The 80th Josephian-Peterite encounter did not bring a desired result. Rain played a major part in this debacle as 29 overs were lost on the first day of play. The venue P.Saravanamuttu Colombo Oval once again proved to be the ideal hunting ground for the big match. Josephians and Peterites all over the world were treated to live streaming of the match courtesy of ThePapare.Com – a live feed sponsored by Dialog. Kudos to Dialog for this magnanimous gesture which I believe will bring an appreciable return on investment for the goodwill.
By: Upali Obeyesekere in Toronto and files from Algi Wijewickrema in Colombo
The 80th "Battle of the Saints" began bright enough after the heavy rains that poured the previous evening.
Precisely at 8.45 the Chief Guest Asoka Jayamanna, a past Josephian captain (1988) and current MD of the Ramada Hotel, Katunayake, arrived led by the smartly clad Josephian western band. The hoisting of the National Flag by the chief guest, the singing of the National anthem, the hoisting of the College flags by the respective Rectors, Rev. Frs. Trevor Martin of St. Peter's and Travis Gabriel of St. Joseph's took place which was followed by the introduction of the teams and officials to the chief guest.
The Peterite captain, Kavinda de Tissera called wrong at the toss that followed but the Josephian captain, Dylan Fernandopulle chose to put the Peterites in first and the match started promptly at 9.30.
The Josephian opening bowlers, Fabian Fernando and Trishan Tanuja opened their respective overs with wide balls but settled later to controlling the swinging ball. The first to go was the prolific run getter for the Peterites, Dineth Thimodya for 10 with the score at 27 and then Hashan Wanasekera for 18 with the score at 44.
It was then that the crowd was treated to some excellent batting by the Peterite vice captain, Janith Liyanage and No 4 batsman Chandula Jayamanne. They cut, pulled, drove all round the wickets to post a 151 run stand for the 3rd wicket, with no less than 10 sixes hammered between them. This partnership fell short by 22 runs of equaling a previous record of 173 between Rohan Bultjens and Kitto Fernandopulle who incidentally is the current Asst. Coach of the Peterites and a cousin of the Josephian Captain. The Partnership between Liyanage and Jayamanne which was unbroken at lunch ended after the resumption with Liyanage's dismissal for 80 with the score at 195.
Jayamanne continued merrily to earn a well deserved century but was eventually out for 116. Jayamanne faced 131 balls and had 9 hits to the ropes with 5 towering sixes much to the delight of the Peterite schoolboys who were their in numbers to cheer their heroes. Going for runs later in the inning, the Peterites saw the rest of the batting collapse and were eventually all out for 282 in the last of the allotted overs (60th over).
The Joes had an inauspicious start to their inning as their captain, Fernandopulle went without bothering the scorers with the scoreboard reading only 4. They lost the other opener Yashan Samarasinghe for 8 with the score on 39 but like the Peterites, thier 3rd wicket pair of Sadeera Samarawickerma and Pathum Madushanka steadied the inning with an unbroken partnership of 53 runs with Samarawickrema not out on a well made 62 and Madushanka not out on 17. Incidentally Samarawickrema and Madushanka are both members of the Sri Lanka under 19 squad.
The Joes had reached 92 for 2 facing 21.3 overs -and only 81.3 of the scheduled 105 overs bowled- when bad light stopped play around 4.40 p.m. with rain coming down soon thereafter.
SPC 282 & 181 – SJC 251/8 wickets decl.
On day-2 Saturday – the sun was shining bright when the Josephian overnight batsmen Samarawickrema and Madushanka walked in to continue thier 53-run partnership the day before.
SCOREBARD
80th Battle of the Saints
Underdogs St. Joseph’s College took the bull by the horns as their team hounded St. Peter’s College like a pack of wolves to come out with flying colours and draw their 80th Battle of the Saints big match cricket encounter at the P Sara Oval in Colombo yesterday.The Josephians turned the match on its head and took all 20 Peterite wickets to embarrass their opponents who graced the field as the better team to call the shots.
The Peterites were never able to hide the fact that the Josephians by declaring their first innings at 251 for 8, 31 runs behind, took the match away.That the Peterites eventually managed to save face and salvage a draw after slumping to 87 for 7 at one stage, a lead of just 118 runs with 44 overs left, was not necessarily a miracle but made possible by late order batsman Oshan Karunaratne who was the only batsman to stand in the way of the Josephians with a masterful innings of 66 as the rest caved in.
The Josephian bowlers did nothing extra-ordinary other than bowl keeping to the basics which was enough to dismantle the boastful Peterite batting line-up.
The only blemish of the Josephians may have been that they just lacked the killer punch to finish off the Peterites at 106 for 8 in the second innings when Karunaratne and Sahan Nanayakkara came together and then put on a record 60 runs for the ninth wicket.
