Ananda fightback after early blues
A heroic knock of 58 by Ananda’s Lahiru Attanayake and two superb spells of medium fast bowling by Nalandians Suhanga Wijewardene and Chaminda Wijesinghe highlighted an evenly poised first day’s play of the 89th Battle of the Maroons cricket encounter at the SSC Grounds yesterday.
Nalanda paceman Suhanga Wijewardene wrecked the Ananda batting lineup - Pic by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi
Put into bat Ananda went into lunch with 67 for 6 wickets. While wickets falling around him Attanayake stood alone for Ananda countering the onslaught of Nalanda pacies. A batsman with the correct temperament waited for the loose ball to punish to the boundary with immense power. He was involved in a face saving 51-run partnership with Daminda Reshan who scored a steady 24 including four hits to the boundary.
Attanayake was the ninth batsman to be dismissed scoring an elegant 58 runs which came off in 112 deliveries with seven well timed fours and a huge hit over the ropes for six. No.10 batsman Chamika Gunasekera too lent good support to the top scorer adding an unbeaten 18 runs.
Nalanda pacemen Suhanga Wijewardene and Chaminda Wijesinghe were rewarded with 6 for 52 and 4 for 33 respectively bowling wicket to wicket in the batting friendly SSC wicket.
Ananda were dismissed for 141 in 55 overs.
In their turn Nalanda too started on the wrong foot losing the first wicket of opener Risiru de Silva for 1 in the second over. Avishka Perera (24) and left hander Dilhara Polgampola (23) put on 41 runs for the second wicket while two quick wickets falling at the total of 57.
In walked skipper Lakshita Manasinghe, the winner of Anura Ranasinghe Memorial Challenge Trophy for the season’s Best Allrounder, applied a positive approach in searching for quick runs.
The elegant left hander faced 56 balls and despatched the red cherry to the boundary on five occasions to be unbeaten on 32 at the close. Had the earlier Nalanda batsmen followed the approach adopted by the skipper, Nalanda would have closed the day very much closer
Ananda captain too relied on his quick bowlers Dineth Nissanka (1 for 15) and Shamal Hirushan (2 for 24) to trouble the Nalanda front line. Nalanda were 107 for the loss of 5 wickets when play was called off ten minutes before the close.
The match will be continued today.
SCOREBOARD
Ananda first innings
Kanishka Ranthilakage ct. A. Perera b Wijesinghe 10 Kavindu Gimhan ct. Wijewardene b Wijesinghe 9 Dushan Hettige b Wijewardene 7
Kamesh Nirmal lbw b Wijewardene 8
Asel Sigera ct. A. Perera b Wijesinghe 0
Lahiru Attanayake not out 24
Shamal Hirushan lbw b Wijesinghe 1
Daminda Reshan b Wijewardene 24
Dishan Vishwajith lbw b Wijewardene 0
Chamika Gunasekera not out 18
Dineth Nissanka c A. Perera b Wijewardene 0
Extras: (3lb, 1b, 2w) 6
Total (All out in 55 overs) 141
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-28, 3-32, 4-32, 5-36, 6-58, 7-109, 8-109, 9-141
Bowling: Suhanga Wijewardene 16-2-52-6, Chaminda Wijesinghe 15-6-33-4, Kalana Kasthuriarachchi 3-1-6-0, Lakshitha Manasinghe 4-3-4-0, Kavish Madurapperuma 9-2-25-0, Raveen De Silva 2-0-12-0, Mahima Weerakoon 4-3-2-0
Nalanda first innings
Avishka Perera c. D. Hettige b Vishwajith 24
Risiru de Silva c. Vishvajith b Nissanka 1
Dilhara Polgampola b Hirushan 23
Lakshitha Manasinghe not out 32
Suhanga Wijewardene lbw b Hirushan 0
Chaminda Wijesinghe c Gimhana b Vishvjith 18
Ravin de Silva not out 4
Extras (1lb, 1b) 2
Total (For 5 wickets in 36 overs) 107
Fall of Wickets: 1-2, 2-43, 3-57, 4-57, 5-100
Bowling: Dineth Nissanka 6-2-15-1, Shamal Hirushan 11-2-24-2, Chamika Gunasekera 4-1-17-0,
Dushan Hettige 3-0-13-0, Gishan Vishvajith 7-3-17-2, Asel Sigera 4-0-10-0, Daminda Reshan 2-0-6-0