by Jatila Karawita
A team with an ideal blend of experience and youth and having gone through a long season with mixed fortunes is Isipatana M V.

Come Friday they will go with a positive frame of mind to force a result when they lock-horns with arch rivals Thurstain College in their annual 39th big match at SSC grounds.

Isipatana M V, led by lanky left hander and number three batsman Rohan De Silva, did extreamly well in 13 matches out of 14 games played during the season. Their only reversal was experienced in their match against D S Senanayake M V to whom they went down by a margin of an innings and four runs.

The team’s forte this season has been their bowling backed up by an equally efficient fielding display. The team also boasts of having restricted the much fancied Royal batting to a paltry score of 98 runs.

Though Isipatana has not enjoyed a great deal of success in terms of forcing any outright wins they have been able to lift their game in both batting and bowling and teamwork. There performance this season has tagged them favourites against arch-rivals Thurstan.

Skipper and stylish left hander Rohan De Silva holds the key to the ‘Patan’ batting with over 650 runs being accumulated throughout the season.

A fourth year player lanky De Silva has already claimed over 35 wickets with his right arm medium fast bowling which also adds further credence to his talents as a wonderful allrounder.

Besides skipper Rohan De Silva Vice Captain Oshadee Nawaragodagedera is their other most prominent player in the side with all round skills.

Oshadee who is a third year coloursman is the leading wicket taker in the team’s ranks having captured over 40 wickets with his right arm off spinners.

He also became the first centurion of the side hammering a creditable century against Dharmapala M V Pannipitiya. What makes this achievement even more great is the fact that he went into bat after the fall of the eighth wicket.

Nawaragodagedera has opened the batting for his alma-mater in the latter stages of the on-going season.

The other batsmen whom the Isipatana supporters could lay their faith on to bolster their batting are Chanuka Perera, Saman Nishantha, Chaminda Prasad, wicket keeper Channa Lewke, Sameer Roshan and Rashiru Thotamuna.

Vice captain Oshadee will be ably assisted by his co-opener Saman Nishantha who has scored over 350 runs. If Oshadee and Nishantha can deliver the goods as expected Isipatana will be able to post a challenging first innings total against a below-par bowling attack of Thurstain College.

Their bowling will be spearheaded by Saranga Perera who opens the attack with his right arm fast medium bowling. He has bagged over 30 wickets while scoring over 300 runs as a hard-hitting late order batsman.

Sharing the new ball with Saranga Perera will be fresher and right arm ‘pacie’ Damith Dushantha who has improved with each game he has played.

This pace duo will also receive added support from skipper Rohan De Silva who has also been constantly among the wickets.

Patan’s cutting edge to the attack will be provided by their spin attack notably spearheaded by deputy skipper and right arm off spinner Oshadee Nawaragodagedera who is among the wickets with over 40 scalps.

Besides Oshadee their spin attack will revolve around freshers right arm off spinners Amal Buddhika, Anushka Bandara and Nawaf Munaver who bowls right arm leg spinners.

Airing his views to ‘The Island’ on the eve of the big match against arch-foes Thurstain team coach and former skipper Chethaka Perera formerly Rajkumar said that his side will go with a positive frame of mind to play aggressive cricket with the final aim of forcing a outright win.

" In my view our overall performances has been quite impressive though we slipped in the odd game played against D.Senanyake.

Most importantly our boys have improved tremendously during the latter stages of the season and I hope they could continue in this vein so that we will be able to go for the kill when it matters most" said a confident Perera . Asked which players have impressed him he was not keen on naming any players individually but stated that the overall performances of skipper Rohan De Silva and his deputy Oshadee Nawaragodagedera were such that they will be the two players who will hold the key to any chances of Isipatana getting the better of their big match opponents from Colombo seven.

Isipatana team is managed by Master in charge D N Gurudeniya.