It was a tight finish to the 116th Royal-Joes encounter which ended today at the St. Josephs College grounds, Darley road.
The home team resuming from their overnight score of 142 runs for the loss of 6 wickets just managed to nose past their opponents by a run ending their innings on 172 runs. Royal College batting first put on 171 runs during day one. Overnight pair Josephian pair Pathum Madushanka and Fabian Fernando managed to get their team past the Royal first innings total with the former scoring an unbeaten half ton (53*) while Fernando ended his innings on 30 runs. Madushanka who carried his bat through day two hit 5 fours during his knock.
Off spinner Poorna Altuthge who has been in good form ended with 4/35 while Harith Samarasinghe and Anupa Thilakaratne finished with three wickets each.
Royal College in their 2nd innings with a one run defeicete were bowled out for 169 runs in 49 over’s. Last year’s Royal College skipper Imal Liyanage playing in his first match this season managed to get some useful batting practice scoring 30 runs. The highest run scorer for the Royalists was first innings half centurion Poorna Aluthge who made 49 runs dropping one short of a well deserved half century.
The Josephian off spinners were on top of their game with Priyamal Perera and Sachin Hewawasam grabbing 7 wickets between them. Priyamal Perera who has been amongst the wickets for his team ended with 5/52 while his spinner partner finished with 3/32.
With a one run lead the Josephians had a target of 169 runs to win in 18 over’s. The play was stopped due to bad light at 4.45pm and the Josephians were at full force scoring a quick 52 runs for the loss of one wicket in just 6 over’s. First innings batting hero Pathum Madushanka came through once more with a blistering 32* unbeaten runs which included 4 fours and a six.
Scores in Brief
Royal College 1st innings 171 runs all out in 55 over’s (Poorna Aluthge 50, Sampath de Silva 27, Moditha Weerasinghe 3/62, Aravinda Akurugoda 2/13, Sachin Hewawasam 2/16, Priyamal Perera 2/29)
St. Josephs College 1st innings 142/6 overnight and 172 all out in 53 over’s (Sadeera Samarawickrama 21, Sachin Hewawasam 25, Pathum Madusankha 53*, Fabian Fernando 30, Poorna Aluthge 4/35, Harith Samarasinghe 3/50, Anupa Thilakaratne 3/35)
Royal College 2nd innings 169 all out in 49 over’s (Imal Liyanage 33, Hashen Ramanayake 25, Poorna Aluthge 49, Priyamal Perera 5/52, Sachin Hewawasam 3/32, Rajindu Rodrigo 2/18)
St. Josephs College 2nd innings 52/1 in 6 over’s at the close of play (Pathum Madushanka 32*, Hashen Ramanayake 1/32)
Match result – Match drawn. St. Josephs win on first innings
