- 145th Battle of the Blues ends in drabbest of draws (Day 3) – Live from Brumbies Tent
The 145th Battle of the Blues will be recorded as arguably one of the drabbest of draws ever played out in its history, as the Thomians were found guilty of opting to chase personal milestones rather than forcing a result, when the third and final day of their big match cricket encounter against Royal College ended at the SSC ground in Colombo on Saturday.
With the onus on them to force a result, S. Thomas’ College went into a surprise defensive mode and chose to end the match as a stalemate, much to the relief of the Royal College cricketers whom they had to beat in regaining the coveted D.S.Senanayake Shield that they had lost last year.
Not many will be able to sympathize with the Thomians for their sedated approach in the second innings after Royal closed their first innings at 278 for 9 after being 234 for 7 overnight.
Having dominated the Royal bowlers on the first day to make 297, the Thomians virtually pitched up camp on the pitch with an extremely go-slow approach and made just 60 runs while consuming as many as 30 overs in the session between lunch and tea.
Royal had a well-set field, but the Thomians never made any effort to play positively and at one stage needed as many as 150 balls just to make 25 runs with skipper Mahith Perera and Dineth Gunewardena at the crease.
There was no difference between Gunawardana and Perera, as the former at one stage of his stay at the crease faced 150 deliveries in making 32 runs. He eventually went on to make 74 off 210 balls faced after surviving a stumping when on 31 demonstrating as to what extent the Thomians played safe.
It was also during this run of play that the Royal skipper Jayawardena sent down 21 overs by himself giving away just 20 runs, as the Thomian batting duo continued to exhibit the perfect art of the forward defense ball after ball.
It was at this stage that even the Papare television commentators were lost for words and were left with nothing much to comment on the proceedings happening out there in the middle.
Gunawardana in the process reached a personal milestone when he joined a select band of batters in the history of the Battle of the Blues to make twin half centuries in the series, after he had posted 50 in the first innings. He nevertheless used up a total of 324 balls (56 overs) in the entire game himself in achieving this personal record.
Thomian skipper Mahith Perera was also guilty of killing off any prospects of an interesting finish when at one stage he himself faced 100 balls to score scored just 24 runs.
The Thomian skipper Perera went into the match brimming with confidence after hammering three hundreds in the season and he was nowhere near expectations. Statistically Mahith had nothing to brag about, as in five previous appearances at the crease against Royal his highest score had been 36 and he painfully reached his first 50 in the series that came off 141 balls
Eventually, the Thomians who went to tea at 97 for 2 after consuming as much as 54 overs, ended day three and the match on a total of 229 for 4 after consuming as many as 86 overs.
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe an old boy of Royal College, whilst watching the match at the grounds jokingly described the ongoing proceedings best, when he said “The Thomians managed to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory.”
Finally, one of the biggest yawns was let out by many spectators and ardent Royal Thomian big match followers alike, when the match came to an end.
You can’t fault them, as a total of 276. 4 overs were bowled under perfect weather conditions during the entire three days for the loss of only 23 wickets. The Thomian batters were guilty of being softly dismissed much against the run of play in the first innings, whilst the Royalist threw away their wickets due to poor shot selection.
Overall, the pitch also held its own and as expected ended up being the perfect batting strip where Gamini Perera the former Royalist cricketer during the pitch report said “It is a belter of a pitch. I could sleep on this pitch all day.”
This encounter, the ‘145th Battle of the Blues’ will now be best remembered as the ‘145th Battle of the Yawn’, a match that the Thomians played never to win.
The coveted D.S.Senanayake Shield was handed over to both skippers at the post-match awards presentation by virtue of the match ending in a draw.
However, the shield was eventually handed over to the Royal skipper Sineth Jayawardena and his delighted team of cricketers who took it away to be housed at Reid Avenue for yet another year.
Award Winners
Player of the Match – Sineth Jayawardene (Royal College)
Best Batter – Sadev Soysa (S. Thomas’ College)
Best Bowler – Ashen Perera (S. Thomas’ College)
Best Fielder – Ashen Perera (S. Thomas’ College)
Scores
STC 1st Innings 297 all out in 88.2 overs (Sadev Soyza 83, Dineth Gunawardena 50, Ramiru Perera 4 for 55, Sineth Jayawardena 4 for 68)
RC 1st Innings 278 for 9 declared in 102.2 overs (Sineth Jayawardena 92, Nethwin Dharmaratne 41, Ovina Ambanpola 36, Dinura Senarate 33, Ashen Perera 5 for 74, Darien Marlon Diego 2 for 40)
STC 2nd Innings 229 for 4 in 86 overs (Dineth Gunawardena 74, Mahith Perera 63, Ramiru Perera 2 for 87)
