Thomians Fight Back

S. Thomas’ College came back strongly at the close of day two in their 131st Battle of the Blues against Royal College played at the SSC Grounds in Colombo.
The Thomians who resumed from their first innings overnight score of 20 for 1 in reply to Royal’s first innings score of 283 for 9 declared ended the day making a formidable 314 all out.
Going into bat for the second time Royal played out the four overs left for the day making 20 runs for no loss.
For the Thomians Pasan Wijewardena and Nuwan Kavinda were outstanding, putting on a valuable 159 runs for the third wicket.
Wijewardena who made a sedate 99 from 193 balls which included 13 boundaries was unlucky to miss out on a well earned century when Rajapakse held on to a catch off Thantrigoda with one run required for the magical figure. Kavinda made 86 in 111 balls inclusive of nine boundaries and two sixes.
The pair came together when skipper Dinesh Walpita was dismissed just seven overs into the day.
Another partnership of 60 runs for the fifth wicket between Ashen Fernando and Sachin Peiris further consolidated the Thomian innings.
The Thomians lost the last four wickets for just 20 runs with Rajapakse and Thantrigoda sharing eight wickets between them and Khan taking two.
Unless something dramatic happens on the final day a draw seems inevitable.
Scoreboard
Royal 1st
innings
283 for 9
declared in
74 overs
(Bhanuka Rajapakse 68, Chalaka Bogoda 47, Waruna Dissanayake 45,

S. Thomas’ 1st innings (20/1 overnight)
Total: all out 314 (99.2 overs)
Ran Khan 1

Royal 2nd innings
Kithruwan Withanage not out 12
Ramith Rambukwella not out 06
Extras 02
Total: for no loss 20 (4 overs)