Chris Dhambarage
COLOMBO S. Thomas’ College consolidated their position to reach a healthy 173 for two wickets at tea on the opening day of the 145th Battle of the Blues Inter-School Big Match against the traditional rivals Royal College at the SSC Grounds in Maitland Place today.
After a steady start to their innings, the Thomians built up on a fine opening stand between Sadev Soysa and Senadhi Bulankulame after Royal had won the toss and elected to field first.
But Royal’s decision to field first backfired as the Thomian openers set about their task in style with Soysa leading the way with a solid half century.
The feature of their batting was that both did not hit a single boundary, but they rotated the strike always with some quick singles and superb running between the wickets.
Soysa was the more aggressive as he went on to hit a splendid 83 from 134 deliveries inclusive of 11 boundaries.
Earlier, Senadhi Bulankulame was dismissed for a painstaking 13 runs from 46 deliveries but Skipper Mahith Perera and Dineth Gunawardena kept the pressure on their opponents through a solid batting display.
Royal opened the bowling with Ranuka Malaviarachchi and Dinura Senaratne, but both failed to produce any results during the first 10 overs of the game.
Royal immediately decided to use their third bowler as Bulan Weerathunga came into the attack after 11 overs of play.
But it was Skipper Sineth Jayawardena who got the much-needed breakthrough for Royal when he had the scalp of Bulankulame, who was well caught by Rehan Peiris.
The Thomian openers were cautious inside the first hour of play as they looked to build on this opening stand before accelerating the scoring rate during the final session.
