Maliyadeva College continued their dominance over their traditional rivals St. Anne’s College while pulling off a convincing innings and one run outright victory in their 31st annual Battle of the Rocks inter school Big Match which concluded at the Welagedera Stadium in Kurunegala today.
Maliyadeva’s success in this game of course was almost predictable from the moment they bowled out their opponents for just 125 runs in the first innings.
Thereafter it turned out to be a huge struggle for St. Anne’s College and it was just a matter of how long they could survive against a more superior outfit.
In fact St. Anne’s College were skittled out for just 138 runs in their second innings from 54.3 overs with Keshan Wijeratne, Damitha Silva and S. Peiris capturing two wickets each.
Middle order batsman R. Ranasinghe and M. Wickremage were the only two batsmen from Mahinda College to enter double figures as the rest of the batting simply collapsed and surrendered under pressure.
Earlier Maliyadeva College put up a fine batting performance and went on to build up a commanding first innings lead of 139 runs while declaring their innings at a formidable 264 for 7 wickets.
The experienced Minod Bhanuka also had the honour of scoring a Big Match century as he hammered a sparkling 116 runs with the help of four sixes and fifteen boundaries.
Together with Sachintha Peiris (52) they completely sealed the game in their favour with a match winning partnership which helped Maliyadeva College to declare their first innings at a formidable 264 for 7 wickets.
St. Anne’s College of course needed a huge improvement in their batting department in the second innings if they were to save the match and come out with a creditable draw.
However the Maliyadeva College bowlers just did not allow their opposition to settle down and succeeded in capturing wickets at regular intervals through their spinners.
In fact Keshan Wijeratne who had a five wicket haul in the first innings went on to add two more scalps to his tally with the back up support coming from Damitha Silva and S. Peiris.
St. Anne’s College: 125 (Shehan Cooray 48, J. Perera 41, Keshan Wijeratne 5 for 28, Damitha Silva 4 for 27) and 138 (R. Ranasinghe 38, M. Wickremage 19, S. Peiris 2 for 27, Keshan Wijeratne 2 for 32, Damitha Silva 2 for 32)
Maliyadeva College: 264 for 7 declared (Minod Bhanuka 116, Sachintha Peiris 52, K. de Silva 22 n. o, M. Afshan 2 for 46, Y. Kalhara 2 for 101)