That the Josephians bagged three of the five awards on offer was ample testimony to the fact that tables were turned in the match which was most memorable for spinner Aravinda Akurugoda who finished with nine wickets for the best bowler’s prize while his mate and fast bowler Fabian Fernando picked up the best allrounder’s trophy after clouting three sixes and two fours in one over from Peterite freshman off-spinner Thaneesha Weerakoon.Peterite batsmen Chandula Jayamanne and Janith Liyanage bagged awards for man-of-the-match and best batsman respectively while Josephian wicket-keeper Kalpa Ravihara was adjudged the best fielder.
– See more at: http://www.nation.lk/edition/sport-online/item/26781-joes-roar-as-hunter-hunted.html#sthash.DP0kKSjN.dpuf
80th Battle of the Saints
Underdogs St. Joseph’s College took the bull by the horns as their team hounded St. Peter’s College like a pack of wolves to come out with flying colours and draw their 80th Battle of the Saints big match cricket encounter at the P Sara Oval in Colombo yesterday.The Josephians turned the match on its head and took all 20 Peterite wickets to embarrass their opponents who graced the field as the better team to call the shots.
The Peterites were never able to hide the fact that the Josephians by declaring their first innings at 251 for 8, 31 runs behind, took the match away.That the Peterites eventually managed to save face and salvage a draw after slumping to 87 for 7 at one stage, a lead of just 118 runs with 44 overs left, was not necessarily a miracle but made possible by late order batsman Oshan Karunaratne who was the only batsman to stand in the way of the Josephians with a masterful innings of 66 as the rest caved in.
The Josephian bowlers did nothing extra-ordinary other than bowl keeping to the basics which was enough to dismantle the boastful Peterite batting line-up.
The only blemish of the Josephians may have been that they just lacked the killer punch to finish off the Peterites at 106 for 8 in the second innings when Karunaratne and Sahan Nanayakkara came together and then put on a record 60 runs for the ninth wicket.
That the Josephians bagged three of the five awards on offer was ample testimony to the fact that tables were turned in the match which was most memorable for spinner Aravinda Akurugoda who finished with nine wickets for the best bowler’s prize while his mate and fast bowler Fabian Fernando picked up the best allrounder’s trophy after clouting three sixes and two fours in one over from Peterite freshman off-spinner Thaneesha Weerakoon.Peterite batsmen Chandula Jayamanne and Janith Liyanage bagged awards for man-of-the-match and best batsman respectively while Josephian wicket-keeper Kalpa Ravihara was adjudged the best fielder.
– See more at: http://www.nation.lk/edition/sport-online/item/26781-joes-roar-as-hunter-hunted.html#sthash.DP0kKSjN.dpuf
St. Peter’s 1st innings 282 – Chandula Jayamanne 116, Janith Liyanage 80, Chemila Obeysekera 20, Hashan Wanasekera 16: (Bowling: Aravinda Akurugoda 6 for 75)
St Josephs 1st innings (92/2 overnight)
Yashan Samarasinghe b Liyanage 08
Dylan Fernandopulle c Dalpadado b Obeysekera 00
Sadeera Samarawickrama b Dharshana 74
Pathum Madusanka b Nanayakkara 72
Priyamal Perera c Liyanage b Nanayakkara 33
Kalpa Ravihara c Karunaratne b Nanayakkara 04
Fabian Fernando not out 42
Hashindra Perera c Nanayakkara b Weerakoon 07
Aravinda Akurugoda c de Tissera b Nanayakkara 03
Trishan Tanuja not out 02
Extras (1b, nb2, w3) 06
Total (8 wickets: 53 overs declared) 251
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-39, 3-114, 4-177, 5-193, 6-204, 7-221, 8-224.
Bowling: Chemila Obeysekera 9-1-38-1, Janith Liyanage 11-1-47-1, Naveen Dharshana 11-0-48-1, Sahan Nanayakkara 13-4-50-4, Thaneesha Weerakoon 5-0-43-1, Chandula Jayamanne 4-0-24-0.
St. Peter’s 2nd innings
Dineth Thimodya lbw b Fernando 01
Hashan Wanasekera st Ravihara b Akurugoda 35
Janith Liyanage b Fernando 04
Chandula Jayamanne b Rodrigo 13
K. de Tissera c Samarawickrama b Akurugoda 22
Sachin Dalpadado lbw b Akurugoda 06
Taneesha Weerakoon c Fernandopulle b Rodrigo 01
Chemila Obeysekera c Ravihara b Fernando 09
Oshan Karunaratne c H. Perera b P. Perera 66
Sahan Nanayakkara c Fernandopulle b Rodrigo 14
Naveen Dharshana not out 00
Extras (b2, lb5, nb2 w1) 10
Total (all out: 68.3 overs) 181
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-6, 3-30, 4-68, 5-86, 6-87, 7-87, 8-106, 9-166.
Bowling: Fabian Fernando 9-3-26-3, Trishan Tanuja 5-2-14-0, Malshan Rodrigo 14-5-38-3, Yashan Samarasinghe 4-1-11-0, Hashindra Perera 13-5-34-0, Aravinda Akurugoda 20-5-41-3, Pathum Madusanka 2-0-6-0, Sadeera Samarawickrama 1-1-0-0, Priyamal Perera 0.3-0-4-1
