SAINTS BATTLE IS BOUND TO BE A CLOSE TUSSLE
The Josephians lead the series with 12 wins The Peterites have ten wins having won the encounter last year under Vinu Mohottty The Peterites are led by Lakshina Rodrigo
All roads for the young and old boys of St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s will lead to the P. Sara Stadium today and tomorrow as their two teams march on to the cricket field for the annual “Battle of the Saints” cricket encounter. This is the 83rd game in the series.
The Josephians lead the series with 12 wins. Their last win was in 2008 under the leadership of Ruwantha Fernandopulle. The Peterites have ten wins having won the encounter last year under Vinu Mohottty, thanks to the sportsmanship of St. Joseph’s rector Rev. Fr. Travis Gabriel who awarded the win to St. Peter’s due to a crowd invasion when the Peterites were on the verge of winning the game.
However this time out, with both the teams coming into the game with unbeaten records, predicting the outcome of the match is not going to be easy. Likewise the two teams possess talented players which is one of the reasons that it could be anybody’s game.
The Peterites are led by Lakshina Rodrigo. They have a better record having played 18 matches and having secured five outright wins against St. Anthony’s Wattala, Maris Stella, St. Mary’s Kegalle, St. Sebastian’s Moratuwa and St. Benedict’s. In contrast the Josephians led by Harin Cooray have played 18 matches and has been able to win three of them against St. Patrick’s Jaffna, Maris Stella and Bandaranayake MV Gampaha.
Nevertheless, for any school, their traditional encounter is something special and in the “Battle of the Saints” there are no underdogs this time. The supporters of both sides could expect a keenly contested and close encounter.
The Josephian batting will revolve around their leading run maker Nipun Sumanasinghe who had the honour of being the first player this season to reach the coveted 1000 runs mark. Altogether he has made three tons and five half tons.
To support him there is Dineth Madurawala who has made over 800 runs including four tons and two half tons. Shewon Fonseka, the other player to crack a ton, has also has scored over 650 runs. Pahan Perera, Jehan Fernandopulle and Jehan Daniel are the three batsmen that the Petes will have to keep an eye on. Pahan, though making over 550 runs, is a player with better potential but has not lived up to expectations. He is capable of doing the needful in this game while much will be expected from the two Jehans.
Skipper Harin ended as the top bowler of the side with 77 scalps to his credit and the bowling is bound to revolve around him. The skipper will look for support from Ruchira Ekanayake, Nipun Sumanasinghe, Havin Perera and Dineth Jayakody to curtail the strong Peterite batting line-up. The Peterites on the other hand will bank their batting on two players - Santhush Gunatileke and skipper Lakshina - both have been amongst the runs right through out this season. Santhush was unfortunate to miss out in achieving 1000 runs before the big game when he was dismissed for 85, needing 128 runs and fell short by 43 runs.
Santhush ended with 957 runs and has two tons and seven half tons to his credit. He will no doubt, will be looking forward to achieve the 1000 runs to make a memorable big match. He will be the one for the Josephians to keep an eye on. Skipper Lakshina along with two others - Manelker de Silva and Anishka Perera - are the other centurions of the side. Apart from the ton he has scored Lakshina has made eight half tons having accumulated over 850 runs while Manelker, who has scored over 600 runs and Anishka 500, has three half tons each.
Shalith Fernando, who has scored over 700 runs inclusive of seven half tons along with the above mentioned players, Ranmith Jayasena and Vinul Gunawardena the Josephian bowlers will have to draw up a plan to dismiss them early or else there is going to be trouble for them. Left arm spinner Mohamed Ameen Miflal will be cynosure of all eyes in the bowling department and will be their trump card for the Peterites. This youngster has been among the wickets on a regular basis having had the honour of being the first to achieve the magical 100 wickets in a season, the only player to do it so far . He could be the match winner along with Santhush and skipper Lakshina.
The support of Chathura Obeysekera, who has taken over 70 wickets and make shift bowlers Santhush Gunatileke, Sachin Silva and Manelker de Silva, would be looking forward to curtail the Josephian batting. Lastly the organisers this time out, the joint committee of the two schools are not leaving any stone un-turned. Trouble makers beware. Stern action will be taken as the relevant officials have been advised to take strict action.
The chief guest at the 83rd “Battle of the Saints” will be Kitto Fernandopulle who led the Peterites in 1979.
The two day encounter will be followed by the 43rd limited over encounter which is played for the Fr. Peter A. Pillai trophy. This game is scheduled to be played on March 25 at SSC ground, returning to the venue after 1994.
In this segment too the Josephians are leading with 21 wins to the 19 by the Peterites -with two matches being washed out. PIX BY NISAL BADUGE