Two notable recovery acts from the last two decades of the Battle of the Blues

Royal will meet S. Thomas’ for the 145th time in the Battle of the Blues from March 7 to 9 at the SSC.Here are two notable recovery acts of the two teams during the last two decades of the historic Big Match.

Royal were dismissed for 94 runs in 2005 with A. Peiris, S. Mendis and V. Balasubramaniam reducing Royal to their lowest first innings total since 1961 (67). The Thomians then amassed 340 for six wickets declared. Ashan Peiris played a superb 125, Nizam Mazahir made 57 before being run out.

The Royalists needed a hero to fightback in the second innings and open bat Sukitha Senaratne anchored the top order with 92 runs to compensate for the duck he collected in the first innings. He was able to defy Thomians in a 102 runs partnership with D. Wijeratne (48) before Balasubramaniam struck in quick succession to rattle the tail to seal an innings and 28 runs win.

Royal suffered a similar top order collapse in the first innings three years later but a fascinating rearguard action from an unlikely hero turned the match upside down. Royal were five wickets down for 67 runs when future national player Kithruwan Vithanage was joined by Charith Fernando. In a batting line up inclusive of two other future national players (Kusal Janith and Bhanuka Rajapaksa) Fernando’s remarkable knock of 137 became the corner stone for Royal to post a commanding total of 300 for nine wickets declared.

Fernando also entered the record books for putting on a ninth wicket stand of 81 runs with Y. Abeykoon (38n.o.). That remained the best Royal partnership for the ninth wicket until 2014.

Not many Thomian teams had been bowled out before reaching the three figure mark at the annual Big Match. It has happened only twice during the last three decades. When it happened in 2009 their response in the second innings was remarkable.

Batting first Royal made 313. In their first essay the Thomians were dismissed for 99 runs. Following on, they lost two wickets for 21 runs. What was on display from then on was the Thomian grit as opener Fahim Saleem and skipper Raveenthiraraja Nirushan put on 209 for the third wicket. The Thomians went on to score a series record 411 runs. While Saleem scored 165 runs, Nirushan made 104.

(RF)