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| Sunday, 7 March 2004 |
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Royal Thomian Centenary match - 1979 Halangoda and Richards saved the match for S. Thomas' Though there were many fine performances by the Royalists, in the end Thomians Mahinda Halangoda and Chandra Richards became heroes of the historic Centenary 'Battle of the Blues' cricket encounter played over three-days for the first time on March 8, 9 and 10 at the SSC grounds The match finally ended in a draw, but how the Thomians' escaped with a draw is all due to the spirit and guts with which Mahinda Halangoda and Richard batted in the second innings with defeat staring the Thomians. By lunch on the third-day, three frontline Thomian batsmen were out, and by tea, the Thomians had not yet wiped out the first innings deficit of 167 runs but they had lost eight wickets. So, in the final session, the trap-door was fairly wide open under the Thomians' heels. But what happened in the final two hours and more was that once again the Thomian grit surfaced and they had freed themselves from the deficit and the ninth-wicket pair of Halangoda and Richards were batting as nothing bothered them. Both Halangoda and Richards had left behind he 167-run deficit and had rubbed away enough of the mandatory overs to make a Royal victory impossible and engaged themselves in a fascinating display of run-making which for once in the game brought out the Thomian celebrations. Fittingly, the hero Mahinda Halangoda surpasses Royal Pasqual's 66 to become the Centenary's highest scorer. A cracking lofted drive to long-off brought Halangoda the record and then 'all hell broke loose with Thomian supporters hugging, kissing and carrying the hero. Halangoda won for himself a place in S. Thomas' Hall of Fame. He came to the wicket at 2.25 p.m. into a situation that had almost the same attraction as recovering the dead - 136 for 6 wickets and more than three hours left. It was a part only for the brave and willing and Halangoda batted his way out of trouble and his greatest quality was his staying power. Royal skipper Ranjan Madugalle subjected Halangoda to tests of pace and temptation but Halangoda overcame all that. The importance of chandra Richards' innings cannot be measured in runs. Playing only his second match for the season, Richards walked into steaming pressure. So it's a tribute to his guts and courage that he helped Halangoda play out the final two hours. There was hardly a sign of nervousness in the fresher and there were times that he matched Halangoda in stroke-making. Together they saw that S. Thomas' didn't lose this one and to these two batsmen, S. Thomas' will ever be grateful. But, S. Thomas' were to be blamed for the mess they got into. After winning the toss and batting first, their batsmen batted badly and were out for 154 runs in the first innings - a poor total on a wicket tailor-made for batting. Within the first-half an hour, the two openers S. Wijesinghe and Rohan Anthonisz were out and thereafter, Ken de Alwis 47, Guy de Alwis 23 and skipper Johann Pieris 20 were the only batsmen to score some runs against a tidy Royal attack. Asantha de Mel (2 for 29), Rajive Wijetunge (2 for 24) and Sugath Pasqual (4 for 53) and Kesara de Costa (2 for 11) were the Royal bowlers who were rewarded with wickets. Royal made steady progress and when the close came on day one, the royalists had made 117 for 2 wickets, with an opening partnership of 90 runs between Haroon Musafer (53) and C. P. Fernando (35) helping them along. Fernando was first out and then four runs later, Musafer was out for 53, tucking into it eight fours. Then the Royalists prospered to 321 for 8 and though there were many who thought that they batted too long, the Royalists were somewhat right in their decision as there was the third day too. For Royal, skipper Madugalle (58) and Sugath Pasqual (66) batted well and their 117-run partnership for the third wicket was a record for Royal, eclipsing the earlier record of Michael Dias (62) and Lalith Senanayake (56) off 100 runs in 1958. Sugath Pasqual top-scored for Royal with that fine knock of 66 in three hours and it included eight fours. Pasqual's 50 came in 97 minutes, while Madugalle's 59 came in 102 minutes. Then Pradeep Kariyawasam made 47 which had seven fours. Besides their weak batting, the Thomian fielders dropped around four catches and it helped the Royalist batsmen to pile on the runs. Mahinda Halangoda, was the most impressive Thomian bowler with 4 for 60, while Suranimala Wijesinghe had 3 for 88. At close of play on the second day, S. Thomas' made 9 for no wicket and they had a whole day to fill on the third-day, and this they did and thanks be to Mahinda Halangoda and Chandra Richards. S. THOMAS' - 1ST INNINGS S. Wijesinghe lbw b Wijetunge 4, R. Anthonisz c de Mel b Pasqual 6, L. De Soysa c Alwis b Wijetunge 15, G. de Alwis c de Costa b de Mel 23, J. Pieris c Madugalle b de Mel 20, Ken de Alwis c Musafer b Pasqual 47, A. Amarasekera c de Costa b Pasqual 1, U. Idipilly b Pasqual 4, M. Halangoda lbw b de costa 15, C. P. Richards not out 2, L. Seneviratne lbw b de Costa 0. Extras 17. TOTAL: 154 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-13, 2-27, 3-42, 4-74, 5-78, 6-97, 7-119, 8-148, 9-154. BOWLING: Asantha de Mel 11-2-29-2, Rajive Wijetunge 10-0-24-2, Sugath Pasqual 16-2-53-4, Ajit de Alwis 9-3-20-0, Kesara de Costa 5-3-11-2. ROYAL - 1ST INNINGS H. Musafer c Guy de Alwis b Wijesinghe 53, C. P. Fernando c Guy de Alwis b Wijesinghe 35, R. Madugalle c Richards b Wijesinghe 58, S. Pasqual c Ken de Alwis b Halangoda 66, Pradeep Kariyawasam b Halangoda 47, R. Jurangpathy c Sirisena (sub) b Halangoda 9, A. de Mel lbw b Halangoda 4, A. de Alwis not out 13, M. N. Perera run out 9, Rajive Wijetunge not out 7. Extras 20. TOTAL (for 8 wkts dec.) 321 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-90, 2-94, 3-211, 4-245, 5-270, 6-286, 7-289, 8-312. BOWLING: Imesh Idipilly 26-3-56-0, C. P. Richards 3-0-16-0, L. Seneviratne 16-3-50-0, M. Halangoda 26-2-60-4, S. Wijesinghe 26-3-88-3, J. Pieris 8-0-31-0. S. THOMAS' - 2ND INNINGS S. Wijesinghe c Perera b de Mel 1, L. de Zoysa c Devasurendra (sub) b Musafer 45, J. Pieris c Perera b de Mel 10, Guy de Alwis b de Alwis 31, Ken de Alwis c Devasurendra (sub) b Musafer 0, Ajit Amarasekera c Perera b de Alwis 3, Umesh Idipilly c Perera b de Costa 29, R. Anthonisz c Jurangpathy b de Costa 5, Mahinda Halangoda not out 70, Chandra Richards not out 20. Extras 38. TOTAL (for 8 wkts at close): 252. FALL OF WICKETS: 1-38, 2-44, 3-101, 4-101, 5-101, 6-106, 7-136, 8-161. BOWLING: Asantha de Mel 19-9-26-2, Rajive Wijetunge 10-3-29-0, Sugath Pasqual 11-1-43-0, Kesara de Costa 21-9-54-2, Haroon Musafer 18.3-11-24-2, Pradeep Kariyawasam 2-0-12-0. |
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