Trinity College Kandy secured a record five wicket victory with over 130 balls to spare in their 33rd limited over encounter which was concluded this evening at the Asgiriya Stadium.
The Asgiriya Stadium was all brushed up for the 33rd encounter between the Lions and the Eagles this year with the speciality being that it was the first occasion that the white ball was used during play and colored kits were used by both teams. After last week’s rain favored Big Match encounter, both fans of St. Anthony’s and Trinity flooded the stadium with the intention of walking out with a result this time around.
The Antonian skipper Sachin Bulathisinghala in winning the toss opted to bat first early in the morning with hopes high in recording a total of over 200 at the end of 50 overs. Their intentions were high but were short-lived after the gigantic Amrith Sri Mahan opened the bowling. Building on the success last week, he was one the main personnel which the Antonians feared much. He indeed lived up to the Antonians view point on him as from the very first over he was causing trouble to the batsmen.
To the dismay of the Antonians gathered, Sri Mahan was unstoppable. He went on to tear apart the Eagles batting lineup and by the end of the 12th over of play, the Antonians were 41 for 6 and in very deep trouble. The top three batsmen of the Antonian cricket lineup had to head out to the stands without scoring a single run.
When the Antonians were searching for ends to meet in the middle of the field when things were not going their way at all, it was Dilanka Panditharatna who came in to the field as the 4th batsman who battled out the Trinity bowling department under immense pressure for the 7th wicket. Some resistant batting was seen by the Antonian stalwart Panditharatna who was shouldering his team’s battle with his skipper Sachin Bulathsinghala.
Panditharatna ended up with stats of 35 runs which came off 108 balls which reflects the role he played during the middle overs of play on the field. It was his effort which took the visitor’s score to the eighties giving much to cheer for the lads in the Antonians stand who had lost faith early in the day.
The pitch seem to benefit spinners as it always had been throughout the past, but Amrith Sri Mahan had a different iteration on the pitch. Having already picked up three earlier, he went on to bring back the jive to the Trinitians and took the breakthrough wicket of Panditharatna when the Antonian score stood at 87.
That was the final break the Lions needed to wrap things up as the next few wickets fell in the lapse of five runs as they were all out for 92 runs. The home team dominated the first session of play with Sri Mahan picking up five wickets and bowling out the Antonians for 92 runs. Spinner Charith Sudaraka picked three wickets in his 7 overs while Wickremanayaka and Palihawadana picked a wicket each.
Everyone back in the stands had already chosen their winner for the day after the end of the first innings but matters weren’t settled as yet. People expected the match to wind up in an hour’s time but the Antonians as always are a sector who would never give up their game even at the last dying moment.
Coming into bat chasing the target of 93 runs, the first man to head back to the dressing room without a single run scored was last week’s hero Bhagya Palihawadena. The next couple Ron Chandragupta and Rajitha Jayathunga had to follow their predecessor but did so with some score next to their name. At a point where Trinity could have enjoying freedom, it turned out to a situation where they required to think wisely before attempting on playing storkes.
Changing tactically, the Trinity skipper sent out Lakshan Jayasinghe to accompany Lakshitha Dassanayaka at the lapse of the fourth wicket to make the Antonians work hard on the field. This indeed was helpful for the home team since on one end it was Lakshitha Dassanayake who accumulating the runs while Jayasinghe was holding his wicket.
Dassanayaka went on to score his half ton which indeed proved crucial in the Trinity innings which led to victory. His stand of 57 runs off 77 balls consisted of 6 fours and he was dismissed just before Trinity reached the victory mark.
Coming in to bat was skipper Dinuk Wickremanayaka who stroked the ball through the leg-side to bring home victory.
Trinity College recorded their 15th One Day victory and made it all even with the Antonian tally of 15. Skipper Dinuk Wickremanayaka was fortunate to have ended up his career taking home both the John Halangoda trophy as well as the Aluwihare memorial at the end of his career.
