- Muaard Razick reporting from Kandy
The Trinitians led by Lionsman Malith Rathnayake were dominant in the 106th Trinity-Antonian Hill Country Battle of the Blues played at the Katugastota Oval recently as a 3-day encounter for the first time in history. The Antonians led by Charuka Ekanayake fought back with resilience in times of trouble.
It was Pulisha Thilakarathne who first shined with the bat scoring a brilliant 106 whilst Aadham Hilmy steadied the Trinity ship scoring 61 guiding the Lions to 314/6 declared in 88.5 overs. Vathila Udara missed out on a well deserved half ton. For the Eagles, Bimash Samarasinghe took 2/87 whilst Thilina Edirisinghe, Charuka Ekanayake and Dinura Ganegoda took a wicket each.
In reply the Trinity bowlers kept control as the Antonians were limited to 250/9 declared. Kaushika Kumarasinghe rose to the occasion as he fired one of the fastest centuries in the Trinity-Antonian series scoring 136 runs to regain pride for St. Anthony’s. Skipper Ekanayake scored 31. Thisal Yapa and Chaniru Senaratne bagged 3 wickets each for Trinity.
Trinity’s second innings saw aggressive strokeplay, reaching 99/5 in just 19 overs, with 1st innings hero Pulisha Thilakarathne scoring 42 and Rajindu Thilakarathne adding 27.
Brief scores:
106th Hill Country Battle of the Blues
Trinity 1st innings 314/6 d (88.5) : (Pulisha Thilakarathne 106, Aadham Hilmy 61, Vathila Udara 48, Dinal Fernando 42*, Bimash Samarasinghe 2/87, Thilina Edirisinghe 1/27, Charuka Ekanayake 1/41, Dinura Ganegoda 1/42)
St. Anthony’s 1st innings 250/9d (85.3) : (Kaushika Kumarasinghe 136,Charuka Ekanayake 31, Kevan Fernando 22, Januka Rathnayake 18, Thisal Yapa 3/08, Chaniru Senaratne 3/47, Sweath Arunajeewa 1/53, Malith Rathnayake 1/71)
Trinity 2nd nnings 99/5 (19) : (Pulisha Thilakarathne 42, Rajindu Thilakarathne 27, Thilina Edirisinghe 2/16, Dinura Ganegoda 2/22)
Result: Match Drawn (Trinity retained the Halangoda Trophy due to their last win in 2012 under Niroshan Dickwella)