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| Sunday, 17 March 2002 |
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Royal Thomian Mustang Trophy match ends in a 'tie' by LAL GUNASEKERA What a thriller it turned out to be! the 27th edition of the 50-over schools cricket match between the traditional rivals, Royal and S. Thomas' for the Mustang Trophy at the SSC Grounds, Maitland Place yesterday turned out to be a cricketer's delight. The Thomians were all out for 216 in 49.4 overs and the Royalists in reply, too, were all out for 216 in 49.5 overs - a historic 'tie'. Royal needed six runs to make in the final over in this game which could have gone either way. Royal's No. 11 batsman Sahan Perera gave a catch to mid-on where Denham Williams dropped the ball off right-arm spinner Rashmilan Mohamed. However with just two deliveries remaining in this final over by Mohamed, Sahan Perera came out to drive, missed the ball completely and was stumped by Kaushal Silva. Royal at one stage had lost eight wickets for 179 runs. But yet their was hope remaining for them with Damith Abeygunawardene (not out 24) and Navin Dias (17) adding 31 valuable runs for the ninth wicket. The latter departed at 210 with only seven runs needed for a Royal victory in the final over sent down by Mohamed. The two Thomian right-arm leg-spinners (Jeevan Mendis and Vidyesh Balasubramaniam) were the main wicket takers with three scalps each, while left-arm seamer Tharindu Fernando and off-spinner Mohamed ended with two wickets each. Earlier in the Royal innings, Suren Mendis (31) and Pasindu Chamikara (36) put on 36 runs for the second wicket, while the latter together with skipper Ganganath Ratnayake (34) made 57 runs for the third wicket. The Thomians were let "off the hook" when they batted after winning the toss. Opener Arjun Rajawasam who made 50 with five boundaries in 93 deliveries and was given a life even before he entered double figures. Jeevan Mendis the left-hander who top scored for the game with 77 also with five hits to the ropes in only 80 deliveries too was dropped by Navin Dias at short mid-wicket off Chamikara. Mendis had made only two runs at that stage. If only these two vital catches were accepted by the Royalists, they would have won without much struggle. There were also four runouts in the Thomian innings. Rajawasam and Denham Williams (20) and put 54 runs for the second wicket and the former with Jeevan Mendis made 43 runs for the third wicket. Then came another valuable 33 runs for the fifth wicket between Mendis and skipper Dilshan Gunawardene and yet another fine 54 runs was added for the sixth wicket by Mendis and Kaushal Silva (27). |
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