Marauding Richmondites to break 43-year hoodoo
View(s):108th Lovers’ Quarrel
Text and Pix by P.D. de Silva
The 108th big match between Richmond College and Mahinda College known as the lover’s quarrel will be played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium on the 22nd and 23rd. The match was first played in 1905 and was won by Richmond College. Mahinda College registered their first win in 1908 and led the series with 23 wins to Richmond’s 21. Mahinda College registered a ten wicket win in 2008 while Richmond have been deprived of a win for the last 43 years and will be out to break the hoodoo this year.
Richmond cricket squad
Sri Lanka caps D L S de Silva, Jayananda Warnaweera, Athula Samarasekera, Upul Chandana and Lasith Malinga hail from Mahinda College while Champaka Ramanayake, Chamila Gamage and Suranga Lakmal hail from Richmond.
P H K H Ranasinghe of Mahinda holds the record for the highest score in the series with 162 runs scored in 1972 while fellow Mahindian Somasiri Ambawatte scored a century and captured all ten wickets of the Richmond innings in 1953 to hold the bowling record and also the best all round performance to-date. Richmond has performed extremely well this season registering seven outright wins against Maliyadeva, St Servatius, Revatha, S de S Jayasinghe, Ananada, Dharmaraja, Dharmasoka and a first innings win against Royal College Panadura in the schools under 19 cricket tournament. In the traditional games they won outright against S. Thomas’ Mt Lavinia, St Thomas Matara and Kingswood College Kandy. A first innings win was registered against Prince of Wales Moratuwa and lost the first innings to Dharmapala College Pannipitiya and Royal College Colombo.
Left hand batsman Hasitha Madushan leads the strong Richmond outfit to the 108th lovers quarrel. He is right arm off spinner. All rounder A K Tyronne is his deputy. Tyronne is an explosive right hand batsman and bowls right arm off spin with 79 wickets to his credit. Left hand batsman Sithara Gimhan opens the innings for Richmond. Sithara has scored more than 600 runs this season. He is the wicket keeper of the side. Kelum Nanayakkara is a right hand batsman and bowls right arm medium fast while Thisara Bhanuka is a right hand batsman and bowls left arm leg spin.
Mahinda cricket squad
However the Richmond batting revolves round Left hand batsman Charith Asalanka who is the top scorer in the Richmond team. He has over 650 runs to his credit with a highest score of 134.
Chamod Piyumal opens the Richmond bowling attack. He bowls left arm fast medium and is a right hand batsman. Prabath Nishantha also bowls left arm fast medium and shares the new ball with Piyumal. The other medium pace bowlers in the side are — Wanidu Hasaranga, Manula Gunawardena.
Left arm leg spinner Saveen Nanayakkara has captured over 55 wickets. The other spinners in the ranks are — Waruna Deshapriya off spin, Pasindu Bimsara off spin and Kamindu Mendis left arm leg spin.
Sahan Samarasinghe is a Left hand batsman and a safe fielder.
Dhammika Sudharshana played for Richmond in 1995 and this is his third year as senior coach.
Mahinda playing in division one of the schools cricket tournament have outright wins against Dharmapala College Pannipitiya and Mari Stella Negombo. They registered first innings wins against Prince of Wales College, Mahanama and Sri Sumangala Panadura. A no decision came against Zahira and they lost the in the first innings to Gurukula College Kelaniya and Trinity College Kandy.
In the traditional games they registered an outright win against St Thomas’ College Matara and first innings wins against Dharmaraja College Kandy and Maliyadeva. A no decision came against St Joseph’s and lost in the first innings to Ananda. However they lost outright to S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia.
Fifth-year player Nirwantha Thikshila leads the Mahinda team in this year’s 108th encounter. He is a Left hand batsman and right arm fast medium bowler. Nirwantha has scored over 780 runs with a best of 126. Thikshila’s deputy is a 3rd year player Indeera Gallage. Indeera is a Left hand bat and right arm fast bowler. He has scored over 600 runs and taken more than 30 wickets.
Chalana de Silva is another 5th year player and former Captain of the side. He is a Right hand bat and bowls left arm leg spin.
Chalana has scored over 600 runs and taken 70 wickets. His highest score for the season is 70 runs against Royal College Colombo and best bowling figures were 6 for 7 against Maris Stella College Negombo. He has four five wicket hauls to his credit.
Second-year player Binuka Waduge is a right hand middle order batsman and right arm fast bowler. Has scored over 400 runs and taken 15 wickets. Binuka is the reserve wicket keeper of the side. 3rd year player Malith Mahela is a right hand middle order batsman and left arm leg spin bowler who has scored over 350 runs and taken over 45 wickets.
The stumper of the side is 2nd year player Ishara Akalanka and has 35 dismissals to his credit. Thamith Kalhara is a fresher. He is a right hand batsman and right arm off spin bowler. He has scored more than 200 runs and taken 30 wickets while 2nd year player Chanuka Udara is a right hand batsman and right arm leg spin bowler.
Nilanka Laksiri is a fresher. He is a left hand batsman with over 350 runs to his credit and is a right arm leg spin bowler. The other freshers in the side are — Eranga Sangeeth who has scored over 500 runs this season, Dulash Udayanga who has scored over 400 runs and taken over 20 wickets, Thithira Sanuka, Yasoda Kaushan, Pasindu Dishan and Krishan Rangajith.
Hasith Rajapaksa is the senior cricket coach at Mahinda College while K M D Prasad is the Master in Charge of the team.
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