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Sunday, 10 March 2002  
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A late declaration by Royal prevented them from chalking up a possible win

by LAL GUNESEKERA

The record books will show that the 123rd Battle of the Blues schools cricket match between traditional rivals Royal and S. Thoams' ended in a draw at the SSC grounds, Maitland Place yesterday. But, Royal, who took the field as the "underdogs" had the edge in the end.

The Thomians were left with a target of getting 194 for victory in 28 overs, but were 102 for 5 when stumps were drawn. Royal who were 71 for 1 overnight in their second turn declared at 227 for 8 in reply to S. Thomas' first innings total of 217 for 9 declared. Royal made 183 in their first turn.

The Thomians did make some sort of an attempt to get at the target with the first 50 coming in the eighth over with opener Arjun Rajawasam hitting a quick 30 with four boundaries. But after the unfortunate run out of Jeevan Mendis, they offered to put the 'shutters' up and in the process lost wickets. Mendis from whom much was expected, scored only 15, while Pravin Pieris made 17.

The Royalist should have declared much earlier than they did. They waited for 40 minutes after the tea adjournment to declare and between lunch and tea made only 24 runs. The first session saw 70 runs being scored with four wickets falling, while in the second session 61 runs were scored for the loss of two wickets.

Opener Velu Arunprakash and Pasindu Chamikara put on 55 runs for the second wicket with the former top scoring with 53. He thumped eight fours and faced 139 deliveries, while the latter made 32 with four fours.

Wickets then fell at regular intervals. Rochana Wijeratne who top scored for Royal with 41 in their first innings, once again made a sound 46 with seven boundaries off 105 deliveries before being caught in the covers. He put on a valuable 47 runs for the seventh wicket lasting nearly 75 minutes with Menaka Keenawinna who made 28 with three fours and a six. Later on, Sahan Perera made an unbeaten 17 when the declaration came after Keenawinna's wicket.

It was the Thomian spinners who kept the Royalists in check. Right-arm off-spinner Rashmilan Mohamed (2 for 46 in 29 overs) and Vidyesh Balasubramaniam the right-arm 'leggie' with 2 for 46 in 22 overs were the pick.

P>ROYAL - 1ST INNINGS 183

S. THOMAS' - 1ST INNINGS
(217 for 9 declared)

ROYAL - 2ND INNINGS
(71 for 1 overnight)
Suren Mendis 		c Mendis b Mohamed		 22
V. Arunaprakash 	c Mendis b Balasubramaniam	 53
Pasindu Chamikara 	c and b Balasubramaniam  	 32
Navin Dias 		c Gunawardene b Mohamed		  0
Ganganath Ratnayake 	c Rajawasam b Mendis		 12
Rochana Wijeratne 	c Mendis b Fernando		 46
Damith Abeygunawardene 	run out				  4
Menaka Keenawinna 	st Silva b Williams		 28
Sahan Perera 		not out				 17

Extras							 13

TOTAL 	(for 8 wkts decl in 98.5 overs)			227

FALL OF WICKETS: 56 (Mendis), 111 (Arunprakash), 112 (Dias),
                 118 (Chamikara), 137 (Ratnayake), 146 
                 (Abeygunawardene), 193 (Wijeratne), 
                 226 (Keenawinna).

BOWLING: Tharindu Fernando 10-2-38-1, 
         Pravin Peiris 11-1-43-0,
         Pramuditha Rodrigo 1-1-0-0, 
         Rashmilan Mohamed 29-7-46-2,
         Jeevan Mendis 12-3-25-1,
         Vidyesh Balasubramaniam 22-6-46-2,
         Denham Williams 13.5-6-20-1.

S. THOMAS' - 2ND INNINGS
H. Pieris 		c Arunprakash b Vidanapathirana	 10
Arjuna Rajawasam 	c Dias b Vidanapathirana	 30
Jeevan Mendis 		run out				 15
Pravin Pieris 		c Vidanapathirana b Ratnayake	 17
Denham Williams 	run out 			  9
Dilshan Gunawardene 	not out				  5
Kaushal Silva 		not out				 14

Extras		 					  2

TOTAL 		(for 5 wkts in 28 overs)		102

FALL OF WICKETS: 33 (Rajawasam), 45 (Pieris), 58 (Mendis),
                 84 (Williams), 84 (Pravin Pieris).

BOWLING: Chaminda Vidanapathirana 9-1-33-2,
         Tharaka Kottehewa 5-0-35-0,
         Pasindu Chamikara 6-2-18-0, 
         Ganganath Ratnayake 6-3-11-1, 
         Damith Abeygunawardene 2-0-5-0.

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