opener rasika ranasinghe's fluent half-century (91) for ananda was the only redeeming feature yesterday in their drawn cricket encounter against nalanda, the 68th battle of the `maroons' at the ssc grounds.
the match was called off on the completion of 6th mandatory overs after the spectators invaded the field.
ananda hopes rested on the overnight batsmen skipper indika konara (19) and rasika ranasinghe (48). ananda were 87 for 2 at close on friday in reply to nalanda's 245 for 6 declared. rasika ranasinghe reached the half-century in the first over sent by n. kumara. then paceman ishara amerasinghe struck when he bowled indika konara without adding a run to his score. ishan found a gap in konara's defensive prod to uproot the middle stump.
jitendra perera joined rasika at 90 for 3 and both batted confidently to share a 60-run stand for the fourth wicket. jitendra trying a big hit was smartly stumped by sivali dissanayake for 25. then two quick wickets fell. thilina kadambi was trapped in front by ishara amerasinghe for 13 and rasika ranasinghe who played an innings of exceptional quality and confidence was caught bat and pad on the one side by sukitha perera off spinner sriyan de silva for a well compiled 91.
ranasinghe who was batting well should have gone for his shots instead of going on the defensive after he reached the ninetees. he hit 9 powerful boundaries and batted for 230 minutes facing 218 balls.
at lunch ananda were 174 for 6 wickets and after the lunch break it was run crawl with ananda batsmen adopting a negative approach. only 57 runs were scored since they declared at 2.30 p.m. at 231 for 8 off 91.5 overs and 362 minutes.
spinners sriyan de silva 3 for 82 and danthila dayaratne 2 for 52 bowled accurately while medium paceman ishara amerasinghe claimed 2 for 48 for nalanda.
nalanda batting second time from 2.45 p.m. scored 104 for 5 with opener sanjay rodrigo stroking a fine 51 with 6 fours.
paceman c. dharmapala 2 for 19 and m. mallawarachchi 2 for 22 bowled best for ananda.
nalanda - 1st innings 245
(5 wkts decl.)
ananda - 1st innings
(87 for 2 overnight)
rashika ranasinghe c sunitha perera b s. de silva 91 indika konara b i. amerasinghe 19 jithendara perera st. s. dissnayake b danthila dayaratne 25 thilini kandambi lbw b i. amerasinghe 13 eranga hadunnethige b danthila dayaratne 17 maduranga mallawarachchi b s. de silva 19 chandima dharmapala not out 16 extras (b-9, lb-2, nb-3) 14 total (for 8 wkts dec.) 231 fall of wickets: 12, 31, 90, 150, 174, 174, 203, 231. bowling: n. kumara 10-8-8-1 i. amerasinghe 23-8-48-2 s. de silva 35.5-10-82-3 d. dayaratne 18-3-51-2 s. peiris 3-0-23-0 s. rodrigo 1-0-3-0 s. kalavitigoda 1-0-2-0.
nalanda - 2nd innings
sanjaya rodrigo c (sub) m. pushpakumara b m. mallawarachchi 51 danushka fernando c r. basnayake b c. dharmapala 8 shantha kalavitigoda c r. basnayake b c. dharmapala 2 danuka dayaratne c c. dharmapala b t. kandambi 26 mevan porage c i. konara b m. mallawarachchi 0 sriyan de silva not out 1 extras (lb-1, nb-13, w-3) 17 total (for 5 wkts) 104 fall of wickets: 24, 37, 86, 89, 104.note: this article was obtained from the celyon daily news.bowling: c. dharmapala 8-2-19-2 m. mallawarachchi 9-1-22-2 i. konara 4-0-19-0 n. jayawardena 3-1-2-0 j. perera 3-0-17-0 t. kandambi 4-2-8- 1.