Dharmaraja College were well set to take a first innings lead after a successful opening days play in their 108th annual Battle of the Maroons inter school Big Match against the traditional rivals Kingswood College which commenced at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy today.
The Rajans after having dismissed their opponents for a modest 203 runs produced an equally good performance with the bat to reach a healthy 121 runs for the loss of three wickets in reply.
Dharmaraja College skipper Deneth Lanka led from the front as he stole the limelight while producing a splendid spell of bowling to get rid of the opposition in 62 overs.
Deneth Lanka returned outstanding bowling figures of five wickets for 51 runs and together with his spin partner Sapumal Tennekoon as the pair really frustrated the batting side with their accurate bowling.
Kingswood College of course were determined to occupy the crease for a long period without throwing away their wickets and they succeeded to a certain extent following some dogged batting from Mihidum Weerasinghe (44), Ruwantha Hathurusinghe (43) and Supun Bandara (30).
Their batting never looked entertaining but nevertheless they were able to keep the scoreboard moving at least through singles, two’s and the occasional boundary.
In fact middle order batsman Mihidum Weerasinghe and Ruwantha Hathurusinghe put the side on the correct path while laying the foundation to a total of over 250 runs.
However with the introduction of the spinners Kingswood College started losing wickets at regular intervals and also they just could not build up a good partnership during the latter stages of the innings.
Even then this was a creditable effort from Dharmaraja College skipper Deneth Lanka who came into the attack during a vital stage of the innings when Kingswood College were showing signs of dominating the proceedings.
He stuck to a good line and length from the very beginning and rallied around through his accuracy to pick a couple of early wickets which brought a dramatic turnaround in the match situation.
Kingswood College just could not keep the same momentum with their late order batsmen and were restricted to 203 runs at the end.
Dharmaraja College then started their innings in a positive manner as they reached an impressive 121 for 3 wickets with opener Chandimal de Silva poised to complete a superb half century.
Kingswood College: 203 (Mihidum Weerasinghe 44, Ruwantha Hathurusinghe 43, Supun Bandara 30, Deneth Lanka 5 for 51, Sapumal Tennakonn 2 for 15)
Dharmaraja College: 121 for 3 (Chandimal De Silva 41 n. o, Jayapathma Tennekoon 30, Kavinda Ratnayake 25 n. o.)
