Silva leads St Thomas fightback

Royal College 294 for 6 dec and 35 for 2 lead St Thomas College 245 for 7 (Silva 85, Paduwawala 51) by 84 runs
Scorecard

A captain's innings of 85 from Kaushal Silva brought St Thomas College back into the match on the second day of their game against Royal College at the Sinhalese Sports Club. The day was almost a carbon-copy of yesterday - early successes for the bowlers, a middle-order recovery, and then late wickets.

St Thomas College resumed on 22 for 2, and half-an-hour after lunch were in deep trouble at 91 for 6. But Silva, who has represented Sri Lanka at U19 level, arrested the slide in a seventh-wicket stand of 114 with Paduwawala (51*) which occupied a session-and-a-half and ground Royal's bowlers down.

Silva's 196-minute innings was ended by Manoj Morawake, Royal's most successful bowler with 3 for 45, but that only increased the tempo as Paduwawala and Videsh Balasubramaniam (25*) accelerated, smacking 40 in six overs.

St Thomas declared 49 in arrears to leave Royal's batsmen a tricky hour before the close, and the bold move paid off as Balasubramaniam, a legspinner who had bowled poorly in the first innings, removed both openers before bad light brought an early finish.

With only one day remaining, the odds are on this match ending in a draw, although another morning of cheap wickets could give St Thomas a chance.