The First XI cricket team of Royal College captained by Harith Samarasinghe and vice-captained by Geeshath Panditharathne further strengthened their build up this season when they drew against St. Joseph’s College, Colombo at the encounter which took place on the 11^th & 12^th of January 2014. The Royalists faced off against the formidable Josephians at their own backyard at Darley Road Colombo.

The Josephians gained first fortunes of the day as they won the toss. However the Joes invited the Royalists to take first lease of the wicket. On a fabulous batting pitch as such, one may have wondered if the Josephian skipper made the wrong decision despite the home advantage.

The Royalists who capitalized on the opportunity, got off to a brilliant start. The Royal openers Naveen Vidanapathirana and Hasitha Samarasinghe established an excellent 138 run partnership for the first wicket which indeed set the foundation to a good display of batting. Hasitha Samarasinghe was dismissed at 66 due to a misjudged stroke and was caught at the slip cordon. The second wicket fell shortly when Naveen Vidanapathirana was bowled for a well-made 71 at the stroke of lunch.

During the second session of play, resuming at the score of 149/2, it was a great display of batting yet again by Randev Pathirana and Geeshath Panditharathne who established a valuable 103 run partnership for the third wicket. Geeshath was dismissed for 44 runs while the score stood healthy at 240/3 giving way to the former captain Chamika Karunarathne to give Royal a good finish. Chamika Karunarathne along with Randev Pathirana gave Royal the expected finish as Royal College declared their first innings amassing 341 runs for the loss of 3 wickets, thereby giving the Josephians a daunting task. Randev Pathirana scored his first century of the season and was not out at 103 while Chamika Karunarathne remained not out on 37.

The Josephians who were left with a tough task up their sleeves came out to bat with blazing confidence with the obligation to make a mark. However, at the end of the days play, the Joes managed to score 46 for the loss of 2 wickets. Skipper Harith Samarasinghe and pacer Himesh Ramanayake were the wicket takers for Royal. Resuming on an overnight score of 46/2, St. Joseph’s lost their third wicket with the score standing as 68/3. However, the Joes middle order stepped up to the task and gave the Royal bowlers a tough outing from thereon. The outbreak of a brilliantly steered lower middle order comprising with the lights of Sandaruwan Rodrigo, Jehan Daniel and Hashindra Perera guided the Josephians to a mammoth score of 371, thus giving the Joes a first innings lead over the Royalists. From the view of the Royal bowlers, spinner Lasith Embuldeniya maintained his consistency by bagging yet another five wicket haul. Lasith was well supported by the skipper Harith Samarasinghe who scalped 3 wickets.

Royal College commenced their second innings with just 7 overs remaining in the match. Royal were placed at 36/3 at the end of the allotted overs.

The result of the game was a draw. However the display of batting by players of both teams was a thrill to watch.

Match Summary

Toss: St. Joseph’s College, who chose to field first