Dharmaraja retain Tennekoon Shield

S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports Corr.

The 103rd hill capital’s ‘Battle of the Maroons” between Dharmaraja College and Kingswood College ended in a draw for the 29th successive year at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy yesterday.

Rajans retained the T. B. Tennekoon Challenge Shield for 29th year having won it in 1980 and only an outright win by the Kingswoodians will wrest the trophy from them.

Kingswoodians being put into bat did well to score 210 for 9 wickets before rain stopped play at 4.15 p.m. Vice Captain Ashan Seneviratne stemmed a possible collapse by scoring 55 not out with 10 fours off 85 balls which saw the Kingswoodian pass the 200 run mark.

Opener Udara Hettige batted for 137 balls in scoring 44 and this really held the batting together in the morning. Off-spinner Rahula Ekanayake took 4 for 61.

Rajans who batted on the second day were off to a splendid start with the openers Buwaneka Ekanayake (82) and Ramesh Yapa Bandara (40) putting on 124 before being separated. Buwaneka Ekanayake who was aggressive of the two, hit 14 fours and 2 sixes and faced 78 balls before he was caught at the wicket in trying to force the pace.

Kingswood’s bowling did not look impressive at all and the Rajans just took runs off them and they were dismissed more in trying to entertain the crowd than due to efforts of the bowlers.

The last one hour of the match was played in extremely poor light conditions with the batsmen hardly able to see the ball but still the Rajans batsmen got runs with many getting out in the forties.

The match was finally called off around 5 p.m.

KINGSWOOD COLLEGE - 1ST INNINGS
Udara Hettige lbw P. Silva	 			 44
Yasindu Athukorale ct. Kalubowila b Dandeniya		 02
Madawa Madurange ct. B. Ekanayake b T. Silva	 	17
Chathura Kumarasiri lbw R. Ekanayake			 15
Chalitha Dharmaprema ct. B. Ekanayake b R. Ekanayake	 31
Ashan Seneviratne not out				 55
Hasitha Dharmaprema run out	 			 00
Tilina Karunaratne b Yapa Bandara			 00
Lahiru Gannoruwa ct B. Ekanayake b R. Ekanayake		 12
Rashmindu Sandaruwan ct P. de Silva b. R. Ekanayake	 00
Subodha Premaratne not out				 04
Extras	 						 28
TOTAL (for 9 wkts decl. 81 overs)		 	210

FALL OF WICKETS: 9, 38, 79, 110, 140, 144, 144, 189, 194.

BOWLING: Tharindu Dandeniya 7-0-22-01, 
	 Nuwan Karunaratne 7-0-23-0, 
	 Tharaka Silva 3-0-9-1, 
	 Rahula Ekanayake 32-6-61-4, 
	 Hemal Munaweera 4-1-6-0, 
	 Pratap de Silva 17-3-52-1, 
	 Ramesh Yapa Bandara 11-2-23-1.

DHARMARAJA COLLEGE - 1ST INNINGS
Buwaneka Ekanayake ct. Athukorale b Hettige		 82
Ramesh Yapa Bandara ct. H. Dharmaprema b Gannoruwa	 40
Sanjay Kalubowila b Kumarasiri				 42
Theekshana Wedagedara lbw Gannoruwa		 	 10
Sandun Weerakoddy lbw C. Dharmaprema			 49
Rahula Ekanayake b Kumarasiri	 			 40
Pratap de Silva ct Gannoruwa b Kumarasiri		 45
Hemal Munaweera not out	 				 13
Extras							 12
TOTAL (for 7 wkts off 86.4 overs)			327

FALL OF WICKETS: 124, 140,160, 209, 242, 282, 327

BOWLING: Udara Hettige 14-2-45-1, 
	 Rashmindu Sandaruwan 2-0-14-0, 
	 Lahiru Gannoruwa 12-3-34-2, 
	 Chalitha Dharmaprema 26-4-89-1, 
	 Chathura Kumarasiri 18.4-3-75-3,
	 Madawa Maduranga 7-0-25-0, 
	 Subodha Premaratne 4-0-26-0, 
	 Ashan Senaviratne 3-0-17-0.