Sawmiyan, Thanujan shine in drawn match

St. John’s opening pair Christy Thanujan and Nagenthirarajah Sawmiyan shone for St John’s Jaffna in their drawn 113th Battle of the North big match against traditional rivals Jaffna Central concluded at the Central ground in Jaffna yesterday.

The pair made amends of their failure in the first innings as they led the sides’ fight back with half tons. Thanujan made 66 and Sawmyan hit 50 and associted in a valuable opening stand of 134 runs.

The knocks helped the Johnians resuming their second innings from their overnight score of 121 for 0 to make a score o f 245 for 9 declared leaving the Centralites a victory target of 232 runs.

However, the Centralites were able to face only 40 overs which saw their skipper Selvarasa Mathushan making a captain’s knock of 65 and the match eventually ending in a tame draw. Chief Scores:

St. John’s 181 (Theviendram Dinoshan 98, Murfin Abinash 24, C. Thanujan 19: Kamalrasa Iyalarasan 5 for 54, V. Viyaskanth 3 for 43) and 2nd innings (121/0 overnight) ( N. Sawmiyan 50, C. Thamujan 66, A. Abishek 31 not out; S Mathushan 3 for 51, V. Viyaskantha 4 for 88)

Jaffna Central 1st innings 195 (Kamalrasa Iyalarasan 77, V. Viyaskanth 41, A. Jeyatharshan 21, B. Inthujan 15: A. Saran 3 for 54, E. Denushan 2 for 11, T. Dinohsan 2 for 25) and 2nd innings 176 for 7 in 40 overs Sarangan 5, K. Iyalarasan 27, A. Jeyatharshan 23, S. Mathushan 65; T. Dinoshan 1 for 27, A. Abishek 1 for 24, M. Abinash 2 for 29)