Blues Battle fizzles out to a boring draw
The 145th Battle of the Blues big match between traditional rivals Royal College and S. Thomas’ College fizzled out to a tame draw at the SSC ground in Colombo yesterday. When play ended, the Thomians were 229 for the loss of four wickets, batting for the second time. An inevitable draw was on the card on the final day’s play when play stopped for lunch with the Thomians on 37 for 1.
In the first session, Royal were replying to the Thomians total of 297, resuming from their overnight score of 234 for 7. The overnight pair Nethwin Dharmaratne and Bulan Weeratunga walked into the crease and added a further 25 runs before they were separated, with Weeratunga becoming the fifth victim of right-arm spinner Ashen Perera at 259.
Dharmaratne did not last long as he was dismissed after a brief stand of 18 runs for the ninth wicket with Ranuka Malaviarachchi, after which Royal declared at 278 for 9.
The innings of the two sides saw three half centuries scored. Sadev Soysa made 83 and Dineth Goonewardena hit 50 for the Thomians while Royal skipper Sineth Jayawardena was unfortunate to miss out on a ton by eight runs as he was dismissed for 92, Jayawardena came to the rescue of Royal by sharing a valuable 126-runs stand for the third wicket with Ovina Ambanpola.
The Thomians, with a slender lead of 19 runs, batted for the second time and lost an early wicket when the score was 11, before their top scorer in the first innings, Sadev Soysa, joined by Dineth Goonewardena, put on 49 runs for the second wicket.
The separation of the pair followed with Thomian skipper Mahith Perera joining Goonewardena as the pair put in stiff resistance as they put on a stand of 100 runs. They further frustrated the Royal bowlers and succeeded to put up the 150 runs on the board and with the addition of 14 more runs saw rightarm spinner Ramiru Perera making the breakthrough for Royal with the wicket of Goonewardena. He cracked 74 that included five boundaries and two sixes, and became the seventh Thomian to hit successive half centuries in a big match.
Skipper Perera did not last long as he fell victim to his counterpart Jayawardena having made 63 runs with five boundaries and a six. The fifth wicket pair of Thisen Eeheliyagoda and Nathan
Caldera took things under control and the duo held on till stumps and in the process negotiated just under 11 overs whilst sharing an unbroken 40 runs stand for the Thomians to end the day on 229 for 4.