Oshan saves the day for St. Peter’s
A stubborn but match saving knock of 66 by Oshan Karunaratne saved St. Peter’s and thus enabling them to force a draw against St. Joseph’s in the 80th Battle of the Saints encounter concluded at P. Sara Stadium yesterday.
Oshan came into the crease when his side was in dire straits in the second innings after right and left arm spin combination of Aravinda Akurugoda and Malshan Rodrigo had ripped through the batting and struggling on 106 for 8.
St. Peter’s first innings centurion Chandula Jayamanne is clean bowled by Josephian Malshan Rodrigo in the second innings for just 13 - Pic by Ranjith Perera
Oshan who made a patience knock of 66 off 126 balls that included nine boundaries and a six frustrated the Josephian bowlers and in the process added a match saving valuable partnership of 60 runs for the ninth wicket with Sahan Nanayakkara which saw St. Peter’s end the day safely with a score of 181.
The ninth wicket partnership between the pair was a new record for St. Peter’s eclipsing a record that stood for 49 years of 53 runs between Tony Opatha and Rodney Patternott in 1965.
Akurugoda spun a web around the Peterite batting after right arm pacie Fabian Fernando made the early breakthrough when he dismissed Dineth Thimodya and the dangerous Janith Liyanage in his first two overs.
Fabian got rid of Dineth in the first over and in next over took the prize wicket of Janith who made 80 in the first innings. Left arm spinner Malshan Rodrigo added salt to the wound of the Peterites when he clean bowled first innings top scorer Chandula Jayamanne as St. Peter’s slid to 30 for 3.
Later Akurugoda made the crucial breakthrough when broke a threatening fourth wicket partnership between skipper Kavinda de Tissera and Hashan Wanasekera after the pair had added 38 runs.
The morning session of play on day two saw St. Joseph’s resuming on their overnight score of 92 for 2 adding a further 22 runs before overnight batsman Sadeera Samarawickrama being dismissed after putting on a partnership of 75 runs for the third wicket with Pathum Madusanka. Sadeera who was 62 added another 12 runs to his tally for a score of 74.
Pathum joined by Priyamal Perera put on another valuable partnership of 63 runs for the fourth wicket before they were separated. Pathum had raced to his half ton but was the sixth Joes wicket to fall at 204 having made a valuable knock of 72.
The Josephian batsmen found left arm spinner Sahan Nanayakkara too hot to handle. They lost wickets at regular intervals and apart from Fabian Fernando who made an unbeaten 42 in just 32 balls the others failed to make any impression.
The Josephians ended their innings with the score on 251 for 8 conceding a 31 runs lead to St Peter’s who made a score of 282 which came on the back of a fine knock of 116 by Chandula Jayamanne and a 80 by Janith Liyanage.
| Scoreboard
St. Peter’s 1st innings 282 (Chandula Jayamanne 116, Janith Liyanage 80, Chemila Obeysekera 20, Hashan Wanasekera 16: Aravinda Akurugoda 6 for 75) |