The 59th Battle of the Brothers Big Match encounter between Isipathana College and Thurstan College ended in a draw at the SSC Grounds today. Isipathana, who were on 32/1 at the end of Day 1 replying to the 1st innings total of 202 by Thurstan College, managed to notch up a total of 297/8 before declaring the innings. Thurstan, who batted for 10 overs late in Day 2, were 25/2 when the umpires called for stumps on Day 2. With this result, Thurstan College retained the Blackham Wijewardena Memorial Trophy.
Isipathana College began the day with a 171 run deficit and scored at a good run rate throughout the 1st session, even though Thurstan ace pacer Nipun Premaratne took 3 wickets. Yesith Kalupahana continued his good work from Day 1 as he pounced his way towards a well deserved half-century. None of the other top-order batters for Isipathana managed to get going until the combination of Randunu Ganganath and Yuneth Seneviratne put together a massive three-figure stand of 129 for the 8th wicket. This stand between Ganganath and Seneviratne is also the highest ever for Isipathana in the history of this encounter.
Randunu Ganganath, who compiled the best batting effort of the entire encounter, scored 6 fours and a six in his phenomenal knock of 99. Unfortunately for the youngster, he got dismissed just 1 run short of a well-deserved century. Yuneth, who complemented Ganganath with a lot of authority, scored the 3rd half-century of the day for Isipathana College.
Nipun Premaratne, one of the most talented pace bowlers who knows how to execute a plan against any batter out there, was the clear highlight of the day when it came to bowling, thanks to a hard working 5-wicket haul. There was another little spark for Thurstan College in the form of a young 15 year old left-arm spinner, who took 3 wickets after bowling consistently throughout his 16 over spell.
With just a few overs remaining, Isipathana decided to ask the Thurstanites to bat again, and just like during the 1st innings the Pathana pace bowlers dominated the opposition top order, taking 2 wickets inside the first 10 overs.
After 2 days of action, the encounter ended in a draw, making this the 48th instance a draw has taken place between these two schools. However, it is fair to say that Isipathana College ended with more honors in this annual encounter thanks to the 3 half-tons by their batters, the 5-wicket haul by Kevin Samuel and some excellent fielding, all of which was complemented well by an attacking captaincy from Thinula Liyanage.
Award Winners
Man of the Match (Harsha Deepal Memorial Trophy) – Randunu Ganganath
Best Batsman (Jayantha Paranathala Challenge Trophy) – Randunu Ganganath
Best Bowler (Mahanama Wijeyaratne Challenge Trophy) – Kevin Samuel
Best Fielder (Chakrawarthy de Silva Memorial Trophy) – Tharindu Harshana
Best Allrounder (Priya de Mel Challenge Trophy) – Nipun Premaratne
Best Striker (Diyanesh Rajaratnam Memorial Trophy) – Yesith Kalupahana
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pasindu Ratnayake | lbw b Nikil Sahasmika | 4 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 28.57 |
| Tharindu Harshana | lbw b Nikil Sahasmika | 14 | 26 | 2 | 0 | 53.85 |
| Ushan Imesh | b Kevin Samuel | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10.00 |
| Vihas Thevmika | b Kevin Samuel | 39 | 105 | 2 | 0 | 37.14 |
| Bawantha Jayasinghe | c Dinuka Anupamal b Kevin Samuel | 8 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 72.73 |
| Thenuka Dewappriya | c Kevin Samuel b Kavindu Bandara | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Shanikya Deshapriya | c Tharushka Ashel b Kevin Samuel | 38 | 44 | 5 | 0 | 86.36 |
| Azeem Mohomed | c Nikil Sahasmika b Kevin Samuel | 25 | 25 | 4 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Nipun Premarathne | c Thinula Liyanage b Kevin Samuel | 19 | 50 | 3 | 0 | 38.00 |
| Thanuga Palihawadana | lbw b Yesith Kalupahana | 24 | 91 | 1 | 0 | 26.37 |
| Ranga Rasanka | not out | 18 | 63 | 1 | 0 | 28.57 |
| Extras | 12 (b 0 , lb 0 , nb 4, w 8, pen 0) |
| Total | 202/10 (73.5 Overs, RR: 2.74) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Randunu Ganganath | 9 | 3 | 27 | 1 | 3.00 | |
| Nikil Sahasmika | 20 | 5 | 48 | 2 | 2.40 | |
| Kevin Samuel | 16 | 3 | 52 | 6 | 3.25 | |
| Dinuka Anupamal | 13 | 4 | 22 | 0 | 1.69 | |
| Kavindu Amantha | 11 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 3.09 | |
| Yasith Kalupahana | 2.5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1.60 | |
| Yuneth Senevirathne | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.00 | |
| Tharushka Ashel | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tharusha Nethsara | b Nipun Premarathne | 19 | 51 | 2 | 0 | 37.25 |
| Naveen Kanishka | b Nipun Premarathne | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Yesith Kalupahana | lbw b Thanuga Palihawadana | 56 | 94 | 9 | 0 | 59.57 |
| Tharushka Ashel | lbw b Nipun Premarathne | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dinuka Anupamal | c Tharindu Roshan b Nipun Premarathne | 10 | 36 | 2 | 0 | 27.78 |
| Randunu Gunaratne | st Thanuga Palihawadana b Tharindu Harshana | 99 | 157 | 6 | 1 | 63.06 |
| Thinula Liyanage | lbw b Nipun Premarathne | 11 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Kavindu Amantha | c Thenuka Dewappriya b Thanuga Palihawadana | 21 | 29 | 3 | 0 | 72.41 |
| Yuneth Senevirathne | not out | 57 | 149 | 4 | 0 | 38.26 |
| Extras | 22 (b 7 , lb 0 , nb 6, w 9, pen 0) |
| Total | 297/8 (90.1 Overs, RR: 3.29) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nipun Premarathne | 22 | 1 | 94 | 5 | 4.27 | |
| Ranga Rasanka | 3 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 2.67 | |
| Bawantha Jayasinghe | 19 | 5 | 55 | 0 | 2.89 | |
| Pasindu Rathnayake | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4.00 | |
| Thanuga Palihawadana | 16.1 | 3 | 43 | 3 | 2.67 | |
| Vihas Thewmika | 11 | 3 | 30 | 0 | 2.73 | |
| Thenuka Dewappriya | 12 | 1 | 35 | 0 | 2.92 | |
| Azeem Mohomed | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6.00 | |
| Ushan Imesh | 5 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 2.60 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pasindu Ratnayake | st Thinula Liyanage b Yuneth Senevirathne | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28.57 |
| Tharindu Harshana | lbw b Nikil Sahasmika | 14 | 26 | 2 | 0 | 53.85 |
| Thenuka Dewappriya | not out | 9 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 40.91 |
| Vihas Thevmika | not out | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 0 (b 0 , lb 0 , nb 0, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 25/2 (9.3 Overs, RR: 2.63) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dinuka Anupamal | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1.50 | |
| Kavindu Amantha | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 3.00 | |
| Yuneth Senevirathne | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2.50 | |
| Randunu Ganganath | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 | |
| Nikil Sahasmika | 1.3 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 3.85 | |
