118th Battle of Lovers’ Quarrel Richmond has edge over rivals Mahinda

Richmond College Team  

Mahinda College Team

By M. Shamil Amit

Richmond College and Mahinda College traditional rivals on the cricket field from down South will battle for supremacy when they clash in the 118th Battle of the Lovers’ Quarrel over the next two days at the Galle International Stadium from today.   

Richmond leads the series with 24 wins to Mahinda’s 23 from the matches that have been played so far. Richmond was the last winner of the series having come out victorious by six wickets under the leadership of Thaveesha Abishek while Mahinda’s last win was in 2008 under the leadership of Rajitha Priyan.   

According to performances of the two teams in the inter-schools cricket season Richond led by fourth year player Tharinda Nimal holds the edge due to the fact that they have recorded five outright wins from the 13 matches that they have played and in contrast Mahinda led by Dhanuja Induwara has been able to chalk up only one outright win and undergone an outright defeat.   

However the statistics cannot be taken for granted as when two sides’ meet each other in an encounter of this nature the atmosphere differs and the underdogs have been successful. The two sides posses talented players which could make a difference and an outcome though it’s not going to be easy to predict.   

Richmond’s trump card is Kavindu Nirmana who is their top scorer having 500 runs under his belt and the support from Thamindu Pradeeptha who has scored over 400 runs, Maheesha de Silva and skipper Nirmal is going to be crucial if they are to put a challenging score on the board. 

 
The bowling will revolve around the left and right-arm spinner duo Yuri Koththigoda the top wicket taker with over 50 wickets and Malsha Tharupathi who is a member of the Sri Lanka U19 team who will take wings to UAE after the big match for the Tri-Nation series involving Bangladesh and Afghanistan.   
Tharupathi has not been able to represent his school side due to national duties but from the few matches he played as bagged 40 scalps and to support will be skipper Nirmal.   
For Mahinda they will depend on skipper Induwara who has made over 550 runs inclusive of a ton and five half tons and they have another batsman whom they can rely on Hiruna Gallage who too has scored over 500 runs and they will be expecting deputy skipper Dinura Kalupahana who too will take wings to UAE and Tharusha Dilshan for useful contributions to bolster the score.   

Mahinda too will depend on their spinners Tharusha Dilshan and Arosha Udayanga who together have shred over 50 wickets between them and pacie Shehan Hasaranga for them to curtail their opponents’ batting.   

Mahinda hold two records of the series with P.H.K.H. Ranasinghe’s 162 made in 1972 being highest individual knock. In fact this record was broken in the same match who was established by Prasad Kariyawasam who made unbeaten 156 on the first day’s which was broken by Ranasinghe. Kariyawasam eclipsed Mahinda’s Sirisena Hettige’s record of 155 made way back in 1939.   

In the bowling department S. Ambewatta of Mahinda has the unique record of taking all ten wickets for just 44 runs in the year 1953 while R.M.M. de Silva of Richmond holds the best bowling returns of 15 for 15 which he achieved in 1922.