Trinity favourites but St. Anthony’s capable of springing a surprise
The 99th Big Match between Trinity and St. Anthony’s at Katugastota on March 13 and 14 affords the former a chance to re-establish their credentials as one of the leading A Division teams. Everything was rosy in the Trinity garden with the team having won nine games (they added a tenth later) until the match against Isipathana. The Trinity attack was collared in the second innings and this set the stage for the subsequent stellar performances by the Perterites and the old enemy – Royal.
Trinity College
Blessed with a large, talented squad of players, Trinity come out favorites for this game. Consider the record – ten outright wins, three first innings win as against two outright losses and two first innings losses.
A word of caution. The situation was very much the same last year, too. Trinity was expected to walk all over their rivals. But the Antonians surprised all and sundry with two outstanding efforts. They took a one run lead in the Big Match and tied the one dayer.
Small in stature, big indeed, sums up the skipper Raveen Sayer, five in an innings on five occasions, two match bags of nine wickets and a best of 8-51 (St. Aloysius) bespeak his prowess as a bowler. No slouch with the bat, Sayer also has knocks of 62 and 71. A fine, agile fielder, Sayer can proudly say his been there and done it all. Two hundred (147, 115) plus another 97 make Arjuna Jayasinghe the stand out batsman in the side. In between, he has made twenties, thirties and forties. For good measures he has taken 5 for 52 with the ball.
Tall, upright Nushan Weerasinghe has five half countries with a top score of 80. He made a fifty plus last year, so he could be quite familiar with the Antonian bowling, new comer Ailan Jayalath made a hundred against Bandaranaike MV and has four fifties. He is aggressive by nature.
Kaveen Hiniduma, with 3 fifties and 2 forties is another batsman the opponents will have to winkle out early. Hasitha Boyagada has made significant contribution now from time to time. But Sanogeeth Shanmuganathan (top score 90 against Ananda) has not produced runs in keeping with his talent. Naveen Ekanayake has done well 100, and in front of the stumps. The Trinitians have a well balanced attack. Lahiru Kumara (best of 6-28) is speedy but tends to be wayward. Left-armer Pramodya Abeykoon bowls a good line, at a brisk speed. Sayer and Durindu Tillekeratne do the bulk of the bowling, most often in tandem. Tillekeratne is a good fril to the off spin of his skipper. He has excellent match
St. Anthony's College
figures of 12-49 and 10-112.
For the Antonians it will be a case of trial by spin with intermittent incursions from the two pace men.
Two all-rounders — skipper Buvaneka Wijetunga and Ailan Bandara (his deputy) have been the outstanding performers for the Katugastota lads. The skipper has brave knocks of 71 (Wesley) 66 (Royal) and 53 (St. Joseph’s). One feels he can take more responsibility by moving up the order. Wijethunga also performs as a leg spinner, and a pretty useful one at that.
A best of 89 (DS Senanayake) and two other fifties make Bandara a marked man. He can dig in and occupy the crease. He is the king-in of the attack, bowling long spells with his off breaks. His best is a match bag of 12 for 54.
Damitra Panditharatne has underperformed. All Antonians hope that he will come good in his last match. A fine 88 against Nalanda offered a glimpse of his potential. He could attack the Trinity bowlers and cause them some damage.
Openers Pulasthi Bandara and Kanishka Ukgalpaya have made news but not in profusion. Their job will be to see off the Trinity paceman. Kavindu Yapa Bandara with scores of 71 not out, 57 and 49 has shored up the middle-order. However he needs to work on his fielding.
The right-arm and left-arm spin combination of Nimesh Wanasinghe and Uditha Mahindaratne will be called upon for a big effort. Wanasinghe has been quite outstanding with figures of 6-34, 5-58 and 7-56. Mahindaratne (best of 5-42) would do well to use a bit of loop and variation.
Placed in the ‘B’ Division this season, the Antonians have played a lot of matches with ‘A’ Divison sides. That redounds to their credit. To their dismay, they have been unable to net any big fish. They lost four games all to traditional Big Match rivals in Colombo, but had the mortification of seeing four others end in no decisions.
| The Squads. Trinity: Raveen Sayer (Capt), Arjuna Jayasinghe (VC) Nushan Weerasinghe, Kaveen Hiniduma, Naveen Ekanayake, Madhawa Munaweera, Pramodya Abeykoon, Dilan Jayalath, Sanogeeth Shanmuganathan, Lahiru Kumara, Durindu Tillekeratne, Hasitha Boyagoda, Shavindu Amerasinghe, Sachira Gaminda, Thakshila Dodanwela, Dulanjana Siriwardena. St. Anthonys: Buvankeka Wijethunga (Capt), Dilan Bandara (VC) Damitra Panditharatne, Pulasthi Bandara, Kanishka Ukgalpaya, Mohamed Aflar, Uditha Mahindaratne, Kavindu Yapa Bandara, Nimesh Wanasinghe, Janindu Hinsara, Dilanka Wijeratne, Lakjeeva Wijebandara, Dilan Kavinda, Prasad Premaratne, Sathees Wickremaarchchi. |