15 wickets rattle on day one of the ‘Battle of Maroons’

Nalanda’s Rangana Cooray bowls against Ananda. - Pic by Ranjith Perera

Runs came the hard way while 15 wickets rattled on the first day of the 82nd Battle of the Maroons as Ananda replied boldly with 102 for 5 after stumping their traditional rivals Nalanda for a paltry 104 at the SSC ground in Colombo yesterday.

The overnight downpours probably played a vital part in the morning on the first day as Nalanda maintained a weak run rate and were made to toil for their runs before being bowled out for a paltry 104 after being put into bat first by Ananda.

Ananda were set to structure out a possible win after having their traditional rivals in tatters but right-arm seamer Rangana Cooray spoilt their ambitions. Cooray picked up 2 for 15 runs in quick sessions to put Ananda back on the defensive after bowling a tight spell.

The Ananda top order batsmen too had to pay the price for not being selective on their shots and were struggling at 88 for the loss of five wickets at one stage before skipper Geshan Wimaladharma (26) and his deputy Ruvinda Shamen (34 n.o.) put out a brave fightback.

The Nalandians followed a poor batting strategy only to lose their batsmen one after another as wickets fell at regular intervals.

They lost opener Charith Kumarasinghe for four runs and his partner Anjana Abeyratne attempted to form a steady partnership with skipper Prashan Wickramasinghe which was limited to 17 runs. Wickets tumbled to follow one after another soon after Nalanda lost top scorer Abeyratne (22) as the first victim of Perera.

A much longed recovery was never near the sights of the Nalandians with all-rounder Gayan Medawatte (18) showing some progress in the middle as they lost seven of their strike batsmen for a total of 91 runs. Eventually Nalanda were bundled out to the lowest total in the recent decade of the encounter. Leg-spinner Sachithra Perera (4/9) and paceman Sisuru Samarasinghe (3/21) ripped the Nalanda batting line up apart as favourites of this year’s encounter Ananda kept their winning hopes alive.

Nalanda coming into the annual big match as underdogs this year displayed a fitting performance to what they were tagged as left-arm leg-spinner Perera who became the first bowler to reach the milestone of 100 wickets expanded his tally up to 108 with yesterday’s four scalps. The match will continue today.