Royal College made steady progress in reply to their arch rivals’ first innings total as skipper Rehan Peiris and Ramiru Perera guided them to 175 for four wickets at stumps on day two of the 147th Battle of the Blues at the SSC ground on Friday.

‎Royal needed only 51 overs to reach their end-of-day total after S. Thomas’ College had earlier adopted a cautious approach before being bowled out for 302 runs.

‎Royal suffered an early setback when open batsman Hirun Liyanarachchi was dismissed for naught in the very first over, caught behind by Aaron Kodituwakku off the bowling of Gimhan Mendis.

‎Skipper Rehan Peiris then steadied the innings, repairing the early damage with two useful partnerships. He first added 41 runs for the second wicket with Udantha Gangewatta and followed it up with a 34-run stand for the third wicket alongside Sri Lanka Under-19 skipper Vimath Dinsara.

‎Dinsara struggled to find fluency during his stay at the crease, managing 11 runs off 30 balls before being trapped leg-before by Gimhan Mendis, who finished the day with two wickets.

‎Rehan continued to anchor the innings and produced the most productive stand of the Royal innings when he combined with Ramiru Perera for a vital 78-run partnership for the fourth wicket. The Royal skipper’s determined knock finally ended on 63 when he was dismissed by Ludeesha Matarage.

‎From there, Ramiru Perera and Yasindu Dissanayake ensured there were no further setbacks, batting cautiously until bad light forced the umpires to call off play.

‎Perera remained unbeaten on 70, an attractive innings that included ten boundaries, while Dissanayake provided solid support at the other end as Royal closed the day strongly.

‎Earlier in the day, resuming from their overnight score, the Thomians continued with their ultra-cautious approach, scoring at just over two runs per over. Reshon Solomon top-scored with 66 runs, while Ludeesha Matarage and Raphael Hettige chipped in with useful contributions in the twenties.

‎S. Thomas’ were eventually bowled out for 302 just before the lunch interval on the second day, having consumed 124 overs during their four-session first innings.

‎Gagan Gamage was the pick of the Royal bowlers with impressive figures of four wickets for 49 runs. He received good support from Sehandu Sooriyaarachchi, who claimed three wickets for 64 runs, while Himaru Deshan picked up two wickets for 43. Ramiru Perera also chipped in with a wicket to complete the Thomian innings.

West Indies have named an unchanged squad for the upcoming home T20I series against Australia following the 2-0 loss to Sri Lanka.

The squad, led by Hayley Matthews, will take on the No. 1-ranked Australia side at the Arnos Vale Cricket Ground in Kingstown for all three games. The squad is a mix of experienced players such as Matthews, Stafanie Taylor, Shemaine Campbelle and Deandra Dottin with teenage prospects Eboni Brathwaite and Jahzara Claxton. The series forms a key part of the teams’ preparation for the T20 World Cup in June this year in the UK.

“We’re really excited about the opportunity to play the number one ranked ODI and T20 team in the world,” head coach Shane Deitz said. “It’s just before the World Cup, so it’s a great opportunity to see where we are in our preparation. Playing against the best team in the world, we can see where our deficiencies are and where things are working well as we look forward to the tournament in June in England.

World and Olympic champion Mondo Duplantis added another centimetre to his own world pole vault record*, clearing 6.31m at the Mondo Classic – a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting – in Uppsala on Thursday (12).

The pole vault superstar had no failures on his way to his record-breaking performance, opening with 5.65m before scaling 5.90m and 6.08m at the first time of asking.

Norway’s Sondre Guttormsen finished second with 6.00m, his second six-metre vault of the season.

Zachery Bradford, Sam Kendricks and Kurtis Marschall all cleared 590m to place third, fourth and fifth respectively.

[World Athletics]