Skipper Nimesha Gunasinghe guided St. Anthony’s College to what one can call as the achievement of the century in the 98th Battle of the Blues cricket encounter by securing a 1st innings victory over traditional rivals Trinity College Kandy in the drawn encounter.
This win which came after a lapse of over a decade for the underdogs St. Anthony’s will be one of those which will cherished in the years to come.
The batting responsibility for Trinity College finally metered out to the last batting pair Raveen Sayer and Lakshan Jayasinghe to accumulate the required runs to evade a 1st innings defeat. The much experienced Sayer had been rotating the strike and was steadily getting runs as he delivered his agenda of strokes but matters became serious when Trinity College needed one run to avert the defeat. An untimed shot by Lakshan Jayasinghe went towards the mid on area and with a possibility of no possible run, the two started running but the fielder there at mid-on was quicker than Jayasinghe to hit the stumps and record the innings win in favor for the Eagles.
Antonian skipper Nimesha did most of the wreckage to this strong Trinity outfit who came in to bat resuming from the overnight 98/3 ended up at 139-8 at the end of the 43rd over. Skipper Nushan Weerasinghe and Ron Chandragupta had an aggressive start but their aggression proved to be their weakness with Ron Chandragupta being the first to be dismissed by Gunasinghe for 31. Weerasinghe scored his half century but left the field five runs after being dismissed by Dilan Bandara.
A solid partnership never came for Trinity as Gunasinghe’s bowling was keeping them from establishing themselves. Lahiru Kumara, Amrith Sri Mahan and Madawa Munaweera fell for cheap scores for the bowling of Nimesha Gunasinghe. As the last batting pair metered it out for the victory runs, it took a session for St. Anthony’s take full control of the game.
In the bowling department, skipper Nimesha Gunasinghe was the highlight of the day claiming 5 wickets 44 runs. Dilan Jayalath took two wickets while Dilan Bandara picked one.
With celebrations erupting right after the run out, St. Anthony’s had waited a long time to register a first innings win here in the 98th battle and this was something to celebrate for the fans. Coming in to bat in the second innings, St. Anthony’s College struggled at the start but then continued their usual gameplay without any pressure as they were assured of a positive result.
For Trinity Charith Sudaraka picked up a few early wickets but it did not prevent the Eagles from scoring. Some resistive cricket by Dilan Bandara and Buweneka Wijethunga took St. Anthony’s to three figures where they declared their innings at 124 runs with 5-10 overs remaining in the day’s play. Dilan Bandara top scored in the second innings with 29 runs and Buweneka Wijethunga contributed with 28.
With the declaration coming in late, there seemed no possibility that Trinity College could bring in a breakthrough. Celebrations erupted just as the umpires called it the end with passionate Antonian fans flooding in from all parts of the ground to celebrate this occasion. At the end of Trinity’s 2nd innings they were 27 for no loss with Kaveen Hiniduma on 17 and Nushan Weerasinghe on 4. The match ended in a draw but by default, St. Anthony’s College was awarded the John Halangoda Trophy in line with their 1st innings win.
It was clearly an encounter where St. Anthony’s require credit. Coming in as underdogs they played against the much experienced and talented Trinity College with grit and they succeeded in being the better team out of the two. Credit needs to be given to Nimesha Gunasinghe as he was the danger man who picked up the crucial wickets in the Trinity batting order else this game would have turned tables.
Two days of intense cricket in Asgiriya and the 98th Battle provided the entertainment to the fans gathered as they enjoyed the game in true spirit. Though the trophy was awarded on the 1st innings win, that was sufficient for the Antonians to celebrate.
It would be one of those instances where Trinity College will look back and repent on their mistakes. They conceded 50 extras in the 1st innings and that surpassed the score of any individual player in the Antonian batting lineup. They had their mistakes and the game shouldn’t have gone to the wire as Trinity possessed a well experienced batting lineup. Skipper Ron Chandragupta will be expecting to fight back vigorously in the limited over fixture.
Speaking to ThePapare the winning skipper Nimesha Gunasinghe mentioned that it was a win that he was expecting at the penultimate of his cricketing career at school and this shall be remembered for the decades to come.
Buweneka Wijethunga was adjudged the best batsman for his resistive knocks of 42 and 28 in both innings while Charith Sudaraka received the trophy for the best bowling for match figures 6/25.
Raveen Sayer was adjudged Man of the Match for his efforts with both bat and ball. Picking up 6 wickets and scoring a great innings of 46* he justified his award to be the most valuable player of the encounter.
*It was an interesting sight to watch the true spirit of sportsmanship being displayed. Raveen Sayer having unable to finish it in a positive note for Trinity lay down on the ground in desperation and quick to console him was the skipper of St.Anthony’s as he moved over to cheer up the spirits of the young man while his team was busy celebrating.
Scores in brief :
St. Anthonys 188 (Buweneka Wijethunga 42, Damithra Panditharatna 39, Raveen Sayer 3/52, Charith Sudaraka 3/14) & 124/8 dec.
Trinity College 187 (Nushan Weerasinghe 55, Raveen Sayer 46*, Nimesha Gunasinghe 5/44, Dilan Jayalath 2/26) & 27/0 (Kaveen Hiniduma 17)
