slumped to 87 for 6 at one
stage.
Ranasinghe who walked into bat at the fall of the second wicket kept
his end occupied almost until the end and was eighth out with the total
on 185 runs. He put on a face saving 41 runs for the seventh wicket
along with Dimitri Perera and added a further 57 runs for the eighth
wicket together with Samitha Sulochana.
The Isipatana captain was eventually dismissed shortly before tea
having made a top score of 86 from 150 deliveries which included nine
boundaries. But his occupation at the crease was even more important for
Isipatana who were in danger of being bowled out for under one hundred
runs at one stage.
Ranasinghe battled for nearly three and a half hours to carry his
team towards absolute safety after the entire top order had failed to
make use of a good batting track.
Thurstan of course took the initiative through some accurate bowling
and backed up by some outstanding fielding. They really came hard on
their opponents and were able to pick up top five wickets for 83 runs
during the opening session of play.
Isipatana after a promising start completely lost their way while
losing three wickets inside four overs and with the total on 79 before
skipper Ranasinghe came into the party and changed the complexion of the
game.
All rounder Samitha Sulochana played a good supporting role and
unfortunately missed out a half century by six runs having struck five
boundaries and faced 108 deliveries.
The two opening bowlers Ranga Wijewickrema and Kaveen Silva did the
early damage but it was the off spinner Sachith Dias who really worked
hard while sending down a marathon spell of 24 overs in two different
spells for his three wickets.
ISIPATANA
1ST INNINGS
Nilusha Sasanka c Madurapperuma b Wijewickrema 19
Irfan Rahim c Munasinghe b Silva 2
Danushka Sandaruwan c Madurapperuma b Dias 19
Thivanka Ranasinghe c Dias b Wijewickrema 86
Dimuth Warapitiya lbw b Dias 0
Harith Kalindu run out 0
Chamara Waduge c Navaratne b Wijesinghe 3
Dimitri Perera b Wijewickrema 16
Samitha Sulochana st Navaratne b Dias 44
Anushka Samaratunga c Navaratne b Silva 16
Dinusha Fernando not out 1
Extras (nb4, w6, b2, lb3) 15
Total (all out in 80.3 overs) 221
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-29, 3-79, 4-79, 5-79, 6-87, 7-128, 8-185, 9-213.
Bowling: Ranga Wijewickrema 17-3-47-3, Kaveen Silva 9.3-1-31-2, Javed Siyabalapitiya 2-0-5-0,
Prabodha Arthavindu 9-2-22-0, Sachith Dias 24-8-60-3, Sachintha Wijesinghe 14-3-32-1, Shihan Kamileen 5-0-18-0.
THURSTAN
1ST INNINGS
Udara Munasinghe b Sulochana 20
Supun Navaratne lbw b Sulochana 6
Shihan Kamileen not out 31
Javed Siyabalapitiya not out 23
Extras (nb6, w5) 11
Total (for 2 wickets in 22 overs) 91
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-53.
Bowling: Dinusha Fernando 5-0-44-0, Samitha Sulochana 9-1-33-2, Anushka Samaratunga 8-3-14-0. |
