Trinity have slight edge over Antonians

Kandy's 94th Battle of the Blues:

S.M. Jiffrey ABDEEN -Kandy Sports Correspondent

Trinity College had the better of the exchanges at the end of the first day of Kandy's 94th Battle of the Blues "against St. Anthony's College which began at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy yesterday.

The match will be continued today at 9.30 a.m. St. Anthony's College Skipper Dulash Kumarasinghe won the toss and elected to bat first.

But they were soon in trouble losing their first two wickets rather cheaply including that of Hiran Wickremasekera who has scored over 1100 runs this season.

At one stage they had lost half their side for 55 runs and later they were struggling at 80 for 7. shortly afterwards they were 104 for 9.

The Antonians were out for poor shots against some tight bowling by Trinity's spinners.

Prolific scorer Hiran Wickremasekera gave a return catch to off spinner Rushan Jaleel when on 16.

Adil Reyal from whom much was expected lasted only four balls before he was stumped by Dickwella of off spinner Suresh Wickrema for 0 and with that the Antonions lost wickets at regular intervals.

Pulasthi de Silva batted for 44 balls in making 23 before he was stumped by Dickwella off Akila Jaysundera who returned to the side after missing 10 matches following a hip injury.

But the last pair of Aravinda Premaratne 28 not out (1 four 128 balls) and Milinda Ranasinghe deified Trinity's varied attack for 14 overs and put on 22 valuable runs before the last man Milinda Ranasinghe was run out for 7, after attempting a run which was not there to give the strike to Premaratne.

Leg spinner Akila Jayasundera 2 for 24, off spinner Rushan Jaleel 2 for 82 and left arm spinner Aamil Anas 2 for 17 shared the spoils.

When Trinity batted they were off to a shock start whan that consistent bat Niroshan Dikwelle was caught close to the cricket by Reyal off Liyanage for four.

Last years century maker and hero Shameera Wijisuriya soon followed caught and bowled by Reyal for a duck.

They were struggling at 14 for 3 and a partial recovery through a fourth wicket stand of 52 between Rushan Jaleel 31 (53 fours 44 balls) and Hashan Wanniarachchi 15/70 balls, 2 four) saw them mo upto 66 before two more wickets fell at the same total.

It was left to Kavinda Jayasuriya 58 (7 four 56 balls) and Skipper Mohamed Sajid 11 to resurrect the innings through a 62 run partnership for the sixth wicket.

Spinner Adil Reyal took 3 for 58 and Medium pacer Kaniskka Ranaraja took 2 for 11. The game is still open and a decision in likely in this match

St. Anthony’s College 
1st innings 

Hiran Wickremasekara c and b Jaleel		16 
Dulash Kumarasinghe c Wijisuriya b Gokula 	10
Monaj Serathchandra St. Dickwella b Wickrema 	06
Pulasthi de Silva St. Dickwella b Jayasundera 	23
Kanishika Ranaraja c Wanniarachchi b Jaleel 	 1
Adil Reyal St. Dickwella b Wickrema 	 	 0
Aravinda Premaratne not out 			28
Sumudu Liyanage c Dickwella b Anas 		04
Yohan Wodes St. Dickwella b Anas 		13
Eranda Senevirathne c Wickrema b Jayasundera 	 0
Milanda Ranasingeh  run out 		 	07
Extras 						18  
Total (all out in 54.4 over) 			126

Fall 22, 33, 48, 54, 55, 75, 80, 102, 104,

Bowling: Chinthaka Gokula 6-0, 26-1, 
	 Rushan Jaleel 14-2-32/2, 
	 Amil Anas 12-3-17-2, 
	 Sunresh Wickrema 12-2-26-2, 
	 Akila Jayasindera 10-1-24-2, 
	 Kavinda Jaysuriya 05-0-0-0.

Trinity College 
1st Innings 

Niroshan Dickwella c Reyal b Liyanage 		 4
Shameera Wijesuriya c and b Reyal 		 0
Heshan Wanniarachchi c Srathchandra b Reyal 	15
Rushan Jaleel c Wickremasekera b Reyal 		15
Rajitha Jayatunga c Kumarsinghe b Reyal 	05
Kavinda Jayasuriya b Ranaraja 			58
Mohamed Sajid c Reyal b Ranaraja 		11
Suresh Wickrema not out 			 4
Akila Jayasundera not out 			 1
Extras 						14
Total 
(for 7 wickets in 41 overs) 			145 

Fall 4,6,14, 66, 66, 128, 144

Bowling: Sumudu Liyanage 2-0-9-1, 
	 Adil Reyal 18-0-58-3, 
	 Milinda Ransinghe 9-2-30-0, 
	 Aravinda Premaratne 7-1-26-1, 
	 Eranda Seneviratne 2-0-6-0 
	 Kanishka Ranaraja 3-0-11-2.