Athalage, de Zoysa help Ananda pile up 324/6
A superb knock of 131 by Dinada Athalage and a solid knock of 74 by Kenul de Zoysa were the standout performances for Ananda College on the rain-affected second day of the 95th Battle of the Maroons against Nalanda College at the SSC ground yesterday.
Athalage’s marathon innings spanned 288 deliveries and featured 11 boundaries, while de Zoysa’s 74 came off 141 balls, studded with seven boundaries. The duo came together when Ananda was at 134 for 3, adding 20 more runs before rain intervened, restricting play to just 47 overs for the day.
Sadew Samarasinghe of Nalanda misses a drive as he edges out the ball towards the third man region - Pic by Eshan Fernando
In the morning session, the pair frustrated the Nalanda bowlers, steadily accumulating runs with minimal risk. They comfortably guided Ananda past the 200 and 250-run marks, with Athalage reaching his century and de Zoysa bringing up his half century. Right-arm pacer Punsara Rajakaruna eventually broke the 145-run fourth-wicket stand by dismissing de Zoysa.
Ananda then shifted gears in search of quick runs, but in the process, lost two wickets, including Athalage’s, before declaring at a formidable 324 for 6. It was a case of déjà vu as Nalanda, like on the first day, managed only 20 overs of batting before stumps, reaching 58 without loss. The rain-affected day saw just 66 overs of play in total. The match will end today.
| SCORECARD | |
| Ananda 1st innings (154/3 overnight)Damindu Sellaperuma c de Silva b Pramuditha 00 Nethula Edirimanne c Manmitha b Ratnayake 49 Dinada Athalage b Pamuditha 131 Kithma Widanapathirana c Samarasinghe b Dewdunu 32 Kenul de Zoysa c Dewdunu b Rajakaruna 73 Mihin Munasinghe lbw b Rajakaruna 19 Kaveesha Mendis not out 05 Extras (b4, lb4, nb4, w3) 15 Total (6 wickets declared; 93.3 overs) 324 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Sellaperuma, 0.3ov), 2-93 (Edirimanne, 27.3ov), 3-134 (Withanapathirana,36.5ov), 4-279 (de Zoysa, 86.3ov), 5-310 (Athalage, 91.1ov), 6-324 (Munasinghe, 92.2ov) Bowling: Osanda Pramuditha 17-2-80-2, Punsara Rajakaruna 15.2-2-69-2, Thisara Dewdunu 18-4-51-1, Hasith Ratnayake 18-4-60-1, Malsha Fernando 14-4-24-0, Sadew Samarasinghe 7-1-16-0, Gevindu Manamperi 2-0-12-0, Manupa Manmitha 1-0-4-0 Nalanda 1st innings Nadul Jayalath not out 28 Sadew Samarasinghe not out 27 Extras (b2, nb1) 03 Total (0 wicket; 20 overs) 58 Bowling: Kaveesha Mendis 7-1-22-0, Chamathka Irusha 4-0-9-0, Ashinsa Naianayake 3-0-6-0, Dinada Athalage 3-0-13-0, Sharada Jayaratne 3-1-6-0
|