Thurstan College produced another stellar bowling performance, headlined by their spinners, to seal a comprehensive innings victory over Isipathana College and clinch the 63rd Battle of the Brothers (5th April 2026)
Resuming their innings on 22 for 2, Isipathana would’ve hoped to apply themselves and bat long. And the overnight pair did exactly that, surviving the first 10 overs and frustrating the Thurstanite bowlers. That was until Skipper Yovun Silpa brought himself on and accounted for Navindu Umeth, to reduce their opposition to 34 for 3.
Just like the first innings, brief resistance was offered by Skipper Maleesha Sandaruwan, who got together with Kavindu Dewshan to bat out another 10 over period and take the score up to 51. The first innings similarities continued, but not in the manner Isipathana would’ve wanted as their middle order once again had no answers to the Thurstanite spinners.
They lost their last seven wickets for just 51 runs, including being reduced to 67 for 7 at one stage before the tail delayed the inevitable and took the score to three figures. It was the usual suspects once again for Thurstan, with Thanuga Palihawadana (5-44) and Sethru Fernando (4-36) accounting for nine of the Pathana scalps.
Their efforts across both innings, complemented by some mature batting by the middle order helped Thurstan seal a famous victory in the Battle of the Brothers series. Beating their fiercest rivals by an innings and 8 runs to go with their win in the limited over encounter a few weeks ago.
For his all-round efforts which included 36 runs and a match bag of seven wickets, Sethru Fernando was adjudged Player of the Match. However the efforts of Thanuga Palihawadana (28 runs and 8 wickets) and Rachintha De Silva (71 runs) mustn’t go unnoticed.
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