Rehan, Uvin help Royal to retain Mustangs Trophy

By M. Shamil Amit

Royal College made it a double as they retained the Mustangs Trophy, coasting to a convincing seven wicket win over traditional rivals S. Thomas’ College in the 46th Mustangs Trophy limited over encounter played at the SSC ground yesterday.

The architects of the win were the heroes of the side Rehan Peiris and Uvindu Weerasekera who both cracked half tons and together helped Royal, in pursuit of 166 runs for victory, to race to the target in just 37 overs.
Royal in their run chase underwent some anxious moments when they lost two early wickets with the innings five overs old. 

The pair joined together and frustrated the Thomian bowlers with Peiris, who made an unbeaten 69 inclusive of seven boundaries, and Weerasekera, a half-centurion with four boundaries and two sixes putting on a valuable 107 runs for the third wicket.

Peiris was joined by big match hero skipper Dasis Manchanayake, after the dismissal of Weerasekera, and he continued his form sharing an unbroken 39 runs for Royal to reach the target with ease.
The morning session of play saw S. Thomas’ taking first lease of the wicket let down by their batsmen again. 
Only Senadhi Bulankulame who made 66 in the top order batting and Mahith Perera in the middle were able to make any impression.

They were made to struggle for their runs and were in a bad position of 105 for 5 in the 31st over before being bowled for a low score of 165 runs.

In the process Royal won both the big match and the limited over after a lapse of ten years with the last time this was achieved being in 2013 under the leadership of Devindh Pathmanathan. 

Royal, with this win chalked up their 24th win of the series to the 21 achieved by S. Thomas’.

Result
S. Thomas; 165 in 48.2 overs (Senadhi Bulankulame 66, Mahith Perera 28: Bulan Weeratunga 2 for 24, Dasis Manchanayake 2 for 25, Sandesh Ramanayake 2 for 34)
Royal 166 for 3 in 37 overs (Uvindu Weerasekera 50, Rehan Peiris 69 n.o., Dasis Manchanayake 26 n.o.)