Put to bat, Royal College made 283 for nine wickets declared and restricted S. Thomas’ College to 19 for one wicket before bad light brought an early end to the first day’s play of the 131st Battle of the Blues encounter which commenced at the SSC Ground yesterday.

A brisk half century from Royal skipper Bhanuka Rajapakse and a four wicket haul from Thomian captain Dinesh Walpita were the highlights as they made it a captains’ day which was otherwise notable for Thomian’s slow overrate.

Coming to bat at number four position, Rajapakse top scored with 68 runs and his knock was laced with six fours and three sixes. He put on partnerships worth 42, 23 and 35 runs for the fourth, fifth and sixth wickets respectively.

Rajapakse’s innings came to an end when he was brilliantly caught by Neomal Wickramasekara at shot fine leg off the bowling of spinner Umesh Fernando who ended up with two wickets. Wickramasekara’s effort was an exception as the Thomians missed opportunities due to fielding lapses with Lalindra Peiris being the culprit, dropping two catching at slips.

After a cautious start, Royal’s batting order laden with left handers, clicked with six out of the seven top order batsmen topping 20 runs.

They starved their opponents of a wicket until the 16th over in the morning after they were put to bat first. Ramith Rambukwella and Chalaka Bogoda added a valuable 41 runs for the first wicket before Walpita, who constantly beat Rambukwella with deliveries moving away from him, forced the batsman to edge the ball to the wicket keeper, Sachin Peiris. Rambukwella hit five fours in his 27 runs. Bogoda who was looking solid put on a 57 run stand for the second wicket, the day’s highest partnership, with Imal Liyanage who became an lbw victim of paceman Nilaksha Fernando.

Bogoda’s knock of 47 runs was the second highest in the Royal innings. He slammed seven fours in his innings which was compiled in 110 balls. While Waruna Dissanayake scored 45 runs (5 fours and one six), Maneesha Tantrigoda added 31 runs to the total. The only disappointment in the Royal batting line up was the dismissal of Kithruwan Vithanage for nine runs off the bowling of Lalindra Peiris.

Skipper Walpita was the star in the Thomian attack as he picked up four wickets. He picked up a wicket each in his second and third spells to break Royal’s threatening partnerships (1st and 3rd) early before picking up two more wickets.

In reply, Thomians lost their first wicket for no score when Rajapakse had fresher Brian Dharmaseka caught for a duck in his second over. Skipper Walpita who opened the batting joined Pasan Wijewardena and kept their wickets intact till stumps.

Incidentally, only 86.2 overs were bowled on the first day. Thomians who maintained a slow overrate consumed 354 minutes to bowl 74 overs. Scoreboard

C. Bogoda c Kavinda b Walpita 47

R. Rambukwella c S. Peiris b Walpita 27

I. Liyanage lbw U. Fernando 25

B. Rajapaksa c Wic’skera b U. Fernando 68

K. Vithanage c Dharmasena b L. Peiris 09

W. Dissanayake lbw N. Fernando 45

M. Thanthirigoda run out S. Peiris 31

G. Deva b Walpita 01

I. Khan c S. Peiris b Walpita 12

M. Gunaratne not out 00

Extras (2b, 3lb, 3n, 10w) 18

Overs: 74

Minutes: 354

Did not bat: Devind Pathmanathan

Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-98, 3-140, 4-163, 5-198, 6-244, 7-249, 8-266, 9-283

Bowling: Walpita 18-4-51-4(1w), N Fernando 16-4-69-1(1n, 9w), Pathirana 18-5-60-0(2n), U Fernando 7-0-36-2, L. Peiris 5-0-30-1, Wickramasekera 10-2-32-0

S. Thomas’ 1st Innings

B. Dharmasena c Deva b Rajapaksa 0

D. Walpita not out 07

P. Wijewardene not out 12

Extras (1w) 01

Total: (for one wicket) 19

Overs: 12.2

To bat: N. Kavinda, A. Fernando, S. Peiris, C. Pathirana, L. Peiris, N. Wickramasekera, N. Fernando, U. Fernando

Fall of wickets: 1-0

Bowling: Rajapaksa 3-1-5-1(1w), Pathmanathan 3-2-4-0, Imran Khan 1-1-0-0, Tantrigoda 3.2-1-6-0, Dissanayake 2-0-5-0