Bad light deprives Thurstan of victory

by Leslie Fernando

CRICKET: Openers Udara Munasinghe (74) and Supun Navaratne (65) hit two fluent half centuries and together shared an opening stand of 124 runs for Thurstan in their drawn 47 annual Big Match against Isipatana played for Blackham Wijewardena Memorial Trophy played at the SSC ground yesterday.

Thurstan set a victory target of 189 runs off 34 overs were 175 for 3 in 28.2 overs when the umpires called off the match due to bad light.

Thurstan 91 for 2 on Friday in reply to Isipatana 221 were dismissed for 168. Over cautious batting by Thurstan saw them slum to 5 for 13 and only skipper Shilan Kamileen top scored for his side with 38 runs with 5 boundaries and Prabodha Arthavidu who came into bat at the crucial stage batted quite sensibly and repaired the early damage with a valuable unbeaten 33 runs which included five boundaries.

Medium paceman Dinushka Fernando 5 for 75 and right arm off spinner Samitha Sulochana 4 for 44 bowled best for Isipatana.

Thurstan's five wickets fell for just 31 runs due to Fernando and Sulochana's on the spot bowling efforts.

Isipatana with a lead of 53 runs batting a second time declare at 135 for 5 in 38 overs. Skipper Thivanka Ranasinghe the solid right hander who played the sheet anchor role under pressure with a top score of 86 runs in the first innings once batted scoring a defiant 36 runs with 2 fours and 1 six.

Sachith Dias bowled accurately to claim 2 for 28.

Isipatana with a overall lead of 188 runs declared their innings and set 34 overs for Thurstan to go for a win.

Thurstan openers started on a bright note and batted with authority. Lef hander Udara Munasinghe was more aggressive scoring a half century in just 37 balls. Udara was well set for a better score but was bowled by Sulochana for a well compiled 74 with 9 fours. Supun Navaratne the co-opener made 65 with 7 fours.

Thurstan were 175 for 3 with 14 runs to achieve victory with 5.2 overs left but bad light deprived Thurstan of a certain victory.

ISIPATANA - 1ST INNINGS (221)

	THURSTAN - 1ST INNINGS

Udara Munasinghe b Sulochana 		 	 20
Supun Navaratne lbw b Sulochana 	 	 06
Shihan Kamileen c Sandaruwan b Fernando  	 38
Javed Siyabalapitiya b Fernando 	 	 26
Thisura Madurapperuma b Fernando 	 	 13
Prabodha Arthavidu not out 		 	 33
Sajeewa Salgado lbw b Sulochana 	 	 01
Kavin Silva lbw b Samaratunga 		 	 00
Ranga Wijewickrema b Sulochana 		 	 00
Sachith Dias b Fernando 		 	 00
Sachintha Wijesinghe c Warapitiya b Fernando 	 04
EXTRAS 						 27
TOTAL (53.0 overs ) 				168

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-13, 2-53, 3-99, 4-115, 5-132, 6-136, 7-137, 8-142, 9-157

BOWLING: Dinushka Fernando 16-1-75-5, Samitha Sulochana 16-4-44-4 
	Arushka Samaratunga 21-8-40-1.

	ISIPATANA - 2ND INNINGS

Nilusha Sasanka lbw b Siyabalapitiya 		 28
Dimuth Warapitiya lbw b Silva 			 03
Ifan Rahim b Arthavidu 				 22
Dimitri Perera c Siyabalapitiya b Dias 		 26
Thiwanka Ranasinghe c K. Silva b Dias 		 36
Harith Kalindu not out 				 06
Dhanushka Sandaruwan not out 			 08
EXTRAS 						 06
TOTAL (for 5 wkts decl) 			135

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-4, 2-54, 3-60, 4-115, 5-121

BOWLING: Ransa Wijewickrema 4-0-17-0, Kaveen Silva 5-2-13-1, Shihan 
	Kamleen 8-1-22-0, Javed Siyabalapitiya 8-2-22-1, Sachith Dias 7-0-28-2, 
	Probodha Arthavidu 6-0-20-1, Sachintha Wijesinghe 2-0-8-0.

	THURSTAN - 2ND INNINGS

Udara Munasinghe b Sulochana 			 74
Supun Navaratne run out 			 65
Shihan Kamileen run out 			 12
Javed Siyabalapitiya not out 			 08
Prabodha Arthavidu not out 			 15
EXTRAS 						 01
TOTAL (for 3 wkts) 				175

FALL OF WICKET: 1-124, 2-143, 3-155

BOWLING: Dinusha Fernando 7.2-0-56-0, Suminda Soluchana 14-1-79-1, 
	Anushka Samaratunga 7-1-40-0.