The first ever Royal Masters vs the Thomian Masters cricket match organised by the Colombo Master Cricket Association concluded at the P.Sara Ovalrecently with Royal Masters team recording a convincing win. The first ever edition of this annual feature had all the signs of what is to come in 11 days time with a 'rocking' atmosphere, cheerleaders and 'papare' music. The game was made possible by the kind generosity of JAT Holdings and Coconut Miracle.
Royal Masters were captained by NallaihDevarajan and STC Masters team was led by Vajira Wijegunawardena. Toss was won by Nallaih who put STC to bat first. Taking first lease of the wicket the Thomain Masters despite a great stand from the openers closed their 25 over innings with a formidable 180 runs on the board. Openers Vajira Wijegunawardena 35 and Anura Bulankulame 29 put up a 76 run partnership in 8 overs. However Nallaih Devarajan, Zulki Hameed and Rajith Dhanapala restricted the STC Masters with super bowling spells taking wickets at regular intervals.
In reply, the Royal Masters openers Shezzard Nazir and HiranMallathanthri put up a solid partnership of 56 runs in 5 overs which was followed by a master class 61 n.o. from Zulki Hameed, and had an unbroken 5th wicket partnership between Dharsha Abeywardena of 76 runs in only 7 overs sealed the match for Royal masters. RC Masters scored 182 runs for 4 wickets in just 19.1 overs, to seal the match.
In the Bowling Department for Royal, Zulki Hameed with 3 for 34 and Rajith Dhanapala with 2 for 19 were the pick of the bowlers. Nishantha Rajapakse with 3 for 43 and Sidath Samarakkody with 1 for 19 were the pick of the bowlers for the Thomain Masters.
The Man of the match was awarded to Zulki Hameed for his brilliant batting and bowling display. Vajira Wijegunawardena won the Best Batsman’s award whilst the Best Bowler’s award went to Nishantha Rajapakse.
Scorecard:
Thomian Masters 180 for 8 in 25 overs (V. Wijegunawardene 35, A. Bulankulame 29, S. Somasiri 25 n.o. Zulki Hameed 3 for 34, Rajith Dhanapala 2 for 19, Nalliah Devarajan 1 for 30, Sisila Indraratne 1 for 32)
Royal Masters 182 for 4 in 19.1 overs (Zulki Hameed 61 n.o., Shezzard Nazir 32, Hiran Mallawathanthri 21, Darsha Abeywardene 20 n.o. NishanthaRajapakse 3 for 43, Sidath Samarakkody1 for 19)