Despite being dismissed only a run short of his century, Chamodh Pathirana, who was involved in a crucial partnership with his Thomian captain Sachin Peiris, ensured that the 133rd Battle of the Blues between Royal and S. Thomas’ College ended in an enthralling draw, at a jam-packed SCC grounds yesterday.
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| Thomian hero Chamodh Pathirana gets a ride back home. |
The two fourth year coloursmen combined to score 153 runs to dig their team from a precarious 86 for 3 at one point to make sure they declared with a score of 329 for 5. The Royalists came out needing a near impossible 242 runs to win in just 23 overs, finished with a total of 22-1.
Pathirana once again made his presence felt on the field, taking the sole wicket of opener Sampath Silva by trapping him in front for 1.
Resuming from an overnight score of 27, S. Thomas’ exercised extreme caution at the beginning of their inning. The opening pair of Devin Jayasinghe and Asiri Wickramanayake were well into the day’s third over before they registered the first runs of the session off right arm off spinner Poorna Aluthge.
However, Jayasinghe eventually broke free of the shackles by rocking onto his back foot and ferociously pulling a misdirected short-pitched delivery from Gaurav Deva for four.The longer Jayasinghe and Wickramanayake occupied the crease the more their confidence grew, yet they were unable to exhibit the same batting dominance that had been witnessed over the previous two days.
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| Royal spinner Devin Pathmanadan took 4 for 105. |
This was due in no small part to the disciplined lines and testing lengths being bowled by the Royalists. Poorna in particular had been the most threatening of the bowlers, beating the outside edge of both batsmen on multiple occasions and teasing them with perfect flight.
His tactic eventually paid dividends, when, with the score on 61, Jayasinghe was deceived by a ball that dipped abruptly through the air and left him stranded outside his crease as keeper Milan Abeysekara swiftly whipped off the bails.
The new batsman Javed Bongso though, was determined not to be tied down on what was still a very good batting pitch. After playing down a few balls, he commandingly dispatched Anupa Tillakaratne to the boundary with an exquisite cover drive.
His partner, Jayasinghe was also going well at the other end with a score of 37 off 79 balls, including five boundaries. However, a sudden rush of blood to the head saw him attempt to launch Devind Pathmanathan for six, but only succeed in picking out Heshan Kumarasiri at long on.
This brought the experienced Thomian skipper Sachin Peiris to the wicket with the score on 81-2. The Royalists, who had entered this match as clear underdogs, suddenly had a glimmer of hope to manufacture a result. This opportunity instantly broadened a few deliveries later when Bongso, who had been progressing fluently on 17 from 40 balls, misread a viciously spinning delivery from Devind Padmanathan to edge to silly mid on.
However, with the Thomians in all sorts of trouble at 86-3, Chamodh Pathirana joined his captain in the middle. From that point the door was promptly slammed on Royal’s chances of forcing a win. Both Pathirana and Peiris were imperious during their stay at the wicket, scoring freely with a raft of glorious strokes both sides of the wicket.
Pathirana played the more aggressive role in the partnership, walloping any ball that either strayed onto his pads or drifted wide of off stump. All of Royal’s bowlers took punishment in equal measure being belted to all parts of the ground as the Thomians recovered to 178-3 by lunch. The resistance continued after lunch, with Pathirana dominantly marching to his 50 off 75 balls. Peiris, who was the more circumspect of the two, joined him at the milestone several over later, reaching his 50 off 109 balls.
By the time Peiris had his stumps dismissed by Pathmanathan for 58 off 130 balls, all possibilities of there being anything other than a draw had completely evaporated.
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| Chamodh Pathirana misses his ton (Pix by Amila Prabodha) |
That didn’t stop Pathirana though, and he rapidly rolled into the nineties, before falling on the brink of what would have been an expertly crafted century, bowled around the legs by Pathmanathan.
Following his dismissal Thilaksha Sumanasiri and Danush Peiris launched into the Royal attack. Sumanasiri sped to a 50 off 55 balls, while Peiris pilfered an equally swift 28 runs off 28 balls. By the time they declared, the fact that the 133rd clash between the two schools would end in a 66th draw was long ago a foregone conclusion.
Scoreboard
S. Thomas’ First innings: 325-9 decl (75.4) (Asiri Wickramanayake 85, Javed Bongso 97, Chamodh Pathirana 48, Thilaksha Sumanasiri 28, Dhanush Peiris 32; Chamika Karunaratne 3/59, Poorna Aluthge 3/90)
Royal First innings: 413-9 decl (106) (Ronaka Ahangama 20, Isuru Gunathilake 67, Imal Liyanage 80, Heshan Kumarasiri 127, Milan Abeysekara 58, C. Pathirana 4/92)
S. Thomas’ Second innings
D. Jayasinghe c Kumarasiri b Pathmanadan 37
(Launched the ball strong to long on, mistimed the shot and was caught)
Asiri Wickramanayake st Abeysekara b Aluthge 19
(Danced down the track and was stumped by a big
distance)
Javed Bongso c Liyanage b Pathmanadan 17
(Tried to flick and edged to silly mid on)
Sachin Peiris b Pathmanadan 58
(Walked down the track, the ball missed his bat and hit the base of the stumps)
Chamodh Pathirana b Pathmanadan 99
(Ball pitched on the leg and completely missed the bat)
Thilaksha Sumanasiri not out 50
Dhanush Peiris not out 20
Extras (9b, 6lb, 14nb) 29
Total (in 87.2 overs for 5 wkts) 329
Fall of wickets: 1-58, 2-81, 3-86, 4-239, 5-280
Bowling: Gaurav Deva 8-2-33-0, Anup Thilakaratne 13-3-32-0, Chamika Karunaratne 15-0-73-0, Poorna Aluthge 23-4-63-1, Devin Pathmanadan 26.2-3-105-4, Imal Liyanage 2-1-9-0
Royal Second innings
Sampath de Silva lbw b Pathirana 01
(Played forward, the ball missed the bat and stuck the pad)
Isuru Gunathilake not out 08
Imal Liyanage not out 13
Extras 00
Total (in 4 overs for one wicket) 22
Fall of wickets: 1-2
Bowling: Chamodh Pathirana 1-0-2-1, Umesh Fernando 2-0-8-0, Thilaksha Sumanasiri 1-0-12-0 |
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