Charith (67) puts Thurstan in commanding position

Chris DHAMBARAGE

CRICKET: Former skipper Charith Wickremaratne hit a top score of 67 as Thurstan College put themselves in a commanding position on the opening day of their 44th annual inter school Big Match against the traditional rivals Isipatana College which began at the SSC grounds, Maitland Place yesterday.

The elegant right hand middle order batsman played the sheet anchor role to help the Thurstanites declare their first innings with an impressive 272 for 8 having been put into bat on a good batting track.

Wickremaratne played probably his best innings for the current season as he occupied the crease for 207 minutes while stroking eight boundaries.

He walked into the crease at a vital stage after they had lost the more consistent Hasitha Perera for just 14 runs with only 19 runs on the board.

However Wickremaratne joined Geeth Kumara and the pair steadied the innings through some intelligent batting. Kumara of course was more aggressive and his first three scoring shots came through boundaries.

He counter attacked quite successfully and laid the foundation for a good first innings total.

Even then Kumara simply threw his wicket away shortly before the lunch break when he was well set for a half century having stroked nine boundaries.

His second wicket partnership together with Charith Wickremaratne was worth 85 runs and that really set the pace for Thurstan’s first innings total.

Their effort with the bat had great significance as they fell short by just three runs from erasing the previous highest second wicket partnership of 88 runs for Thurstan College set by the pair of Hemantha Boteju (62) and Amila Liyanarachchi (36) way back in 1995.

The Thurstanites of course suffered a middle order collapse and lost a couple of quick wickets in their attempt to accelerate the scoring rate.

But Charith Perera batting at number eight produced a superb late rally scoring 41 useful runs before declaring at a formidable 272 for 8.

Isipatana College in reply lost both openers before Maneesha Ayomal came into their rescue with an unbeaten 22 as they finished on 44 for 2 still needing 129 runs to avert the follow on mark.

THURSTAN 1ST INNINGS 

Hasith Perera b Perera 				 14
Charith Wickramaratne c de Silva
b Fernando					 67
Geeth Kumara c de Silva b Jayasinghe 		 43
Buddhi Samarawickrama c Jayasinghe 
b Fernando 					 25
Umesh Karunaratne lbw Fernando 			 10
Achala Ramanayake c de Silva
b Deshapriya 					 23
Tiral Jeramiah st de Silva b Jayasinghe 	 24
Charith Perera c Fernando b Jayasinghe 		 41
Shalaka Rangajeewa not out 			  8
Ravindra Wijeratne not out 			  0
Extras (9lb, 2w, 6nb) 				 17
TOTAL (for 8 wickets decl) 			272
   
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-19, 2-104, 3-165,
		 4-166, 5-179, 6-205,
		 7-259, 8-266.
Did not bat Rishi Ukwatta
BOWLING:	Perera 9-0-65-1, Amarasinghe 16-6-38-0, Ayomal 3-1-8-0,
 		Fernando 15-2-64-3, Ratnayaka 4-2-4-0, Deshapriya 17-4-55-1,
 		Jayasinghe 1-2-38-3.


ISIPATANA 1ST INNINGS 

Visuddhi Kaluwitharana b Karunaratne 		  1
Chirantha de Silva c Wijeratne b Wickramaratne    0
Maneesha Ayomal not out 			 22
Lilan Fernando not out 				  3
Extras (9b, 1lb, 1n, 7w) 			 18
TOTAL for 2 wickets 				 44

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-8, 2-23.
BOWLING:	 Rangajeewa 3-1-7-0, Wickramaratne 4-2-9-1, Ukwatta 5-4-1-0,
		 Karunaratne 8-3-10-1, Wijeratne 4-3-1-0, Samarawickrama 3-0-3-0,
		 Kumara 2-0-1-0