Anthonians take full honours

By Aubrey Kuruppu

Trinity under-performed, while the Anthonians exceeded expectations and dominated the drawn 92nd Big Match at the Asgiriya Stadium.

Anthonian medium pacies Fabian Leonard and Heshan Ranasinghe got among the early batsmen to have Trinity struggling on 59-5, left handers Sajid and Rajitha produced sensible batsmanship in a stand of 54 to throw the hosts a life-line. Leonard was the pick of the bowlers and his figures of 4-24 were thoroughly deserved.

Wickremasekara and Kurmarisinghe were involved in an opening stand of 69 for the Anthonians. The former was a bit more aggressive and his 37 was well-compiled. The best batting of the match came from skipper Gimhan Dissanaike and his deputy Sahan Palihakkara, who added 40 for the fourth wicket before the Anthonian skipper was run out. He had two huge sixes in his knock.

Palihakkara, though departing from orthodoxy every now and again, went on to make merry at the expense of the Trinity bowlers. His 73 was featured by many sweeps, pulls and lofted shots.

Trinity spinners Romesh Perera and Sachith Pathirana picked up the wickets, though in truth they never dominated the batsmen.

There was a late burst of fire-works within the bat by Pathirana. But it was a case of too little, too late.