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| Thomians batsman Chamal Fonseka is stumped off the bowling of Royal’s Tantirigoda by wicket keeper and big match centurion Janith Perera. (Pic Ranjith Perera) |
Royal recorded an easy five wicket win over traditional rivals S. Thomas’ in their 34th Mustangs Trophy limited over encounter played at the SSC ground yesterday.
Chasing a modest 159 for victory the Royalists reached the target in the 34th over. With this win Royal take the lead in the series with 17 wins as against 16 to the Thomians with one ending in a tie.
The morning session saw Royal skipper Yasitha Abeykoon inviting S. Thomas’ to bat. But the fall of the first wicket at 19 saw the Thomians falling back in their run rate and the introduction of Bhanuka Rajapakse made matters worse.
The Thomians struggled to come in terms with Bhanuka and slid to 81 for 5. They never recovered from there and went on losing wickets at regular intervals and ultimately were able to muster 158 for 9 in their allotted 50 overs.
Royal in their run chase were helped by three useful knocks with the best coming from Kusal Perera who stroked a fluent 55 from only 52 balls which included three boundaries and a six.
With useful contributions coming from Sahan Hettiaratchi and Bhanuka Rajapakse an easy Royal win was never in question.
S. Thomas’ 158 for 9 in 50 overs (Sachin Peiris 31, Fahim Saleem 26, Ashen Fernando 17, Pasan Wijewardena 16: Bhanuka Rajapakse 4 for 32, Maneesha Tantirigoda 2 for 33)
Royal 159 for 5 in 33.3 overs (Kusal Perera 55, Sahan Hettiaratchi 32, Bhanuka Rajapakse 28: Fahim Saleem 3 for 32)
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