By Shmazeer Jaleel reporting from Pallekelle

Dharamaraja College was in a commanding position in their Big Match against Kingswood College, which commenced at the Pallekelle International Cricket stadium today (15).

After winning the toss the Rajans put their opposition in to bat. The Randles Hill school had a superb start with both opening batsmen putting on 49 for the first wicket. Vinuka Pussapitiya (30) and Shashika Gamage (21) batted with lot of authority but once the breakthrough came Kingswood lost regular wickets and never recovered. None of the other batsman’s were allowed to bat freely and get past 20. They were bowled out in the end for a low score of 142 runs with Thushan Herath, Yasith Samaratne and Upendra Warunakulasuriya picking three wickets a piece.

In reply the Rajans showed that there was no black magic in the wicket when they ended Day One on 125 for two. Skipper Senanayake was in sparkling form scoring a brisk unbeaten 71 inclusive of 11 boundaries.

Scoreboard

Kingswood College

1st Innings

Vinuka Pussapitiya ct M. Gayshan b Y. Samaratne 30

Shashika Gamage lbw U. Warunakulasuriya 21

Dumindu Dhamshika ct M. Gayshan B T. Herath 05

Harshana Wickremasinghe b U. Warunakulasuriya 21

Devindu Dissanayake ct Isuru b Y. Samaratne 00

Achala Bogahawatte ct Kasun B Y. Samaratne 13

Deegayu Bandara ct Dulaj b Y. Samaratne 19

Kevin Anthony lbw T. Herath 14

Uthpala Jayalath ct and B Ehelepola 09

Lakmal de silva ct Kasun B Upendra 00

Mahidula Ediriweera not out 01

• Extras (W-4, NB-5) 09
• Total 142 all out in 55.3 overs
• Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-54, 3-83, 4-85, 5-91, 6-99, 7-127, 8-132, 9-133
• Bowling: Duvidu Dilshan 5-0-21-0, Virajitha Ehelapola 4.3-0-12-1, Mithhila Gayshan 7-0-9-0, Thushan Herath 20-6-44-3, Upendra Warunakulasuriya 10-1-29-3, Yasith Samaratne 9-2-27-3

Dharmaraja College

1st innings

Sachintha Senanayake not out 71

Isuru Dayanda lbw D. Bandara 01

Dulaj Bandara not out 37

• Extras (LB-11, W-3, NB-2)
• Total 125/2 in 43 0vers
• Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-125
• Bowling: Uthpala Jayalath 2-0-4-0, Harshana Wickremasinghe 5-1-12-0, Deegayu Bandara 5-1-25-1, Devinda Dissanayake 11-0-26-1, Lakmal de Silva 16-4-29-0, Mihindula Ediriweera 4-0-18-0