Clinical Thomians down Royal by 16 runs
S. Thomas’ College produced a clinical all-round performance to snatch a thrilling 16-run win against traditional rivals Royal College and regain the Mustang Trophy in their 40th annual Limited Overs cricket encounter played at the SSC grounds in Colombo yesterday. Put into bat, the Thomians piled up 277 runs for the loss of 6 wickets and restricted Royal at 261 for the loss of 8 wickets, to level the 40-match Limited Overs series tally by 19 wins apiece. The encounter in 2002 ended in a thrilling tie while the game was abandoned in 2012.
Royal were not feeling comfortable at all after setting themselves to chase 278 runs for victory and they were down two men at 15. One drop batsman Ronuka Jayawardena and Naveen Withanapathirana consolidated to bring Royal back on track but their partnership, for the third wicket, lasted just 46 runs. Jayawardena was well set but lost his composure by giving a return catch to left-arm spinner Tharindu Ratnayake, who ended the day with best figures of the game and by winning the best bowler’s award. Royal lost the wickets of Withanapathirana and last year’s skipper Chamika Karunaratne, who tried to resist the attacking Thomians. They were 93 for the loss of five wickets until all-rounder Randev Pathirana joined in with Thiran Danapala to put on 70 runs for the sixth wicket.
Thomian batsman Danush Pieris reaches his half century . He was named the best batsman. - Pic by Amila Gamage
When Pathirana was dismissed as the sixth batsman, Royal had reached 163 runs and he was one run short of a well deserved half century. Pathirana faced 57 deliveries and hit three boundaries and two sixes. However Danapala took the burden on to his shoulders to give Royal further hopes of a possible win when he started to accelerate his strike. His effort was further boosted when Harith Samarasinghe joined the bash as both raced to add 73 runs for the seventh wicket, off just 49 deliveries.
All looked well set for the Reid Avenue boys until Danapala was sent back to the dressing room by Ratnayake, after making a useful 61-ball 64 which also had four boundaries and two sixes. From that point onwards the Thomian bowlers took grip of the situation to contain the Royal batsmen and record a thrilling 16-run win. The hard-hitting Samarasinghe remained unbeaten on 42 after facing 36 deliveries and hitting two fours and a six.
Put into bat first S. Thomas’ faced an early blow, losing both openers at 18 but Nipuna Gamage and Chenutha Wickramasinghe, with a useful partnership of 100 runs for the third wicket, changed the rejoicing Royalists into a frustrated unit. Royal tried every bit of what they had in possession but the Thomian pair was too dominative after fast bowler Helitha Withanage and off-spinner Hasitha Samarasinghe made the initial breakthroughs for Royal.
Gamage faced 74 deliveries for his fluent 55 while striking seven boundaries and Wickramasinghe was more commanding during his 85-ball 60. He struck six fours and hit the first six of the Thomian innings before falling victim as speedster Chamika Karunaratne’s only wicket when S. Thomas were cruising at 171-4 in the 38th over. Karunaratne conceded 70 runs in 10 overs but left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya made the vital breakthrough earlier on by having Gamage caught and bowled when the Thomians were sitting pretty at 118-2, in his first delivery of the 28th over. However before Wickramasinghe fell, 53 runs later, he made it clear to put S. Thomas’ in a strong position by accelerating later on. Joining Wickramasinghe was Danush Pieris, who was undisruptive. After adding 53 runs for the fourth wicket with Wickramasinghe, Pieris was featured in another brief partnership of 25 runs with Tharindu Ratnayake, who made 7 but the Thomians got their real boost from a valuable partnership of 75 which came off in just seven overs. The unexpected blast came off the bat of player-of-the-match Sachitha Jayathilaka, who spent just half-an-hour to hammer 51 runs off just 23 deliveries. He struck five boundaries and four sixes before falling to left-arm spinner Harith Samarasinghe, who ended up as the best wicket taker for Royal with figures of 2 for 59 in nine overs. Peiris, who won the best batsman’s award, remained unbeaten on 64, as S. Thomas’ top scorer, after facing 77 deliveries, hitting six fours and two sixes.
Scoreboard
S. Thomas’ innings
Yohan Mendis lbw b Hasitha
Samarasinghe 14
Ravindu Sasanka c H. Samarasinghe
b H. Withanage 01
Nipuna Gamage c and b L. Embuldeniya 55
Chenutha Wickramasinghe
c H. Samarasinghe b C. Karunaratne 60
Danush Pieris not out 64
Tharindu Ratnayake c C. Karunaratne
b Harith Samarasinghe 07
Sachitha Jayathilaka c C. Karunaratne
b Harith Samarasinghe 51
Helakamal Nanayakkara not out 04
Extras (12w, 3nb, 2b, 4lb) 21
Total (for 6 wickets; 50 overs) 277
Did not bat: Dulanja Silva, Dilendra
Gunathilaka, Nimesh Fernando
Fall-of-wickets: 1-11 (Sasanka), 2-18 (Mendis), 3-118 (Gamage), 4-171 (Wickramasinghe), 5-196 (Ratnayake), 6-271 (Jayathilaka)
Bowling: Randev Pathirana 9-2-56-0 (2w), Helitha Withanage 5-0-23-1 (4w), Hasitha Samarasinghe 2-0-5-1, Himesh Ramanayake 5-0-32-0 (1nb), Lasith Embuldeniya 10-1-26-1 (1w), Chamika Karunaratne 10-0-70-1 (2nb), Harith Samarasinghe 9-1-59-2 (5w)
Royal innings
Shashika Yasawardene c D. Gunathilaka
b N. Fernando 09
Hasitha Samarasinghe c T. Ratnayake
b H. Nanayakkara 06
Ronuka Jayawardena c and b T. Ratnayake 27
Naveen Withanapathirana lbw b N. Gamage 25
Randev Pathirana lbw b N. Fernando 49
Chamika Karunaratne c H. Nanayakkara
b T. Ratnayake 17
Thiran Dhanapala c D. Pieris
b T. Ratnayake 64
Harith Samarasinghe c D. Pieris
b H. Nanayakkara 42
Himesh Ramanayake not out 15
Helitha Withanage not out 00
Extras (2w, 1b, 4lb) 07
Total (For 8 wickets; 50 overs) 261
Did not bat: Lasith Embuldeniya, Umesh Sooriyabandara
Fall-of-wickets: 1-13 (Hasitha Samarasinghe), 2-15 (S. Yasawardene), 3-61 (R. Jayawardena), 4-69 (N. Withanapathirana), 5-93 (C. Karunaratne), 6-163 (R. Pathirana), 7-236 (T. Danapala), 8-257 (Harith Samarasinghe)
Bowling: Helakamal Nanayakkara 9-0-51-2 (1w), Nimesh Fernando 10-2-26-2, Dulanja Silva 5-0-26-0, Nipuna Gamage 9-1-37-1 (1w), Sachitha Jayathilaka 7-0-52-0, Tharindu Ratnayake 10-0-46-3