The 116th Battle of the Maroons Hill Country between Kingswood College and Dharmaraja college ended today in a thrilling draw at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy.
This morning, the Rajans were unable to get the start they would have been hoping for as they lost the first 5 wickets for 101 runs, with Pulindu Perera and Onajith Silva scoring 32 and 28 respectively. However, they somehow managed to post 213/7 courtesy of Nisala Abeyrathna’s valuable knock of unbeaten 72 before deciding to declare.
Weerasinghe bags six; Peiris misses the hundred by two runs
Skipper Thisaru Wanninayake (31) and Maleesha Perera (16) scored useful runs and helped to set a target of 196 for a Kingswood victory. In the bowling department, Amesh Rupasinghe picked 4/69 for Kings as well.
When chasing, Kingswood couldn’t get an ideal start as Pulindu Perera picked the first 2 wickets with just 5 runs on the board. Thereafter, Kavija Gamage fought hard with a 66-run knock before being bowled out by Nisala Abeyrathne.
After that wicket, wickets once again started to tumble as the Rajans came too close to recording a thrilling win. However, after the 9th wicket falling off the last ball of the 45th over, stumps were called on Day 2 with the 116th edition being recorded as the 64th drawn game in their Battle of the Maroons Hill Country history.
Royal retains Mustangs Trophy in emphatic style
Pulindu Perera was the star performer of the match, picking a fifer in the 2nd innings and finishing with a match bag of 9 wickets.
Brief Scores:
Dharmaraja College, Kandy 114 (39) Isuru Pannala 25, Kenula Pihilianga 3/19, Amesh Rupasinghe 3/30, Abdul Hakam 3/31 & 213/7 (55.4) Nisala Abeyrathne 72*, Pulindu Perera 32, Thisaru Wanninayake 31, Amesh Rupasinghe 4/69
Kingswood College, Kandy 132 (51) Amesh Rupasinghe 66*, Abdul Hakam 28, Pulindu Perera 4/43 & 153/9 (45) Kavija Gamage 66, Adhil Sheriff 36, Barana Rathnayake 18, Pulindu Perera 5/56
Match Drawn
