Dinesh Weerawansa for the Observer Online from SSC grounds
Royal, helped by a superb knock of 83 by skipper Ramith Rambukwella, declared at 276 for 9 a short while ago on the opening day of their 132nd Battle of the Blues three-day cricket encounter against S.Thomas’ begun at SSC grounds, Mailtland Place in Colombo today. In reply, S.Thomas’ were struggling at 65 for 3 at stumps.
The Thomians came back into the picture 30 minutes after lunch as Royal slumped from a commanding 147 for one to 247 for 5, losing five top wickets with the addition of only 100 runs. Thus, Royal threw away the early advantage they enjoyed with all the hard work though a solid opening stand.
At lunch, Royal were strongly placed at 109 for one wicket. Earlier in the morning, Thomian captain Chamod Pathirana surprise all when he invited Royal to take the first lease of a perfect batting strip after winning an important toss.
Pathirana’s decision was instantly proved wrong as Royal openers Ramith Rambukwella and Waruna Dissanayake added 91 runs for the first wickets in 25.3 overs without facing any serious trouble from the Thomian bowlers.
In fact, the only Royal wicket to fall in the pre-lunch session was a ‘gifted’ one as Dissanayake played a half-hearted shot to a full toss from Ravichandrakumar. But the Thomians struck shortly after lunch to capture two wickets within the space of 17 balls, including that prized wicket of Royal captain Rambukwella who narrowly missed a successive big match century.
Opener Rambukwella, who had the honour of playing for Sri Lanka Under-19 recently with distinction, fell 17 runs short of what would have been his second successive ‘ton’ in the Battle of the Blues series, having struck a blistering knock of 165 for Reid Avenue boys in last year’s encounter.
Rambukwella missed the golden chance of becoming only the second Royalist to score back to back big match centuries after Neil Joseph (113 in 1925 and 133 in 1926) when he was caught behind. He miss timed a ball pitched outside the off stump by his vis-à-vis Chamod Pathirana and Sachin Peiris, behind the stumps, obliged with an easy catch. Rambukwella hit eight fours during his 140-ball innings which lasted little over three hours.
Had the Royal captain played his usual attacking game like previous year after lunch, he would have well completed his century.
While Royal continued to lose wickets from the other end, former captain Bhanuka Rajapaksa made a useful half century, making 55 off 61 balls with five fours and two sixers.
After capturing the second Royal wicket with the total on 147, S. Thoma’s continued to exert pressure on Royal batsmen and were rewarded consistently. The Royal innings which looked rock solid 147 for one at one stage, collapsed in a flash to declare their first essay at 276 for 9 with the last eight wickets producing just 129 runs which speaks the volumes of the control the Thomians gained after lunch.
S.Thomas’ captain Chamod Pathirana, who had two early spells of four and five overs without much success, produced a devastating third spell to capture five wickets. The right-arm quick bowler finished with a season’s best 5 for 101, with his final uninterrupted 19-over spell in the post lunch session reading 19-3-70-5. Leg spinner Madushan Ravichandrakumar played a fine supportive role to his skipper to finish with 4 for 50.
SCOREBOARD:
ROYAL COLLEGE - 1ST INNINGS
WARUNA DISSANAYAKE lbw b.R’kumar 42
RAMITH RAMBUKWELLA c. Sachin Peiris b. Pathirana 83
SUPUN SUBASINGHE c. Bongso b. Pathirana 19
BHANUKA RAJAPAKSE c. Bongso b. Pathirana 55
IMAL LIYANAGE c. K.Perera b. R’kumar 27
HESHAN KUMARASIRI C. Sachin Peiris b. Pathirana 02
MILAN ABEYSEKERA c. Sachin Perera b. Pathirana 16
DEVIND PATHMANATHAN b. R’kumar 07
GAURAJ DEVA not out 06
IMRAN KHAN lbw b. R’kumar 00
EXTRAS: (9b, 2 l, 2 w, 6 nb) 19
TOTAL: for 9 wkts decl. 276
BATTING TIME: 319 mts, 66.2 overs
DID NOT BAT: Anjana Kudahetti
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-91 (Dissanayake), 2-147 (Subasinghe), 3-164 (Rambukwella), 4-205 (Liyanage), 5-217 (Kumarasiri), 6-247 (Rajapaksa). 7-259 (Pathmanatha), 8-276 (Abeysekera), 9-276 (Khan).
BOWLING:
Pathirana 28-4-101-5; De Silva 8-1-28-0; U. Fernando 16-1-69-0; Ravichandrakumar 12.2-0-50-4; Wickremasekera 1-0-6-0; Kavinda 1-0-11-0.
S.THOMAS’ COLLEGE – 1ST INNINGS
ASIRI WICKREMANAYAKE b. Anjana 01
JAVED BONGSO b. Deva 19
NUWAN KAVINDA not out 32
SACHIN PEIRIS lbw b. Deva 05
KAVINDU PERERA not out 04
EXTRAS: (3 lb, 1w) 04
TOTAL: for 3 wkts at stumps 65
BATTING TIME: 14 overs – 76 mts
TO BAT: Chamod Pathirana, Ramith Gunaratne, Neomal Wickremasekera, Umesh Fernando, Madhushan Ravichandrakumar, Mevantha de Silva.
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Wickremanayake), 2-48 (Bongso), 3-60 (S. Peiris)
BOWLING (to date): Khan 4-0-25-0; Kudahetti 3-0-19-1; Rajapakse 4-1-7-0; Deva 3-0-11-2