2013/14 Schools Cricket season is playing around the island in full throttle with crowd pleasing Cricket being played by many Colombo teams. We take a glance at a team which is one of the most pioneer cricket playing schools in Sri Lanka and that is none other than St. Peter’s College, Colombo 4.
St. Peter’s are very strong in Junior Cricket and that foundation has led to few under 19 championships winning outfits in the recent past and with an excellent bunch of young Cricketers in their artillery this season will be no difference for the lads from Bambalapitiya.
History
St. Peter’s College started playing Cricket from the late 1920’s and since then have gradually become a dominant force in Sri Lanka Schools Cricket. They have produced many great Cricketers in the likes of Roy Dias, Tony Opatha, Rumesh Rathnayake, Amal Silva, Vinodhan John, Russell Arnold, Malinda Warnapura, Kaushal Lokuarachchi and Angelo Perera who have brought glory to their alma mater and to Sri Lanka.
St. Peter’s have always been the stepping stone for many talented and exquisite first class players who are always up on the big stage of excellence. The Peterite Cricket has had many golden era’s standing out is 1978-1980 where they were pretty much unbeatable.
Recently St. Peter’s have completely dominated Under 19 Schools Cricket where they have had tasted success in all forms of the game such as traditional 2 day league, 50 over tournaments, 20/20 tournaments and 6 a side tournaments in Sri Lanka.
Re-Cap of 2012/13 season
Under the leadership of all- rounder Dushan Hemantha, Peterites had an outstanding season registering 6 outright wins and they won the under 19 limited over tournament beating St. Benedict’s College in the final. Skipper Dushan scored more than 700 runs with 2 centuries to his name while he took close to 40 wickets. St. Peter’s College had few very talented players in their ranks such as Julian De Zilva (57 wickets), Shasheen Fernando (over 600 runs), Lahiru Milantha (over 600 runs) who was the mainstream of the Peterite winning flow last year. All the above players are currently playing the SLC Premier League tournament this season.
Current 2013/14 season
St. Peter’s College have played 10 matches so far registering 2 outright wins and all the other games have been ended as drawn matches. Peterites recorded their 2 wins against De Mazenod College when they beat the team from Kandana by 141 runs while they beat their familiar foes Isipathana College by 2 wickets in a close thrilling encounter. Before the start of the Under 19 Division 1 Season, St. Peter’s College won their 2nd Murali Harmony Cup.
St. Peter’s College is one of the few teams who have not been defeated during the ongoing 2013/14 cricket season. St. Peter’s College will look to register 3 or more wins in the upcoming games and their main target will be to have 5 wins under their belt before going against their formidable brothers school St. Joseph’s College for the Rev.Fr Maurice Le-Goc Trophy, 80th Joe-Pete Battle of the Saints in March and as always they will be keen to record another victory in this traditional rivalry.
Stand out Captain – Kavinda De Thissera
Right handed middle order batsman Kavinda De Thissera has been bestowed with the responsibility of leading one the finest college cricket teams in Sri Lanka. Kavinda is a 4th year coloursmen and he is the most experienced player this season for Peterites and he will look to bring all his experience into count in order to nurture a champion side. Kavinda has scored nearly 400 runs this season with a century to his name and his main target will be to lead his team to as many wins as possible and personally to score more than 650 runs this season.
Super Vice Captain – Janith Liyanage
Janith Liyanage is by far one of the most exciting fast bowling all-rounders in the current schools cricket circuit. He scored nearly 600 runs last season and this season he has amassed over 450 runs in 7 games including a brilliant 145 runs against St. Sebastian College last week. He missed few games to play Sri Lanka under 19 national trials. Janith Liyanage is very unfortunate to miss out on the ICC Under 19 World Cup squad.
Janith Liyanage playing his 3rd year will be the showstopper for St. Peter’s with his all round abilities to bowl nippy fast mediums with the new ball and to make match winning knocks in the coming games.
Trusted Trio of Dineth, Chemila & Sahan
St. Peter will be hoping for the trusted trio of Dineth Thimodya, Chemila Obeysekara and Sahan Nanayakkara to strike big as they have had a very decent and successful season so far. Dineth Thimodya the left handed opening batsman has scored over 750 runs in 11 games with 2 superb centuries and Dineth will be itching to reach the magical figure of 1000 runs at the end of the season. Tall, lanky left arm spinner Sahan Nanayakkara has taken close to 60 wickets in 11 matches and he will be the main strike bowler for St. Peter’s College during this season. Chemila Obeysekara will be the spearhead of the Peterite attack and he has taken over 30 wickets with the new ball and with his accurate line and length combined with his dangerous late swing, he can be a lethal bowler on his day.
Youth Prospects for the Season
Hashan Wanasekara is a well organized stylish left hand opening batsman who is the opening partner of Dineth Thimodya while Chandula Jayamanne another promising all round component of the Peterite team will bat in the middle order and he will give his team stability with his right arm medium seamers while being the 3rd seaming option for Kavinda to use. Oshan Karunarathne will handle the things from behind the wickets while he can be very useful with the bat. Sanjula Madushan and Didulana Mendis are the other two new comers for this St. Peter’s College team and both these new comers will have a big part to play as middle order batsman while Vinu Mohotty is another fresher who will be the lone off spinner of this team.
The Peterite Head Coach Mr. Keerthi Gunaratne expressed his views to www.thepapare.com on his motive as the head coach “ We want to play positive cricket. Our main aim is to produce Cricketers who can play up to National level. If we bat positively, bowl positively we can have positive results as wins. “
Speaking to www.thepapare.com St.Peter’s College captain Kavinda de Thissera made his intentions clear “ We want to win 5 matches outright, the Spirit within the team is very good, I’m happy to lead this side. Main aim is to win the Big Match “
Full Squad
- Kavinda De Thissera – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Off Spin
- Janith Liyanage – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Medium Fast
- Chemila Obeyesekere – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Medium Fast
- Sahan Nanayakkara – Left Hand Batsman – Slow Left Arm Leg Spin
- Dineth Thimodya – Left Hand Batsman – Right Arm Off Spin
- Chandula Jayamanne – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Medium Fast
- Oshan Karunarathne – Right Hand Batsman – Wicket Keeper
- Hashan Wanasekara – Left Hand Batsman – Right Arm Leg Spin
- Didulana Mendis – Left Hand Batsman – Right Arm Leg Spin
- Sanjula Madushan – Left Hand Batsman – Right Arm Off Spin
- Vinu Mohotti – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Off Spin
- Savin Gunasekara – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Off Spin
- Taneesha Weerakoon – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Off Spin
- Naveen Dharshana – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Medium Fast
- Sachin Dalpathadu – Right Hand Batsman – Left Arm Chinamen
- 16. Manelka De Silva –Left Hand Batsman – Right Arm Medium Fast
Coaching Staff
- Coach – Keerthi Gunaratne
- Assistant Coaches – Kitto Fernandopulle, Piyal Salgado and Shanaka Fernando
- Manager – Mahesh de Silva
- MIC – Sanath Chinthaka
Remaining Fixtures
- January 24/25 vs Prince of Wales College at Moratuwa.
- January 31/February 01 vs St. Thomas College at Mount Lavinia.
- February 14/15 vs St. Benedict’s College at (SPC Hosted Ground)
- Feburary 21/22 vs St. Anthony’s College at Katugasthota
- February 26/27 vs Gurukula College at (SPC Hosted Ground)
- March 7/8 : vs St. Joseph’s College (Big Match) at P. Sara Oval
- March 15 : vs St. Joseph’s College (One day) at R. Premadasa Stadium
