Royal College won the 134th Battle of the Blues, after defeating the Thomians by 7 wickets in a brilliant team effort by the boys from Reid Avenue.
After lunch, the Royalists still had to take five thomian wickets, having dispatched danger men Javed Bongso and Devin Jayasinghe back into the pavilion. Chamika Karunaratne and Hashen Ramanayake had share four wickets among each other and look to be the most dangerous bowlers for Royal.
The session after lunch began very badly for the Thomians who lost the wicket of Helakamal Nanyakkara early on with Poorna Aluthge providing the break through for the Royalist. Sashen de Mel had a huge task as the most senior batsman in the side to take the Thomians through danger. Madushan Ravichndrakumar failed to use his experience as he got out cheaply as the Thomians were reeling at 88 for 7. The rest of the Thomian batting comprising of Ravindu Thilakarathne, S. Wijesinghe and I. Kularathne only managed to assists Sanesh De Mel to add another 34 runs to the total. Sanesh de Mel will be very disappointed with himself for not completing his half century, as he ran out of partners. Kularathne the last batsman to fall was dismissed when the Thomians were on 132, with De Mel on 49 runs.
The Royalists had a meager target of just 65 runs to score with over 45 overs left in the day. The boys from Reid Avenue lost three wickets in the process, but however they got to 66 runs in 10.5 overs going at a run rate of 6 runs per over. Milan Abeysekara scored the winning boundary for the Royalists as the SSC erupted in huge cheers with most of the Royal spectators rushing into the crowd to great their heroes.
Royal College wins back the D.S. Senanayake Shield after a lapse of 6 years.
Await Detailed Match Report.
Match Summary
S. Thomas’ College 1st Innings – 193 all out in 73.2 overs
(Devin Jayasinghe 74, R. Thilakarathne 26*, Helakamal Nanayakkara 24, Chamika Karunarathne 5/55, Poorna Aluthge 2/22)
Royal College 1st Innings – 260 for 5 wickets dec. in 63 overs
(Raonaka Ahangama 40, Sampath De Silva 64,Hashen Ramanayake 43, Milan Abeysekara 50*, I. Kularatne 2/44, Helakamal Nanayakkara 1/28)
S. Thomas’ College 2nd Innings – 132 all out in 58.5 overs
(Sanesh De Mel 49*, Deelaka Herath 25, Javed Bongso 19, Hashen Ramanayake 2/36, Chamika Karunarathne 4/32)
Royal College 1st Innings – 66 for 3 wickets in 10.5 overs
