A batting failure during the Under-19 tournament proper, Chandula Jayamanne justified his late inclusion in the team with a valuable century as St. Peter’s posted 282 runs before Sri Lanka Under-19 bat Sadeera Samarawickrama exhibited his prowess to guide St. Joseph’s to 92 for two wickets at close on day one of the 80th Battle of the Saints encounter at P. Sara Oval in Colombo on Friday.
Jayamanne was dropped from the Petes First XI team after a series of failures and the team management took a huge gamble when he was selected ahead of Sanjula Madushan (with 565 runs during the season) for the annual Big Match. Yesterday, he took the opportunity with both hands as he joined deputy skipper Janith Liyanage to put on a 151 run stand for the third wicket. Put to bat formidable openers Dineth Thimodya and Hashan Wanasekara lost their wickets cheaply, but Jayamanne managed to guide Petes to safety. He scored 116 runs inclusive of nine fours and five sixes in 131 balls before being out caught and bowled by spinner Aravinda Akurugoda who rattled the late order with a six wicket haul.
Courtesy: Reemus Fernando – The Island
Jayamanne’s century was only the fifth century by a Peterite in the series since 2000 and was the first after Shehan Fernando scored an unbeaten 159 runs in 2011. Liyanage scored 80 runs (in 91 balls) laced with six fours and three sixes.
In their essay Joes too lost their openers cheaply when speedsters Janith Liyanage and Chemila Obeysekera accounted for Yashan Samarasinghe and skipper Dylan Fernandopulle to leave Joes in trouble. But Samarawickrama, returning to the side after doing well in the Youth World Cup, managed to guide the team. Samarawickrama scored an unbeaten 62 runs in 56 balls (10x4s) and was involved in a 53-run stand with Pathum Madusanka when bad light forced umpires to stop play with more than an hours play remaining. While Samarawickrama was solid in his unbeaten knock reaching his half century in 46 balls, Madusanka lived dangerously against spinner Sahan Nanayakkara. Madusanka received life when he was dropped by Jayamanne at slips off the bowling of Nanayakkara.