S. Thomas' electing to bat, were'nt off to a good start, losing their first two wickets for 17 to medium pacer Anjana Dhanasuriya.
But they recovered to dominate play, through two good partnerships, in which skipper Upeka Fernando was associated. The first was for the third wicket with Nilanka Peiris (51), which realised 103 runs and the other was for the fourth wicket with Janaka Siriwardene which realised 100 runs, to push the score to 220 for 4.
Fernando, who is in fine nick at the moment, having scored 78 against Richmond last week, despite two lives batted with authority to score at will, clobbering nine sixes and twelve fours to make a belligerent 139 off 150 balls and 258 minutes.
With his dismissal and on losing three more wickets, S. Thomas' declared their innings a little after tea, with their score at 243 for 7. Spinners, Arshad Junaid and Malshan Alwis bowled well for DSS to claim five wickets between them. DSS in reply made a sedate 54 for 3. Match continues today.
S. Thomas' 243 for 7 (U. Fernando 139, N. Peiris 51, J. Siriwardene 25, A. Junaid 3 for 55, M. Alwis 2 for 38, A. Dhanasuriya 2 for 41.)
DSS 54 for 3 (M. Maduwantha 25, M. Gajanayake 14, D. Perera 10 n.o., N. Ratwatte 1 for 18, L. L. Fernando 1 for 20, E. Jayasinghe 1 for 8.)