By Dinesh Weerawansa
Two entertaining knocks by skipper Upeka Fernando (80) and last year's captain Nilanka Peiris (99) helped S. Thomas' College to make a healthy 307 for 6 declared on the opening day of their 119th Battle of the Blues three-day cricket encounter begun at SSC grounds, Maitland Place yesterday. Royal College were 17 for no loss at close.
S. Thomas' did not hesitate to take the first lease of a perfect batting strip after Fernando won an important toss last morning. Fernando and his opening partner Sidath Madonza (38) had a slow but a confident first hour of play, but once they had a good look at Royal bowling, they were unstoppable. At lunch, S. Thomas' progressed to 92 for no loss with Fernando on 57 n.o. and Medonza 14 n.o. Their 125 run alliance came to an end when Fernando was trapped leg before by Royalist Umesh Gunawardena. The Thomian Captain hit two sixes and eight fours during his entertaining innings which laid the foundation for a commanding Thomian total.
Royal came back into the picture in the post lunch session with three good wickets to have Thomians at 180 for 4 at one stage. But their joy was short lived as ex-captain Nilanka Peiris proved the strength of Thomian middle order with an explosive 99. He missed what would have been his second successive 'big match' ton by just one run when he was bowled by Royal Skipper Shanaka Perera. Thus, Peiris became the first batsman in the 119-year-old Royal-Thomian cricket series, to get out at 99.
S. Thomas' were 179 for 3 at tea and soon after Shanaka Caldera was stumped by make-shift Royal wicket keeper Umesh Gunawardena off Harith Rajakaruna for two.
Royal were forced to replace their stumper Ravi Peiris after the second session as he missed three easy chances two catches and one stumpping. The Reid Avenue boys' fielding was poor as they missed not less than eight chances.
Opener Medonza who made a slow 38 runs off 226 minutes benefited most by Royal's poor fielding. He had three 'lives'. Nilanka Peiris, on 37, too was dropped at slips off Mubarak when the total was on 212. S. Thomas' closed their innings soon after they lost Peiris.
Royal openers - Ravi Peiris (14 with three fours) and Harith Rajakaruna (1 n.o.) survived the last six overs to make 17 without loss at close.
The match will be continued at 10 am today.
Day 2: Shanaka (74) and Ravi (66) help Royal get 274/6
by Dinesh Weerawansa
Three good knocks by Skipper Shanaka Perera (74), Ravi Peiris (66) and Jehan Mubarak (47) helped Royal to make 274 for 6 declared - a bold reply to S. Thomas' first innings total of 307 for 6 declared on the second day of their 119th Battle of the Blues three-day cricket encounter continued at SSC grounds yesterday.
Resuming the day at 17 for no loss, Royal openers Ravi Peiris and Ruchira Jayasuriya brought the total to 41 after 40 minutes of batting before the latter was caught by Meshadh Peiris at backward short leg off Gihan Fernando for 12. The next to go was one drop batsman Thushan Amarasuriya for 25 with the total on 27, with Gihan Fernando completing an excellent catch running backwards from mid on off Suranga Peiris.
Royal progressed to 103 for 2 wickets at lunch with opener Ravi Peiris on 33 and Jehan Mubarak on 19. In the post-lunch session, Mubarak went on to make a short but an attractive innings of 47 which was studded with seven boundaries. Mubarak hit Nilanka Peiris' very first ball of the match for a four but in the very next ball, he was dropped by Sidath Medonza at slips. Suranga Peiris held on to a low return catch, diving to his right to dismiss Mubarak, ending a vital 70-run third-wicket partnership with Ravi Peiris. During his innings of 47 Mubarak passed the 1000-run mark for the season.
But the Royal opener Peiris went on to play a sedate but a confident knock of 66, made in 307 minutes. However, it was that brave 74 by captain Shanaka Perera which strengthened the Royal middle order. At tea, Royal were 190 for 3 with Peiris on 60 and Shanaka Perera on 29. Royal's declaration came three balls after the fall of Shanaka Perera as the sixth wicket.
With a 33-run lead on the first innings, S. Thomas' started their second essay with Zakir Kanaka and Sidath Medonza but lost the former when the total was on 11 - bowled by paceman Umesh Gunawardena for 7. The Mount Lavinia boys now have an overall lead of 62 runs with nine second innings wickets intact.
S. Thomas' must go for some quick runs when the third day's play starts at 10 a.m. today and set Royal a challenging but a tempting target, if they are to make a match of it.
Day 3: Royal battle to salvage draw against S. Thomas'
By Lal Gunesekera
SET a target of getting 266 to win in 47 overs, Royal, ended with 169 for 6 to salvage a draw in their 119th 'Battle of the Blues' cricket match with S. Thomas' which ended yesterday at the SSC grounds.
S. Thomas' made 307 for 6 in their first innings, while the Royalists too declared in reply at 274 for 6. S. Thomas' who were 29 for 1 overnight in their second turn, declared once again at 232 for 7, leaving Royal to make 266 runs in 47 overs to win.
Would the Thomians have forced a win if they had declared earlier than they did? This is a question for debate, but the way things went the Thomians could have pulled it off.
Royal's opener Ruchira Jayasuriya (19) and Thushan Amarasuriya (45 with five boundaries in 73 balls) made 38 runs for the second wicket, followed by a productive stand of 54 runs for the third wicket between Amarasuriya and a refreshed looking Ravi Pieris, who made a valuable contribution of 44 off 73 deliveries before being brilliantly run out through a superb throw by Janaka Siriwardene in the covers. Pieris missed hitting twin 50's on debut, as he made 66 in Royal's first innings.
