Thomians no easy beats

Dinesh WEERAWANSA

S.Thomas’ College, Mt.Lavinia are determined to repeat their fighting qualities when they take on their traditional rivals Royal College, Colombo in their 131st Battle of the Blues three-day cricket encounter which starts at SSC grounds, Colombo tomorrow.

The Mount Lavinia boys are famous for their fighting qualities and they last proved what the Thomian grit is all about at last year’s encounter. Trailing by 214 runs on the first innings, the Thomians are reduced to 21 for 2 in the second essay – still needing 193 runs to avert innings defeat, at last year’s encounter.

But it was then that they opened a new chapter in their book on Thomian grit. Opener Faheem Saleem scored a match saving knock of 165. No.4 bat R. Nirrushan too made a sparkling century to shatter Royal’s hopes of a convincing win.

True that the Thomians would once again go in as the underdogs but they are determined to fight back and turn the game in their favour with only five coloursmen in their side.

Leading S.Thomas’ will be fourth-year-coloursman Dinesh Walpita, a right-arm quick bowler and right hand bat. All-rounder Walpita is also a safe fielder at any given position.

Tasting the new ball attack for S.Thomas’ will be freshers Umesh Fernando and Kavindu Perera. The latter has been more productive of the two, scoring nearly 500 runs this season. But the Thomian run machine’s turbo power would be generated by Nuwan Kavinda.

Despite playing as a fresher, Kavinda has let his willow to do the talking with a rich harvest of 1,089 runs at an average of 47.35 this season with a top score of 121 against Richmond.

Kavinda is the only Thomian centurion this season though a couple of his team mates have narrowly missed that opportunity – Pasan Wijewardena (91) and Ashen Fernando (83). Besides Kavinda, the other Thomian batsmen who have scored heavily this season are Chamodh Pathirana, Ashen Fernando, Lalindra Peiris and Kavindu Perera who have shared over 2,000 among them.

When it comes to experience in the Thomian team, skipper Walpita has two more second year coloursmen to support him - Lalindra Peiris and Sachin Peiris.

All-rounder Lalindra Peiris is a right hand batsman and right-arm off spinner. He is a clever slip fielder who is capable of even half chances. Sachin Peiris, who keeps wickets for S.Thomas’, is also a reliable left hand middle order batsman.

Unlike Royalists, who have spin magician Maneesha Thathirigoda, the Thomians could not boast of any bowler who has performed extraordinarily this season. Nevertheless, their bowlers have clicked well as a team with left-arm leg spinner Neomal Wickremesekera heading the honours list with 41 wickets at an average of 20.22 apiece.

Medium paceman Pathirana too has been enjoying a good time with the ball, capturing nearly 35 wickets. Unfortunately, fresher Nilaksha Fernando has not been able to make any impact with his right arm fast medium bowling but is determined to make it happen when it matters most. Fernando is likely to open the new ball attack with captain Walpita. The Thomians could keep their options open with the possibility of left-arm medium pace of Dimitri Dolapihilla, who could turn out to be an effective bowler at the first or second change.

There is plenty of variety in the Thomian spin department with Neomal Wickremasekera (left-arm leg spinner) and Madushan Ravichandrakumar (right-arm leg spinner).

S. Thomas have emerged victorious twice during their 18 outings this season. They have beaten Richmond and Joseph Vaz while losing a key game to Trinity.

When the Battle of the Blues last produced a result in 2007, S.Thomas’ emerged victorious under Ashan Peiris. But the last two games have ended in draws.

Former Sri Lanka Test captain Duleep Mendis heads the list of celebrated former Thomian cricketers. Though Saleem came so much closer to a new milestone, Mendis continues to hold 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.

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

The highest ever Thomian partnership of 238 runs was registered by Ashan Peiris (161) and Nisham Mazahir (162) in 2007, erasing the previous best of - 186 runs between Ian Pieris (123) and Geoff Wijesinghe (64) in 1953 which stood for 54 long years as the highest ever Thomian partnership in the series. Last year, Faheem Saleem (165) and R. Nirrushan (104) came closer to the all-time record of Peiris and Mazahir but they fell 30 runs short in departing after a 209-run alliance.

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

S.Thomas’ maiden ‘big match’ win 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.

The Thomian outfit may not look that stronger on paper, compared to their traditional rivals from Cinnamon Gardens, but they are capable of reaching the peak at the most important assignment for the season. The Thomians have often done that and there could not be any exception this time around.

Hence, Royal will not be in a position to take any chances or take things for granted. The lads from Mount Lavinia are capable of applying pressure on to their opponents from the word go and Royal should expect a stronger challenge form the Thomians.