Tony Sample took what looked to be a very strong Euratom side to Verona for this league game on a hot, stuffy day with only the occasional puff of breeze. Winning the toss, he chose to field with the intention of shaking out the cobwebs from the long trip before having to bat. Prebodha Liyanage donned the gloves for the first time for his new club & was unlucky not to hang on to a sharp chance from Anura Fernando down the leg side off Sumith Dias’ first ball. Shame indeed because the Scaligero skipper was to prove to be the most troublesome of the opposition  batsmen & saw five partners trot back to the hutch before he finally fell for 32 to a great catch by Dasarathan off Che Smit’s bowling.

Sumith Dias bowled his usual fare,  fast, straight & full,  which soon had Presanga on his way for just 2 runs. But the other four Euratom bowlers were all to find it difficult to keep the ball low & straight off a new-looking sisal mat which proved to be totally unpredictable. Fast deliveries flew in all directions & many of them lifted dangerously, with seemingly the shorter balls shooting to take out middle stump. All in all, a batsman’s nightmare & your scribe & many of the other Euratom bats took home some colourful reminders of the afternoon’s proceedings.

The normally dangerous Sumith Katunayake struggled for control & Shalan Chetty was to prove expensive for his two wickets. Even the classy Che Smit leaked extras high & wide as the ball bounced wildly, while behind the stumps Liyanage was leaping around like a jack-in-a-box. But wickets did fall & in his second over Smit bowled the competent Suresh for 22 with a fast off-break that turned sharply to clip the top of off-stumpl. Chetty then took out Michele Afribo for a duck & with just 12 overs gone big-hitter Sanjiwa Dodantenne came to the crease in aggressive  mood.  But his aggression was to be his undoing & he took a lazy swing at  Ashanta Fernando’s second ball only for it to smack into his pads right in front of middle. No doubt there, but his replacement Dilsan put on another 17 runs with Anura Fernando until his skipper fell to Smit. Each partnership pushed the score along & Dilsan & Antonio took the score to 128 before Dilsan was caught for 19 off Ashanta Fernando. Then Rohan hung around with the two tail-enders for 4 more until he was bowled for 7 by Fernando. The Scaligero innings closed on 132 in just 22.2 overs,  leaving a strong Euratom batting side what looked to be an easy target in the full 40 overs.

   But the Ispresi were in for a shock as Scaligero’s selection of  young guns proceeded to hurl down a series of aggressive deliveries, compounded by the uncertain bounce. Opener Rohan was very impressive & his combination of away-swing with sheer speed & bounce caught Smit off-guard fourth ball to catch his glove & fly away to the slips. From the other end the hefty Sanjiwa Dodantenne rushed in for a good first over, shooting one under Tony Sample’s bat to take out his middle stump, but then he quickly ran out of puff & gave 23 runs in the next two overs, including a fair selection of wides & no-balls. Rohan continued to bowl impressively but Sumith Dias appeared to have the measure of him until he was shaken up by a ball to the heart in his third over. As often happens, it made him wary to come forward & the next ball kept low to bowl him for just 6. Sumith Katunayake looked to steady the ship but then, with just 18 runs on the board, Euratom hare Shalan Chetty was furious to be adjudged run out by the local umpire who first gave the “third umpire” sign & then, on further appeal, decided to raise his finger ! Things looked grim but Sathya Dasarathan  & Katunayake finally started to build a partnership and took the score to 63 before the Sri Lankan was caught for 14 off Dilson. Liyanage, who had already proved his worth with the bat at Lodi, then looked to hang around while Dasarathan continued to pepper the boundary. The introduction of Michele Afribo looked to signal some relief for the Euratom batsmen but unfortunately his unusual, lanky action proved difficult to read. A series of innocuous deliveries were followed by one which didn’t bounce, bowling Liyanage for 5 before he got a chance to open up.

    Former Dublin League man Carl Rodgers then joined Dasarathan at the crease & watched while the Indian took the score to 99 before he was finally bowled for 41 in Presanga’s second  over.  The writing looked to be on the wall for Euratom  with 34 runs needed & only 3 wickets in hand. Plenty of overs left though & Berry & Rodgers contrived to squeeze singles & extras out of each over as they slowly hauled in the total. Fernando sensibly brought back his best bowler Rohan to snuff out any hope of  victory but his first ball bounced miles over Berry’s head, followed by two to the ribs. The unfortunate Rodgers was then reduced to a limp after Presanga finally got a ball to pitch & broke his big toe. With his concentration gone he was soon bowled with no runs to his name, thereby claiming Mario in his first outing. Shamith Mudalige then kept out some good deliveries & managed to put on a couple with Berry before he too was trapped L.B.W. by Presanga  for a duck & Mario swiftly changed hands. Dai Berry & Ashanta Fernando held on with gritted teeth to the last wicket, the aim being to survive & wait for the extras.  But with 117 on the board Fernando finally fell for 1 to a full toss on middle stump from his namesake, leaving Berry high & dry on 6 and Euratom with 13 overs to spare but 16 runs short of victory.

MOM:   Ashanta Fernando took 3 good wickets at 8 apiece, & Che Smit collected 4 for 35, but they were narrowly shaded to the MOM by Sathya Dasarathan for his 41 runs against difficult bowling & an excellent, towering catch. The Golden Banana has to go to Carl Rodgers for spilling a not too difficult catch & getting a duck. He held Mario only briefly before passing him on to Shamith Mudalige.