Richmond skipper Malsha Tharupathi hit an explosive knock of 111 in 74 balls with nine fours and four sixes while opener Chehan Subasinghe made a hundred with five fours to create a record of batsmen scoring two centuries in one innings as their 119th Battle of the Lovers ended in a draw at the Galle International stadium yesterday.
After Mahinda scored 169 all out on the first day Richmond scored 270 for 6 wickets declared and Mahinda were 206 for 3 wickets at close in their second innings to end the drawn game.
It was a superb batting track at Galle and the overall negative approach of the teams took them nowhere near to a result.
Mahinda skipper Dinura Kalupahana also hit a century (124) in the last session of the match yesterday and was also associated in a 172 runs open stand in the second innings with Tharusha Dilshan who scored 63 in 133 balls with six fours.
However when Kalupahana reached his century the game was halted for nearly 25 minutes as old boys invaded the field and obstructed the contest while match referee S.M Fawmi could do very little to restart play.
Richmond skipper Tharupathi was named man of the match while the best batsman and best bowler awards were received by Chehan Subasinghe and Kaveesha Induwara. Best fielder award was won by Mahinda wicket keeper Hareen Achintha.
Former Richmond cricketer of 1988 Major General Chintaka Wickramasinghe who is the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Kotalawela Defence University was the chief guest at the presentation ceremony while former Mahinda cricketer and former Assistant Secretary of the NOC Nishantha Indunil Piyasena was the guest of honour.
Mahinda 169 and 206 for 3 (Dinura Kalupahana 124, Tharusha Dilshan 63, S Abhishek 2/65)
Richmond 270 for 6 declared (Chehan Subasinghe 100, Sihath Ramanayake 21, Malsha Tharupathi 111, Dinura Kalupahana 2/53, Tharusha Dilshan 3/68)
