Rahula College Matara took on their rivals Dharmapala College Pannipitiya for the 6th year running at De Soyza Grounds in the Ruhunu-Maya encounter over the past two days.
Dharmapala College won the toss and elected to field first. Rahula College started off in fine fashion. Their batters contributed with valuable knocks but the pick of the batsmen was Lakindu Chamodhya. Lakindu top scored with 55 runs while Binura Sangeeth and Sasith Manuranga contributed with 38 and 32 respectively. With the ball for the boys from Pannipitiya, Chamindu Samarasinghe bagged 4 for 61.
In reply, Dharmapala College started off in a horrific manner with wickets falling at regular intervals. The lone warrior for Dharmapala was their hero with the ball Chamindu Samarasinghe. He managed to grind out 36 runs amidst all chaos at the other end. Dharmapala College could only manage to score 114 runs for their first innings which gave Rahula College a lead of 96 runs. The pick of the bowlers for Rahula was Nuwan Madushanka who bagged a five-for while Pasan Samaratunge bagged 3 wickets.
With a 96 run lead, Rahula College came on to bat in their second innings. Their intentions were clear as they looked to score runs right from the word go. They declared their innings at 80 for 6, giving their rivals a target of 177 runs to get in 20 overs.
Dharmapala did not take the challenge as they played for a draw and survived the remaining overs on the last day. At the close of play, Pannipitiya Dharmapala College was 41 for 3 in 19 overs.
Rahula College, Matara 210/9 d (75.2) Binura Sangeeth 38, Bhagya Himath 24, Lakindu Chamodhya 55, Sasith Manuranga 32, Shashika Dilshan 2/45, Chamindu Samarsingha 4/61, Shashika Dilshan 2/45 & 80/6 d (15) Piruna Hewamadduma 28, Dulaj Egodaga 3/16, Avishka Hasarinda 2/13
vs
Dharmapala College, Pannipitiya 114 (49)Chamindu Samarasinghe 36, Avishka Hasarindu 21, Nuwan Madusanka 5/54, Pasan Samaratunga 3/21, Vinushka Chaturanga 2/08 & 41/3 (19) Pasan Samaratunga 2/26
