St. Thomas’ Take First Innings Honours Against Royal
- 132nd ‘Battle of the Blues’
The two captains Chamod Pathirana (STC)and Ramith Rambukwella (Royal)
Half centuries from skipper Chamod Pathirana(63), Kavindu Perera (51) and Madushan Ravichandrakumar (69) and some stout resistance from their tailenders enabled S. Thomas’ to reach 323 all out in reply to Royal’s first innings of 276/9 on day two of the 132nd Battle of the Blues encounter played at the SSC grounds.
Resuming from their overnight score of 65 for 3, the Thomians lost key batsman Nuwan Kavinda with the addition of only five runs. However skipper Pathirana then joined Perera in a fine stand of 113 runs for the fifth wicket to wrest the initiative.
The dismissal of Perera triggered a minor collapse and the Thomians slid to 194 for 7 shortly after lunch. St Thomas’ number nine Madushan Ravichandrakumar turned unlikely hero with the bat with a top score of 69 and was associated with two crucial partnerships to help his side pass the Royal total and build a handy lead. Ravichandrakumar added 59 for the eighth wicket with Neomal Wickremasekera (27) and then combined with Umesh Fernando (33) to add a further 57 runs for the ninth wicket.
Skipper Ramith Rambukwella was the pick of the Royal bowlers with figures of four for 54.
Royal in their second innings reached 99 for 1 – a lead of 52, with Rambukwella unbeaten on 53.
SCOREBOARD
Royal first inning 276/9 declared (Ramith Rambukwella 83, Bhanuka Rajapakse 55, Waruna Dissanayake 42, Imal Liyanage 27, Supun Subasinghe 19: Chamod Pathirana 5 for 101, Madushan Ravichandrakumar 4 for 50)
S. Thomas’ first inning 323 (Madushan Ravichandrakumar 69, Chamod Pathirana 63, Kavindu Perera 51, Ramith Rambukwella 4 for 54)
Royal second innings 99/1 ( Ramith Rambukwella 53*)
