62nd Battle of the Brothers

Rachintha de Silva in the first innings and spinner Sethru Fernando in the second innings produced the much needed special bowling performances to lead Thurstan to massive ten wickets victory over arch rivals Isipatana at the 62nd Battle of the Brothers big match at the SSC ground on Sunday.

The team captained by Thanuga Palihawadana scored their first victory of the series in six years as openers Dunal Induwara and Thanuja Rajapakse kept their wickets intact to reach the target in eight overs.

The two teams could not be separated when they met in the three-day semi-final last week at Sooriyawewa. But at the SSC Rachintha gave them the edge taking six wickets in the first innings to dismiss Isipatana for 203 runs.

In their essay Dinal Induwara (42), Pathum Dananjaya (42) and Janitha Rukshan (77) scored the bulk of runs for Thurstan to post 257 for nine wickets declared.

The third day belonged to spinner Sethru Fernando as he rattled Isipatana top order with a five wicket haul.

Sri Lanka Under 19 skipper Vihas Thewmika took three wickets.

It was Thurstan’s seventh victory in the series as they added the big match victory to their recent success in the Tier ‘B’ tournament.It was the first time the two teams met in a three-day Big Match.