Big Match: 139th Battle of the Blues evenly poised after Day 2

S. Thomas' College were trailing by 9 runs at the end of Day 2 against Royal College, in probably the lowest totals recorded by both sides in the recent history of the 139th Battle of the Blues encounter at the SSC today (10).

At stumps, S. Thomas', batting for the second time, were 3 runs for no loss, but closer to two hours of the second day was consumed by a rain interruption, which came after the lunch session at around 2.00pm.

At that time Royal were 151-9 but their tailenders guarded well enough to reach 178 runs, 12 runs ahead of the Thomians, before being bowled out. 

As the Thomians, who showed great difficulty in gaining momentum in their first innings, Royalists too were made to suffocate by a tight bowling attack by their opponents. 

Out of the lot, left arm paceman Kalana Perera stood out with a brilliant and effective five wicket haul where his figures read as 26-7-56-5. 

The Thomians used seven bowlers and four of them ended up wicketless, with next best bowling figures coming from their skipper and left arm spinner Dellon Peiris, who captured 4 for 40 in 12 overs.

Pavithra Ratnayake claimed a scalp as Royal gradually moved at slow pace to earn a psychological advantage of overtaking the Thomians, at least by a thin margin. 

Skipper Pasindu Sooriyabandara top scored for Royal with a marathon knock of 46, which came off 90 deliveries in 129 minutes. 

He hit seven boundaries. 

Overnight batsman Kavindu Madarasinghe, anchored with a defensive knock of 37 off 137 balls to take Royal from 33-3 to past 100 by the time he was dismissed.

In the meantime he hit four boundaries during a battle in the middle that lasted for 203 minutes.   

Sooriyabandara and Madarasinghe were featured in a useful partnership of 75 runs for the fourth wicket, which helped Royal gain control when they were struggling for survival. 

The third best knock for Royal came off tailender Dimal Wijesekara, who hit 23 runs off 67 balls inclusive of three fours.     

Put into bat first the Thomians struggled all the way before declaring at 166 for the loss of 9 wicket and Royal were 33 for the loss of 3 wickets at stumps on Day 1. 

The top scorer for them was wicketkeeper Sithara Hapuhinna, who confronted 51 deliveries to make 34 runs, inclusive of four boundaries. 

The next best known came from Manthila Wijeratne, who made 24 off 41 balls with four boundaries. 

Both Hapuhinna and Wijeratne were featured in the best partnership for the Thomians, which was 46 runs for the fifth wicket. 

Others failed to impress as expected as spinner Manula Perera stood above the rest among eight bowlers with a five-wicket haul.

He claimed 5 for 43 after operating 19 overs, inclusive of five maiden overs. 

Themal Bandara, Kamil Mishara and Kavindu Pathiratne claimed a wicket each.

The match will end on Sunday (11). 

S. Thomas' College 166 for 9 wickets (64.3) declared (Sithara Hapuhinnda 34, Manthila Wijeratne 24, Dulith Gunaratne 16, Shalin de Mel 15, Kishan Munasinghe 13, Kalana Perera 13, Maneesha Rupasinghe 13, Dellon Peiris 12, Manula Perera 5/43) and 3 for no loss (6) at stumps Day 2

Royal College -- 33-3 overnight -- 178 all out (75) (Kavindu Madarasinghe 37, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 46, Dimal Wijesekara 23, Thevindu Senaratne 13,  Lahiru Madushanka 12, Kalana Perera 5/56, Dellon Peiris 4/40)