Royal in complete command despite Akash’s four wickets

144th Battle of the Blues  

Royal took firm control of the 144th Battle of the Blues as they restricted their arch-rivals S. Thomas’ to 153 runs in reply to their 326 for eight wickets declared on day two of the Big Match at the SSC on Friday.

In their second essay, skipper Dasis Manchanayake who scored a century in the first innings backed that up with a half-century and Ramiru Perera, the other centurion of the first innings scored an unbeaten 46 runs as Royal posted 168 for four wickets at stumps, a lead of 341 runs.

For S. Thomas’, speedster Akash Fernando took all four wickets to fall in the Royal second innings. He was also the pick of the bowlers in the first innings for S. Thomas.

Declaring their first innings on the overnight total under clear skies, Royal saw their speedsters, namely Bulan Weeratunga, Ranuka Malaviarachchi and Sandesh Ramanayake taking control of the proceedings when they accounted for the first three wickets for 45 runs in the morning.

With wickets falling at regular intervals, open bat Senadhi Bulankulama’s 105-ball 40 runs, Nathan Caldera’s 20 and Mahith Perera’s 43-ball 30 runs were the only notable contributions for the Thomians.