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HALANGODA AND PEIRIS STARS IN THOMIAN WIN
By Romesh de Silva
A fine spell of left arm seam bowling by ever green Mahinda Halangoda, ably assisted by consistent run getter Ranil Peiris, saw the Old Thomians (NCGE Group) edge out the Old Josephians by 8 runs, to win their annual limited over cricket match played at the NCC Grounds last Sunday.
This years match was limited to a Twenty 20, in keeping with the present trends in world cricket.
Josephians winning the toss sent the Thomians into bat hoping to make an impact, assisted by the early morning dew. Thomian openers, Ruwan Sirisena and Harpo Gunaratne, got off to a brisk start with Sirisena being the dominant partner. First to go was last years top scorer Gunaratne, being bowled by Suranjan de Silva. With Dharshan Jayanetti bowling his heart out to keep his team in the game, the wickets started to fall at regular intervals. It was left to Ranil Peiris to guide the Thomians to some respectability with a typically aggressive half a century off only 37 balls, studded with six boundaries. The Josephian bowling was off colour with the exception of their skipper, as they sent down 19 wide deliveries, which proved to the difference in such a close encounter.
Chasing a target of 124 to win the match on a hot and sultry afternoon, the Joes got off to the worst start possible. Halangoda in his first over sent back Misty eyed Damian Wickrematilleke (having entertained the Anthonians in their annual Dinner Dance till 6 in the morning) and last years Man of the Match Ravi de Silva. Both were out ruled, Leg before wicket, with Wickrematillekes being quite debatable. Halangoda in his next over got rid of his counterpart, the Josephian skipper Jayanetti, also LBW. It took a brave partnership by ever reliable Roshan Abeysinghe and Terrance Fernando to bring the Joes back into contention. From a grim looking 8/3 this pair almost saw them through with a grand partnership of 78 runs. Abeysinghe was the first to go after making a superb 40 before being bowled by Indranath Peiris. To make matters worse for the Josephians, a brilliant bit of wicket keeping by the dynamic Thomian keeper Ulpatha, off the bowling of Ranil Peiris, got rid of Terrance Fernando shortly afterwards. Though the Josephians kept trying hard, Halangoda returned to put the issue beyond doubt, with his fourth wicket to seal a deserving win for the Thomians.
With this win the tally stands at 3-1 in favour of the Thomians.
The match was played in front of a large gathering. Thomian youngsters made it a grand double by winning the kids 6 a side game too.
The festivities ended with the Thomians hosting all who attended the match to lunch and a few beers.