Bowlers excel as wickets fall on Day 1 of Battle of the Blues

Bowlers excelled on Day 1 of the Battle of the Blues yesterday at the SSC as 12 wickets fell on a low scoring contest pointing to a likely result.

Royal who won the toss put S. Thomas’ to bat first and succeeded to restrict the school by the beach to 166 for loss of nine wickets. After a sporty declaration, S. Thomas made early inroads to Royal batting line up snapping three wickets when play stopped due to bad light with the score at 33 runs.  

All three Royal wickets were claimed by left-arm paceman Kalana Perera who ended the day with 3 for 16 off 6 overs.

Earlier on S. Thomas struggled against some tight bowling by Royal. Spinner Manula Perera was most impressive with 5 for 43. Thomian wicket-keeper Sithara Hapuhinna was the highest scorer with 34 followed by Manthila Wijeratne who made 24. 

Chief Scores: S. Thomas’ College 166 for 9 wickets (64.3) declared (Sithara Hapuhinnda 34, Manthila Wijeratne 24, Dulith Gunaratne 16, Shalin de Mel 15, Kishan Munasinghe 13, Kalana Perera 13, Maneesha Rupasinghe 13, Dellon Peiris 12, Manula Perera 5/43)

Royal College 33 for 3 wickets (15) at stupms Day 1 (Kavindu Madarasinghe 13n.o, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 4n.o, Kalana Perera 3/16)