The Royal College Cricket Team took the field again this Saturday to face off the predominant Big-match winning Thomian squad for the Mustangs Trophy. The Thomians looked set to paint the field black and blue once again as they won the toss and opted to bat first.

The Thomians racked up an intimidating 255 runs for 6 wickets in their allotted 50 overs with exceptional batting displays from their Captain Sithira Hapuhinna, Ryan Fernando and Umayanga Suwaris who racked up 51, 51 and 87 runs respectively

While the accumulation of runs seemed to drag over the middle of the Thomian innings, Umayanga Suwaris and Kalana Perera aided the Thomians in their concluding 10 overs where they scored 80 runs to bring the score to a daunting 255 / 6.

The Royal team got off to a rocky start as Kalana Perera dismissed Kavindu Pathiratne for just 2 runs. However skipper Kavindu Madarasinghe and Ahan Wickramasinghe held their own against a proven line up of Thomian bowlers as they both made half centuries scoring 51 and 67 runs respectively.

However following their dismissals the required run rate began to creep up once again as hope started to turn bleek for Royal College, nearing the twilight of their innings.

With the loss of their seventh wicket Royal College needed 66 runs off just 46 balls, which was when bowler Lahiru Madushanka joined Kamil Mishara who had just scored his half-century.

Mishara and Madusanka rallied a right royal come back as the former took a couple of boundaries and a six and the latter appeared to be a man transformed when he bludgeoned two sixes off Shannon Fernando.

As the colour drained from the men in black and blue, the Royalist turned ecstatic as a true miracle began to form before their eyes. Royal College just needed just 22 runs off 4 overs.

Shannon Fernando had other plans in his next over as he dismissed Kamil Mihsara for 68 runs and took Manula Perera out with his next ball. Gishan Balasooriya defended the rest of his over leaving Royal to score 21 runs off 3 overs with just one wicket left.

In the back of every Royalists head was the fact that Kalana Perera had a couple of overs left to bowl. Following his man-of-the-match winning exploits in the 140th Battle of the Blues where he took 9 wickets, he was an intimidating presence with the ball in hand more than capable of dismissing either one of the remaining Royalist.

It was he who took charge of the next over. The whole of SSC was silent as Kalana took his run up, delivering a venomous bouncer along with a few words to Lahiru Madusanka. The Thomians cheered as they counted down 17 balls to victory.

The tension could have not been higher as Kalana took his next run up. Royal feared the worst as Kalana let his ball fly, but Madusanka replied with some venom of his own as he pummeled the ball for a six bringing Royal to 15 to win off 16 balls.

The mighty Kalana was left scratching his head as his next ball was thrashed for a six as well, bringing Royal to 9 to win off 15 balls. Kalana then tried an Unorthodox approach, bowling a left-arm spin only to gift Lahiru Madusanka with his sixth six of the match, silencing Kalana and the whole of Mount Lavinia as Royal was now 3 to win off 14 balls.

Madushanka struck the ball and scraped up two runs in the penultimate ball of Kalana Perera’s over. The final ball of his over proved to be the final ball of the match as Lahiru Madusanka struck the ball across the boundary line for the final time, scoring a legendary 46 runs off 17 balls, securing an infamous Mustangs trophy win. Lahiru Madusanka was awarded as the Man-of-the-match for his miraculous efforts and the coveted trophy back to Reid avenue after five years.

S.Thomas’ College 1st Innings

Royal College 1st Innings