At the encounter held in Bambalapitiya, the 3^rd consecutive encounter for the 1^st XI cricket team of Royal College, to be played away from home, the Royal batting line up seemed unstable as Royal lost all of its 20 wickets for 331 runs at the hands of a strong bowling attack. This was at the 1^st XI Cricket encounter between Royal College and St. Peter’s College on the 6^th & 7^th of February 2015.

Unlike the 3 previous occasions, Royal College managed to win the toss this time around, only to invite the Peterites to take first use of the pitch. The decision by the Royal skipper Harith Samarasinghe seemed alright as the hosts lost 2 early wickets and were 57/2, early in the game. The 3^rd wicket partnership however, was a successful one which took St. Peter’s College to 154 for 3, the third wicket falling right on the last ball before lunch off Chamika Karunarathne.

The 2^nd session on day 1 seemed to go in favour of the visitors, as Royal College managed to get wickets at regular intervals eventually bowling out the Peterites for 284. Chamika Karunarathne was the pick of the bowlers for his 3 wickets for 26, while Himesh Ramanayake managed to obtain 2 Peterite scalps for 37 runs.

However, the Royalists’ batting did not go according to the plan at all, as they were 3 down for a mere 19 runs when the rain gods closed play of day 1. Royal were still 265 runs behind, with only 7 wickets in hand.

As day 2 commenced, on Saturday the 7^th of February 2015, a few spectators would have wanted Royal to score a minimum of 185 runs, just to avoid the follow-on. But the expectations never became a reality. Royal College continued its disastrous batting display being 55 for 5 at one instant, which went on to become 109 for 8. All hopes of avoiding follow-on were shattered as the Royalists were bundled out for 138 runs, 146 runs short of what the home side put on the board, which enforced the visiting team to follow-on.

The Royal 2^nd innings on their follow-on started well, and continued to be so until the stroke of tea at around 3.00pm, on day 2. Naveen Widanapathirana was unbeaten on 71 as the players walked out for tea when the scoreboard read 125/2; Royal trailing by 21 runs. The session after tea, which was also the last session for the day, brought back the bad omen for Royal as the batting collapsed once again. A spectator who might have walked down to Wellawatte for a cup of tea, would have undeniably gotten a shock when he returned, as Royal had lost its middle and lower middle order within 45 minutes of play. Royal were 170 for 7 at 3:56pm and 190/9 by 4:22pm, and in due course being bowled out for 193 runs, setting the Peterites an easy target of 48 runs with ample overs remaining in the day; Naveen Widanapathirana’s 85 being the only good news for Royal.

Although the hosts met with a short hiccough of losing 2 early wickets before having 20 runs on the board, the Peterites managed to go past the target with plenty of time remaining in the day, as they scored 49 runs for the loss of just 2 wickets, winning the encounter by 8 wickets.

This was the first loss for Royal in this year’s season, but it is said, that something of this caliber is better off to be happening now, rather than on the second week of March.