Fifties by Senesh Hettiarachchi and Charuka Peiris helped steer S. Thomas’ College out of troubled waters and finish the day on 207 for six wickets on day one of the 143rd Battle of theBlues at the SSC Grounds in Colombo on Thursday.

The middle-order pair stitched together a 94-run partnership for the sixth wicket after the Thomians had a meltdown after lunch that saw them lose five wickets in the space of 45 minutes.

Both batsmen were judicious with their strokeplay and weathered a testing period from the Royal College spinners, who would have smelt blood when half the Thomian side were dismissed with only 84 runs on the board.

Hettiarachchi got to his fifty halfway through the evening session with a pull to the deep square-leg boundary but perished soon after caught and bowled to Ramiru Perera for 55.

Peiris, who was the more circumspect of the pair, brought up his half-century 30 minutes later off 137 balls. He remained 51 not out at the close of play with Mahith Perera unbeaten on 11 for company.

Earlier, the Royalists won the toss and elected to bowl first on a surface that had a decent grass covering. The Thomian openers, Janindu Abeygunawardene and Senadhi Bulankulame, were rock solid throughout the first session and took their side to lunch with the score reading 52 for no wicket.

Royal College came roaring back after the break, removing both openers with the score on 53 which was followed by a brilliant run out of Dineth Gunawardena courtesy a direct-hit by Sadisha Rajapaksa.

Captain Gishan Balasooriya, who was miserly throughout, then picked up his two wickets for the day, including the prize scalp of his opposite number Ryan Fernando, caught at cover.

However, there was little enjoyment left for the bowling side thereafter, as Hettiarachchi and Peiris dug deep to see out the challenging phase and make the opening day their own.