Bawantha, Anju put Thurstan on top
Bawantha Jayasinghe and Anju Karunanayake helped Thurstan College to come on top against their traditional rivals Isipathana College on day one of the 56th annual Battle of the Brothers Big Match which began at the SSC Grounds in Maitland Place yesterday.
Right-arm pacie Bawantha’s fivewicket haul supported by Skipper Sandaru Dias enabled Thurstan to restrict Isipathana for 168 runs.
Anju’s 80-ball knock of 70 that comprised eight boundaries helped Thurstan in reply to end day one in a steady position of 154 for five in their first innings. Isipathana invited to take first lease of the wicket made steady progress with the openers Mandeepa Gunasekera and Thevindu Dickwella playing with confidence.
Skipper Sandaru made the breakthrough dismissing Mandeepa with Isipathana’s score on 30.
Thevindu and Ravindu Ratnayake added 38 runs for the second wicket before Thevindu became Bawantha’s first victim having made 40 runs.
From thereon, Isipathana fell back as they lost three quick wickets for the addition of 47 runs and collapsed to 115 for five.
Savindu Uthsara and Saveen Dantha began a recovery act with the pair playing with caution. The late order batting failed to make any impression as Bawantha and Skipper Sandaru shared the remaining four wickets.
Thurstan in their turn did not have things easy as they suffered a setback losing their openers Yohan Liyanage and Jayavihan Mahavithanage cheaply within the space of one over with the score at 20.
However, top scorer Anju came to the rescue of Thurstan when he associated in three brief but valuable partnerships.
First, he put on 39 runs for the third wicket with Avishka Kaushalya and it was followed by a 47-run stand for the fourth wicket with Nimesh Perera and another 48-run stand for the fifth-wicket with Ranesh Silva.