Royal down Thomians to record convincing Mustangs trophy win

Royal cruised to a seven wickets victory over their arch-rivals S. Thomas’ as Uvindu Weerasekara and Rehan Peiris scored half centuries to seal the Mustangs Trophy victory with many overs to spare at the SSC ground on Friday.

Chasing a target of 166 runs to win, Weerasekara and Peiris put on a third wicket stand of 107 runs after Ovina Ambanpola and Anush Polonnowita were dismissed cheaply in the fifth over.

Peiris cracked seven fours and a six and remained unbeaten with skipper Dasis Manchanayake who scored 26 runs in 28 balls.  Weerasekara scored an aggressive half century with four fours and two sixes and played a crucial role in setting up the victory.

Earlier, deciding to bat first S. Thomas’ lost wickets at regular intervals as Bulan Weerathunga, Dasis Manchanayake and Sandesh Ramanayake took two wickets each.  Senadhi Bulankulame who opened batting prevented a sudden collapse by anchoring the middle order. He scored 66 runs facing as many as 134 balls and was the eight batsman out but his efforts found to be insufficient as Royal reached the target with 13 overs to spare.

Scores:  

S. Thomas’ 165 all out in 48.2 overs (Senadhi Bulankulame 66, Mahith Perera 28;

Bulan Weerathunga 2/24, Dasis Manchanayake 2/25, Sandesh Ramanayake 2/34) 

Royal 166 for 3 in 37 overs (Uvindu Weerasekara 50, Rehan Peiris 69n.o., Dasis Manchanayake 26n.o.)