Rain hampers proceedings as Blues Battle marooned
Rain hampered proceedings of the 136th Battle of the Blues encounter between traditional rivals Royal and S. Thomas’ for the second successive day at the SSC ground which saw the match ending in a tame draw.
Nipun Gamage of S. Thomas’ takes a quick run. He went on to make 48. - Picture by Amila Gamage.
The second days saw the proceedings being hampered on two occasions with over 90 minutes of play being disrupted in the first session and then the two teams came back into the field at 3.00 p.m. but play was possible for ten minutes as another downfall put the issue beyond getting on with the game.
During the stoppage on day two the Thomians resuming on their day one score of 50 for no loss were strongly placed on 182 for 1 with the openers Yohan Mendis and Ravindu Sasanka adding a further 59 runs before they were separated with Yohan’s dismissal having made a 51.
Later Ravindu joined by Nipun Gamage further frustrated the Royal bowlers and after the pair having added 73 runs for the second wicket the umpires were forced to call off the game for the day with the Thomians well placed on 182 for 1.
There was doubt that a full day of play was possible on the final day as the sky was gloomy and the rain was expected at any moment. However the overnight Thomian pair of Ravindu and Nipun walked into the crease and the way they were approaching the game it seemed that they had the green light to go for quick runs.
The pair made steady progress as they began accumulating runs at will and having added a further 28 runs and also associating themselves in a century stand they went for a risky single but Nipun failed to reach the crease and was unfortunate to miss out on a half ton by two runs.
Ravindu did not last long even though he added 21 runs for the third wicket with Chenutha Wickramasinghe as he made the same blunder as Nipun and he too was unfortunate to miss out on a ton by five runs, getting himself out for 95. The Thomians looking forward to accelerate their run only succeeded in losing wickets at regular intervals. They lost four quick wickets for the addition of 46 runs and the declaration on 270 for 7 was made with the dismissal of Sachitha Jayatileke.
Royal coming into bat the second time lost an early wicket – that of Hasitha Samarasinghe in the first over before any scoring was done. They were able to face only eight overs before the lunch break and went in with score on 19 for 1. A heavy downpour thereafter which began at 12.13 p.m. saw the outfield being filled with water which made any further play impossible as the umpires officially decided to call off the match at 2.55 p.m.
