Thomians regain Mustangs Trophy

By Ranjan Anandappa

Tharindu Ratnayaka's fine (70) runs and Sachin Jayatileka (44 n.o) coupled with a steady bowling attack and an amazing fielding display towards the latter part of the Royal innings helped the Thomians to regain the Mustangs Trophy by defeating their traditional rivals Royal by 5 wickets in their limited over cricket match played at the SSC grounds yesterday.

The Thomians who were set to make 236 runs to win in their stipulated 50 overs after Royal electing to bat first after winning the toss ran away with the game reaching the victory target losing five wickets in the process.

After their stupendous display while fielding restricting the Royalists to 235, the Thomians could not get the ideal start that they would have liked to after losing the hard hitting Opener Rashmika Opatha who was a victim of Chamika Karunaratne in the fifth ball of the first over. Opatha shuffling across had his stumps shuttered for no score. Karunaratne struck another vital blow when he had Thillaksha Sumanasiri lbw for 12 and Thomians were showing signs of losing their way. But a 44 run stand for the fourth wicket between Sanesh de Mel and skipper Madushan Ravichandrakumar steadied the side.

For the Thomians the left arm leg spinner Tharindu Ratnayake turned out to be the match winner with his batting hammering the Royal attack in to all corners of the field He faced 54 deliveries and struck six towering sixes and four fours with admirable suppoer coming from Sachitha Jayatileka who swayed a bit at the initial stages but watching his partner Ratnayaka's heroics at the end settled himself for an unbeaten 44 facing 66 delivries with two fours.

Royal got off to a reasonable start when their openers Geeshat Panditharatne and Hasitha Samarasinghe put on 53 runs for the first wicket. Chamika Karunaratne who promoted himself in the batting order justified the move and kept piling up the runs for Royal. Panditharatne who was striking the ball well after facing 46 deliveries and striking four boundaries was trapped lbw by Jayatileka.The half a century opening stand came off 76 deliveries with Panditharatne's contribution 25.

Hashen Ramanayake joined by Chamika Karunarante provided the most enterprisng batting for Royal. Ramanayake who missed a hundred in the three day game gave valuable support to Karunaratne who was striking the ball exquisitely for his 84 facing 102 deliveries with ten hits to the ropes. The thirdwicket pair added 91 runs for the third wicket .. They brought the score from 83 for 2 to 174 when Ramanayake was run out.

With Ramanayake's dismissal Royal staggered a bit with the Thomians coming back to the game strongly.

They bowled admirably well and was backed up by some astonishing fielding which saw Royal losing the early initiative. In the quest of scoring quick runs then Royal batsmen succumbed to the immense pressure inserted by Thomians specially by their fielders. In the 40th over Royal were 182 for 3 and in the remaining 9.3 overs they lost 7 wickets for 53 runswith medium pacer Sahan Wijesinghe causing most of the damage claiming a hat-trick ,may be for the first time in a 'Mustangs' trophy encounter in the last over of the innings. Wijesinghe got the wickets of Harith Samarasinghe who was shaping well caught at sweeper cover by Nipun Gamage who ran backwards covers good ground ,dived and snatched the ball inches off the ground, in the next delivery Hemakamal Nanayakkara ran around to catch Devind Pathmanathan and Sanjana

Silva substituting for Aftab Cader, who left the field plucked the ball from the air at point to send back Anupa Tillekeratne.

scoreboard

Royal Innings
G.Panditharatne  lbw b Jayatileka	 		36
Hasitha Samarasinghe c  de Mel  b Nanayakkara		25
Chamika Karunaratne lbw  b Sumanasiri			84
Hashen Ramanayake run out	 			23
Randev Pathirana c Nanayakkara b Ratnayake		18
Thiran Dhanapala run out				03
Naveen Vidanapathirana run out				10
Harith Samarasinghe c Gamage b  Wijesinghe		19
Devind Pathmanathan c Nanayakkara  b Wijesinghe		00
Anupa Tillekeratne c (Sub) Sanjan Silva)  b Wijesinghe	00
Umesh Sooriyabandara not out	 			00
Extras							18
Total (in 49.3 overs )	 			       235

Fall of wickets: 53, 83, 174, 185, 200, 235, 235,235,235
Bowling:  Aftab Cader 6-0-30-0
	  Sahan Wijesinghe  4.3- 0-18-3
	  Thilaksha Sumanasiri  6-0-28-1
	  Tharindu Ratnayake 10-1-31-1
	  Rashmika Opatha 1-0-11-0,
	  Hemakamal Nanayakkara  8-0-46-1
	  Sachita Jayatileka  8-0-35-1
	  M.Ravichandrakumar 6-0-29-0

S.Thomas’ Innings

Nipuna Gamage  lbw  b Pathirana				25
Rasmika Opatha b Karunaratne				00
Thilaksha Sumanasiri lbw b Karunaratne			12
Sanesh de Mel  retired hurt	  			31	
M.Ravichandrakumar  b Hasitha Samarasinghe	 	27
Tharindu Ratnayake  b Karunaratne	 		70
Sachin Jayatileka not out	 			44
Chenutha Wickremasinghe not out	 			17	
Extras: 						12
Total. ( For 5 wickets  in 48.3)	   	       236

Fall of Wickets.  1,80, 54, 98, 203
Bowling: Chamika Karunaratne 9-0=-36-3
	 Anupa Tillekeratne 10-1-42-0
	 Hashen Ramanayake  9.3-0-52-0
	 Randev Pathirana 9-1-46-1
	 Harith Samarasinghe 4-0-17-0
	 Hasitha Samarasinghe 7-0-37-1