The most anticipated Hill-Capital sojourn, the 97th Battle of the Blues which is played between the elite Trinity College Kandy and St. Anthony’s College Katugastota did not provide the typical cricketing experience to its enthusiastic fans as the rain gods decided to intervene in the process.
Back at the Katugastota Oval, days play was called to cease with only 27 overs played leaving the hosts at 56 runs for the loss of four wickets.
Coming in to bat in the morning, the Antonians were with a mindset of reaching greater heights. But their hopes did not last long as the Trinity pacemen started their experiments on the Antonian top order. Wickets kept falling at regular intervals and the by the end of the 12th over of play the Antonians were 28 for the loss of three wickets.
At this point, it was indeed a victory for the Trinity bowling department as they were able to restrict the Antonian batsmen from opting to go for the big ones. Play ended for session one with the Eagles on 56 runs for 4 wickets. For the Antonians it was Damithra Panditaratna who scored 15, Nimesha Gunasinge 12 and Kanishka Ukgalpitiya 11. The Trinity bowling department showed fruitful results during the overs that were bowled where Bhagya Palihawadana captured two wickets and Sri Mahan and Charith Sudaraka picked one wicket each.
Not much can be spoken of the cricketing action of the encounter which was only limited to a single session of play. Regular interfearence by the weather was witnessed after the lunch break and did not cease. Thus play was called off for the day with 60 overs of play remaining.
Play will restart tomorrow and the chances of winning are rare and a draw is most likely to happen. Play will resume at 9.45 at the Katugastota Oval.
