Isipatahan -Thurstan 48th encounter:

Both teams bank on bowlers

Chris Dhambarage

Thurstan College with a penetrative bowling attack will have the edge when they take on the traditional rivals Isipatana College in their 48th annual inter school Big Match for the Blackham Wijewardena Memorial Trophy which will be worked off today and tomorrow at the SSC ground in Maitland Place.

Both teams have experienced mixed fortunes in the current inter school season although Thurstan College have fared much better with three outright victories to their credit against Kalutara MV, Mahanama MV and Kingswood College Kandy.

Thurstan of course suffered two shock defeats at the hands of Zahira College and Royal College Panadura. But overall they have been positive on the field throughout the season and are prepared to take a risk for the benefit of the team.

Isipatana College recorded their solitary outright victory against Holy Cross College, Kalutara and went down to D. S. Senanayake College in their annual fixture.

Isipatana’s strength this season has been their batting where most of them have scored heavily in almost every outing. Skipper Dimuth Warapitiya has led the way with a tally of over 600 runs inclusive of two centuries against prince of Wales College Moratuwa and President’s College Rajagiriya.

The Isipatana bowling has been in the hands of Samitha Sulochana and Damith Mallawarachchi who have troubled many top batsmen in the current season through their accuracy and consistency.

In fact Mallawarachchi has turned out to be the most successful bowler for Isipatana College with a tally of 40 wickets while Sulochana has provided the back up support having captured 36 wickets in the current season.

Thurstan College will be banking heavily on their spinners with Sachith Dias set to play a dominant role in this opening Big Match for the season. The left armer has tormented many batsmen during the season and has over 90 wickets under his belt.

Thurstan College also has many all rounders in their ranks which has made them a formidable unit and the capability of playing under different conditions. The team will be captained by the experienced and fourth year coloursman Thisura Madurapperuma.

In addition all rounder Praboda Arthavindu has been a great asset to the side where he has performed exceptionally well with both bat and ball. He has stuck his task as a senior player having scored over 700 runs and has got some vital breakthroughs with a tally of 40 wickets.

In the Big Match series Thurstan College has won five matches including three in a row in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Isipatana College have won four matches and their last win was in 1999 under the captaincy of Krishantha Jayawardena.

Isipatana also has the highest individual score in the series where Saman Nishantha hammered a splendid 150 not out in 2002. The best bowling figures in the series came in 1992 when Thurstan’s left arm seamer Jayajeewa Karunaratne returned excellent figures of seven wickets for 28 runs.

The teams:

Isipatana (from): Dimuth Warapitiya (captain), Nilusha Sasanka, Harith Wanigarachchi, Samitha Sulochana, Danushka Sandaruwan, Bhooshana Nibandhana, Deshan Jayakumar, Wimarshana Tillekeratne, Sidath Mallawarachchi, Pavan Anjana, Chenuka Wickremasinghe, Ravindu Jayawardena, Hashan Silva, Sanka Thabrew, Charith Rajapaksa, Sandeep Himasha.

Thurstan (from): Thisura Madurapperuma (captain), Prabodha Arthavindu, Supun Navaratne, Ranga Wijayawickrema, Sajeewa Salgado, Sachith Dias, Sachintha Wijesinghe, Tharindu Silva, Harith Dias, Yasiru Kularatne, Ramindu Kumarasinghe, Ashan Wanigaratne, Rajitha Perera, Kavindu Kulasekera, Kavindu Silva, Nisala Madushanka.