The 139th Battle of the Blues cricket encounter between Royal College and S. Thomas’ College ended in a draw as the trophy cabinet in Reid Avenue retained the Rt. Hon D.S Senanayake Memorial Shield at SSC Grounds, Colombo on Sunday.
Draw imminent at the 139th Battle of the Blues
The 139th Royal-Thomian cricket encounter is heading for a draw at the end of rain-interrupted…
Royal College vice-captain Kavindu Madarasinghe saved the day for Royal College with a gritty 58 off 87 deliveries scoring 9 fours and hanging on for nearly two hours on day three in the fourth innings of the match.
Earlier in the day, S. Thomas’ College posted 227 for 6 in their second innings to set a daunting target of 216 runs in 48 allotted overs for Royal College.
After two dull days of cricket, the Thomians commenced the final day’s play on three for no loss. The left-handed opening pair, Shalin De Mel and Dulith Gunaratne battled through the two hours and thirty-minute first session, constructing a solid 107-run stand.
A slight miscommunication ended De Mel’s 139-ball, 57-run stay right after lunch but Gunaratne continued to accumulate runs.
One-drop batsman Sithara Hapuhinna provided much-needed impetus to the Thomian innings, scoring a quick-fire 47 off 42 deliveries with 7 fours to up the scoring-rate.
Gunaratne perished after a well-constructed 59, batting for more than 4 hours. The rest of the batsmen came out to bat with the intent of scoring runs quickly. Left-arm spinner Manula Perera grabbed two important wickets to dent the Thomian innings yet again.
S. Thomas’ declared their innings at 2.50pm, allowing themselves only two and half hours to bowl out the Royalists in the final session.
The two Royal openers, the Dissanayake’s – Bhagya and Gayan, settled down well before left-arm seamer Kalana Perera struck in the 12th over with a slow-cutter to clean bowl Gayan.
Match Replay : Royal College vs S. Thomas’ College – 139th Battle of the Blues
In the 13th over of the Royal second innings, left-arm spinner Pavith Rathnayake bowled the ball of the match, a sharp turner which squared-up Bhagya and disturbed the stumps.
Kamil Mishara showed positive intent, batting at number four by reverse-sweeping the left-arm spinners and driving the seamers before being castled by skipper Dellon Peiris in the 19th over, leaving Royal three down for 55.
Three balls later, Royal captain Pasindu Sooriyabandara was caught at first slip off Peiris while part-time off-spinner Kishan Munasinghe snuck his first ball through the defenses of Kavindu Pathirathne to put Royal in danger at 60 for 5, with an hour to go.
Madarasinghe, who fought valiantly for 202 minutes in the first innings, scoring 37 yesterday, held his nerve and with a calm head guided Thevindu Senaratne in negating the Thomian bowlers.
Photos: Royal College vs S. Thomas’ College – 139th Battle of the Blues – Day 03
They added a match-saving 56-run stand before Peiris trapped Senaratne plumb in front for 24 with the score on 116 in the 36th over.
Lower-order batsman Manula Perera held his end up along with Madarasinghe for nearly 7 overs before the umpires called bad light at 5.50pm, saving the day for Royal.
With Royal College being the previous winner in 2016, they retained the coveted shield at Reid Avenue for another year.
Individual Awards
- Best Fielder – Shalin De Mel (STC)
- Best Bowler – Manula Perera (RC)
- Best Batsman – Dulith Gunaratne (STC)
- Man of the Match – Kavindu Madarasinghe (RC)