Amarasuriya and Jehan Mubarak then put on 45 runs for the fourth wicket with the latter making 25 with five fours. With Lasantha Liyanage too back in the pavilion cheaply, it was left to deputy skipper Umesh Gunawardene (not out 19) and skipper Shanaka Perera (not out 5) to see Royal through to the end and prevent a Thomian victory.
Earlier, the Thomians declared their second innings at 232 for 7 - 25 minutes before the tea break, which they should have done much earlier. Skipper Upeka Fernando following his 80 in the first innings, made 50 in 64 deliveries and hit six boundaries. This was his fifth half century in the series having made 77 on debut in 1995, 67 in 1996 and 60 in 1997.
Sidath Medonza too hit a good 42 with six boundaries, while Janaka Siriwardene (37 with seven fours), Gihan Fernando (32) and Naren Ratwatte (26 in only 15 deliveries with three fours and a six) helped to swell the Thomian total.
Right-arm off-spinner Jehan Mubarak was the most successful bowler for Royal with 3 for 57, while left-arm spinner Dhanushka Perera claimed 2 for 48.
Mre: Upeka writes his name in Battle of the Blues history
By Pelham Juriansz
Thomian skipper Upeka Fernando with his second half century of the big match concluded on Saturday becomes the player with the Highest Individual aggregate in the 119 years that this great encounter has been played.
With the 50, this stylish opening batsman scored in the second essay he surpassed the previous highest aggregate by an individual batsman which was held by the dogged Sumitra Warnakulasuriya of Royal who amassed 388 runs at a healthy average of 64.67.
Upeka also surpassed the previous best by a Thomian which was the 386 runs scored by the illustrious Duleep Mendis at an average which borders on Bradmanesque proportions of 96.5. Upeka Fernando has now collected 392 runs in his seven innings. His only failure came in the second innings last year when the Thomians were chasing runs for victory. In his very first innings he scored 49 to be cruelly run out going for his 50th run. He scored 77 in the second innings to be amongst those who scored a half century on debut. He came close to being the first to score twin half centuries on debut surpassing Royalist Haroon Musafer's effort of 47 and 75 not out in 1978.
His other half centuries are 67 in 1996, 60 in 1997, and 80 and 50 in this year's encounter. Upeka however has yet to score a coveted 'ton' and we hope he will oblige us next year. Upeka has scored his runs at a healthy average of 56 per innings. He also became the first player to score five half centuries.
Well done, Upeka.
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The Royal Thomian 1998
Channa Gunasekara
Royal, sporting perhaps the weakest bowling outfit in the past decade, ably supported by fielding and general outcricket to match, were gratefully let off the hook by the Thomians by an inadequate batting performance. On a flawless 400 run batting strip with a lightening outfield coupled with the above inadequacies what more could one ask for.
But no, they plodded on wearily to a score of 92 for no loss by lunch and that too mainly due to the effort of Upeka Fernando in the circumstances a moral victory for Royal.Medonza stifled the game at birth with a purposeless and wearisome effort and set the tone for mediocrity. Exactly 50 years ago a certain opening pair under similar conditions but against a superior attack, rattled up a century partnership in 79 mts and they say that the game has improved!!
It was not until the advent of Nilanka Pieris that the game came alive and a certain character was infused but yet a score of just over 300 in 5/12 hrs toil has not much to commend when compared with 320 in just over 4 hrs on the earlier occasion.
Royal started off on the back foot, first by losing the toss and then with a horrific mix up with the wicket-keepers. Undecided on this vital issue they paid dearly for this lapse with chance after chance going a begging in this area but yet they seemed to have done well enough to go into tea having conceded only 179 runs in 4 hrs of trying patience. That the Thomians were able to add a further 128 in the next hour and a half seems to bring out the point I am labouring, the declaration coming after 5 1/2 hrs of hard labour. Then to liven proceedings, the faithful spectators were treated to a series of high class theatrical appealings from the Thomians, on crouched haunches and threatening forefinger, a la Shane Warne.
Incidentally Warne is not the most popular cricketer even among the Aussies, except by the hyping media and T.V. personalities, and there may be hundreds revelling in the mauling he is currently receiving at the hands of the Indians - sadly he must be missing his diet of baked beans but he is getting plenty of it - unbaked. There may have been over 50 or 60 such appeals throughout the entire match with not more than 2 or 3 answered in the affirmative, which shows the futility and wasted energy in such an exercise.
Royal picking the cue from S. Thomas' plodded on at much the same tempo and it came as a great surprise when a declaration 33 runs behind the Thomians, was made with no hint that one such was forthcoming, judging by the manner of their attitude immediately preceeding this event. In a manner, the game was thrown open. But the Thomians said ``thank you very much, but no thanks''.
This was evident by the negative attitude of changing the batting order and the game drifted on once again in the same groove. The only batsman, Nilanka Pieris who could have torn apart an attack so thin, weak and transparent as a cup of Orange Pekoe tea, on this still docile wicket, and scored at a reasonable pace to set up enough runs for an early declaration, was held back till the game was made safe and a token declaration made inviting Royal to make 266 at over 5 1/2 runs per over.
This may not have been impossible had there been batsmen who could hit guileless half volleys for 4's rather than push them suspiciously back to silly point but since there were none such on view it was a tall order. Royal must have sent up a silent prayer of thanks for this late declaration and except for a mild flutter when two good wickets fell in two successive balls they must have felt that they had no obligation to make a go of it, and not surprisingly settled for a draw.
These two great institutions gave a text book exhibition of how to engineer the very first ball of a cricket match.
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