79th Battle of the Maroons
A tame draw at SSC

Five half-centuries scored, the third time it happened in the series, was the highlight as the 79th Battle of the Maroons Big Match between Ananda College and Nalanda College ended in a tame draw at the SSC Ground on Sunday.

Dubbed a family battle, for the presence of two brothers in opposing sides and the presence of country’s first Test Captain Bandula Warnapura’s son Madawa as Nalanda captain and the presence of coach and son in the same side, the Battle of the Maroons 2008 would have been remembered only for those reasons if not for the five half-centuries scored over two days.

In reply to Ananda’s 256 which was powered by an unbeaten 85 by Udara Peiris and 55 from Dinesh Chandimal, Nalanda reached 231 for 7 declared in 56.5 overs as Dilshan Munaweera, Madawa Warnapura and Nipun Karunanayake scored half tons. It was the third time in the series that five half-centuries were scored in the match.

Last time that happened was in 1988 when the Anandians scored four half tons with the Nalandians managing just one. Incidentally, Chaminda Handunettige, who skippered Nalanda that year, scored the only half ton for them and he is the coach of the Ananda team this year.

Ananda commencing their second innings with a lead of just 25 runs were 143 for two wickets when bad light ended play one hour earlier schedule.

Commencing the day with the overnight score of 46 for no wicket Nalanda dominated the second morning reaching 231 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 56.5 overs. A true to form Dilshan Munaweera compiling a first wicket stand of 64 runs with Primosh Perera and making a run a ball 58 runs inclusive of ten fours provided Nalanda a good start. Skipper Madawa Warnapura then joined his deputy Ashan Priyanjan for a 63 run stand for the third wicket. While Warnapura stayed on to complete a slowly but steadily made half ton, Priyanjan departed for 30 after being stumped by Chandimal off the bowling of Udara Peiris. Before being dismissed for 30, Priyanjan had a brief encounter with his brother Matheesha Rasuwan. He cautiously negotiated his brother, only picking up singles, knowing that the leg-spinner was aiming to take sweet avenge for his dismissal in the first innings. Rasuwan became a victim to spinner Dilshan Munaweera when he was caught by his brother Priyanjan to be out for six runs after toiling hard facing 41 deliveries to score his six runs.

Warnapura playing in his last big match made sure that he include his name in the big match record books by scoring a half ton. Warnapura faced 99 deliveries and scored seven fours in his half ton. Left hander Nipun Karunanayake who joined Warnapura and Chetan de Silva for brief 34 and 38 run partnerships for fourth and fifth wickets respectively, hit ten fours in his half ton.

In their second innings, Ananda made 143 for two wickets at close. Dinesh Chandimal who was heading for back to back half tons was given lbw to Supun Narangoda when he was on 45. Chandimal posted a first wicket stand of 78 runs with Praboda Seneviratne. The first day’s hero Urada Peiris was unbeaten on 40 runs with his skipper Ranganath Wijetunga (20 n.o).

In a match dominated by the batsmen, Supun Narangoda the son of Nalanda coach Leslie Narangoda, waited till the dying stages of the match to justify his selection accounting for the two wickets to fall in the Ananda’s second innings.

It was a memorable match for Udara Peiris as he remained unbeaten on both innings and picked up two wickets. Peiris who anchored Ananda innings with an unbeaten 85 runs laced with seven fours and one six in the first innings won the Man of the Match award. Incidentally, three Udaras played for Ananda while Udara Jayasundara scored just eight runs and gave away five runs bowling one over, Udara Sampath had a disappointing debut as he got out for a duck.

Meanwhile there were two D. Jayasinghes playing for the two sides whose names were differentiated by a single vowel. Coincidentally both were dismissed for ducks and both were given lbw. Anandian Dinuka Jayasinghe had a duck in the first innings but compensated for his batting failure picking up the prize wickets of Nalanda openers. Nalandian Dinuk Jayasinghe picked up the wicket of opposition captain Ranganath Wijetunga, who couldn’t score a single run. Ironically he had a century to his credit in the lead up to the Big Match.

U. Jayasundara c C. de Silva b

C.Wickramasinghe 08

D. Chandimal b Attapattu 55

P. Seneviratne B Attapattu 20

R. Wijetunga c Karunanayake b Jayasinghe 17

U. Peiris not out 85

M. Rasuwan c Priyanjan b Munaweera 06

S. Wijesuriya c Priyanjan b Munaweera 10

I. Wickramasinghe ct & b Priyanjan 40

U. Sampath lbw Priyanjan 00

D. Jayasinghe lbw Perera 00

R. Balasuriya lbw C. Wickramasinghe 00

Extras (4b, 5lb, 6n) 15

Overs 82.3 in 299 minutes

Fall of Wickets: 1-23, 2-86, 3-89, 4-112, 5-135, 6-168, 7-243, 8-243, 9-244.

Bowling: Wickramasinghe 7.3-2-25-2(3n), Priyanjan 12-1-41-2, Attapattu 22-7-46-2, Narangoda 5-0-23-0, Munaweera 14-1-43-2(1n), Jayasinghe 12-4-26-1, Karunanayake 4-1-15-0(2n), Warnapura 3-0-23-0, Perera 3-0-5-1

D. Munaweera lbw Jayasinghe 58

P. Perera lbw Jaysinghe 14

M. Warnapura c Wijetunga b Peiris 52

A. Priyanjan st Chandimal b Peiris 30

N. Karunanayake lbw I. Wickramasinghe 50

C. de Silva c Chandimal b Rasuwan 12

D. Jayasinghe lbw I Wickramasinghe 00

A. Nanayakkara not out 02

Extras (3lb, 10n) 13

Overs 56.5 in 278 minutes

Did not bat: A. Attapattu, S. Narangoda, C. Wickramasinghe

Fall of Wickets: 1-64, 2-81, 3-144, 4-178, 5-216, 6-218, 7-231

Bowling: Wickramasinghe 10.5-2-46-2, Balasuriya 8-0-49-0, Rasuwan 7-2-15-1, Jayasinghe 11-1-40-2, Wijetunga 7-2-19-0, Peiris 12-1-54-2, Jayasundara 1-0-5-0

D. Chandimal lbw Narangoda 45

P. Seneviratne c C de Silva b Narandoda 36

U. Peiris not out 40

R. Wijetunga not out 20

Extras: (2lb) 02

Overs:32.1 in 113 minutes

Fall of Wickets: 1-78, 2-93

Bowling: Wickramasinghe 4-0-17-0, Priyanjan 6.1-0-35-0, Attapattu 9-1-30-0, Munaweera 2-0-16-0, Nanayakkara 4-0-20-0, Narangoda 6-0-22-2, Warnapura 1-0-1-0

Umpires: K.C. Fernando, R.P.K. Madanayake

Scorers: Anura Ratnayake, Thosvin Prabhatha