Bad weather and slow batting were the two major factors in another ‘Battle of the Maroons’ encounter which ended in a stalemate at R.Premadasa Stadium today with Nalanda College taking major honors.
Nalanda batted the whole 2nd day before the rain poured down to end the game with an hour left. Ananda College was bowled out for 170 runs yesterday with right arm fast bowler Madawa Anuththara being the pick of the bowlers taking 4 wickets. Nalanda College could only bat 2 overs yesterday and the opening pair of Woshantha Silva and Senura Amarasinghe added 33 runs for the 1st wicket before skipper Woshantha Silva was caught and bowled by Kaveesh Anjula for 28 runs.
Senura Amarasinghe continued to steer the innings but he could only add 26 runs for the second with Isuru Samarasinghe as the number 3 batsman being trapped in front of the stumps by right arm off spinner Sammu Ashan. The two Amarasinghe’s of Nalanda – Senura and Malinga anchored the Nalanda innings for further 95 runs which was the highest partnership of the game. Both young left hand batsmen played sensibly against the formidable Ananda bowling attack.
Senura Amarasinghe accumulated 62 runs in 176 balls with 6 fours before he fell to Kaveesh Anjula’s bowling. Kaveesh Anjula delivered with venom as he clean bowled Avishka De Silva with a ripper of a delivery to pick his 3rd wicket.
Malinga Amarasinghe continued to milk the bowling with his crafty batting and blistering impetus was injected by Pramud Hettiwatta before the rain came down as he scored a quick-fire 46 runs in 42 balls.
Malinga Amarasinghe remained unbeaten on 90 runs in 155 balls and he was well within a deserving century which was interrupted by rain gods. Kaveesh Anjula was the most successful bowler for Ananda as he took 3 wickets for 59 runs. The match was stopped for rain around 4pm and by that time Nalanda had scored 248 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 72 overs with a 3.44 run rate per over.
Chief Scores:
Ananda – 170 all out in 55.3 overs : Lakkana Jayasekara 36, Kushil Perera 23, Sahan Arachchige 40, Dasun Wijesinghe 21, Madawa Anuththara 4/32, Kavinda Bandara 2/17, Pramud Hettiwatta 2/39.
Nalanda – 248/5 in 72 overs : Woshantha Silva 28, Senura Amarasinghe 62, Malinga Amarasinghe 90*, Pramud Hettiwatta 46, Kaveesh Anjula 3/59.
Match Result: Match Drawn
