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By Leslie Fernando

Tharindu Attanayake (Nalanda vice-captain) hit a fluent century (102) to enable them to declare their first innings at 255 for 7 against Ananda on the opening day of the 77th Battle of the Maroons which began at the SSC grounds yesterday. Attanayake became the 13th Nalandian to score a century in the Big Match and also had the distinction of competing 1000 runs for the season.

Ananda in reply were 25 for no loss when bad light stopped play around 4.45 p.m. Nalanda invited to bat, and the openers Lahiru Wickremasinghe and Primesh Perera started nicely to put on 50 runs. Perera was the first to go when paceman Amal Athulathmudali bowled him for 22 with 2 fours. Wickremasinghe followed quickly at 58 bowled by other fast bowler Ishara Wickremasinghe.

The skipper Gihan Rupasinghe and Tharindu Attanayake batted with purpose. Both played the bowling well and batted with lot of confidence to lift the score. Rupasinghe was dismissed when he was plum in front to spinner Vishva Wijesuriya for a steady 39 with 6 fours. Both shared a stand of 83 runs for the 3rd wicket.

Attanayake who was unbeaten with 43 at lunch batted quite sensibly and repaired the early damage with a superb knock of 102 which included 13 fours and 3 towering sixes off Udara Peiris and Rajika Senaviratne. His occupation at the crease was even more as he had Madhava Warnakula who stroked 30 added 85 runs for the 4th wicket.

It was a determined performances by Attanayake who batted for 171 minutes and faced 116 deliveries to comply the aggressive century. When Ananda batted, Nalanda opted to operate with two spinners (Amal Atapattu and Milinda Weerasinghe) and was it slow batting by both openers Ranganath Wijetunga 10 n.o., and Amal Athulathmudali 13 n.o.

NALANDA - 1ST INNINGS
Lahiru Wickremasinghe c Athulathmudali  b Wickremasinghe 31
Primesh Perera b Athulathmudali				 22
Gihan Rupasinghe lbw b Wijesuriya		 	 39
Tharindu Attanayake b Athulathmudali			102
Madhava Warnakula b Wickremasinghe			 30
Ashan Priyanjana not out				 13
Milinda Weerasinghe lbw b Peiris			  5
Prabath Kariyapperuma c Rupasinghe  b Peiris		  6
Extras (NB-3 W-2 LB-2)					  7
TOTAL (for 7 wkts decl in 69.4 overs)			255
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-50, 2-58, 3-142, 4-226, 5-232, 
6-245, 7-255.
BOWLING: Gayan Rupasinghe 10-1-40-0, 
Bishan Dabare 3-0-7-0, 
Ishara Wickremasinghe 13-3-54-2, 
Amal Athulathmudali 13-2-48-2, 
Udara Peiris 3.4-0-17-2, Malith Gunatilleka 7-0-37-0, 
Vishva Wijesuriya 4-0-15-1- Rajika Seneviratne 2-0-16-0, 
Udara Jayasundara 4-1-11-0, Ranganath Wijetunga 2-0-8-0-.

ANANDA - 1ST INNINGS
Ranganath Wijetunga not out	10
Amal Athulathmudali not out	13
Extras: (nb2)			2
TOTAL (for no loss in 13 overs)	25
BOWLING: Amal Atapattu 4-1-7-0, 
Milinda Weerasinghe 5-2-3-0, 
Lahiru Aponsu 1-0-4-0, Gihan Rupasinghe 2-1-9-0, 
Madhava Warnakula 1-0-2-0.

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