Peterites have the upper hand over rivals Josephians
St. joseph’s Team
All roads for the past and present boys of St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s will lead to the P. Sara Stadium on March 4 and 5 when the two traditional rivals clash in their annual Battle of the Saints big match. The clash which is the 82nd in the series is fought out for the Rev. Fr. Maurice Le Goc Challenge Trophy. Of the 81 matches that have been played so far the Josephians lead the series with 12 wins as against to the nine by the Peterites.
The Josephians last win was achieved in 2008 under the leadership of Ruwantha Fernandopulle while the Peterites’ last victory was in 2012 under Shehan Fernando. According to the form of the two teams St. Peter’s led by Vinu Mohotty will be coming into the game with full of confidence as they are unbeaten having recorded six outright wins against De Mazenod, President’s Kotte, Prince of Wales, DSS, St Benedict’s and Gurukula MV Kelaniya from the 18 matches that they have played.
In contrast the Josephians led by Sandaruwan Rodrigo too has won six matches outright against Mahanama Colombo, Maris Stella Negombo, De Mazenod, Mahinda Galle, Wesley and St Anthony’s Katugastota but has undergone two outright defeats to Royal and St Benedict’s.
However when looking back at the performances of the two teams the Peterites have been consistent and have been able to remain unbeaten while the Josephians cannot be satisfied and they underwent the biggest setback prior to their big match when they were soundly beaten by St Benedict’s.
Their batting too has not been consistent as only one batsman Malshan Rodrigo has been able to make a score of over 100. Revan Kelley their top scorer of the season with over 650 runs will have the burden of steering the batting for them along with Kevin Corteling. Apart from the duo Shevon Fonseka and Malshan Rodrigo who both have scored over 500 runs will be expected the bolster the middle order batting with skipper Sandaruwan Rodrigo. Much will also be expected from Jehan Daniel the Sri Lanka youth player, Nipun Samarasinghe, Vimukthu Peiris, Thashan Perera and Dineth Madurawala.
St. peter’s Team
To curtail the strong Pete batting the bowling will be in the hands of Malshan Rodrigo and Harin Cooray who together have taken over 130 wickets between them and support will be expected from Ruchira Ekanayake and Charuka Ullandupitiya. On the other hand the Peterites posses a strong batting line up and they have four centurions in the side. Lakshina Rodrigo the batsman who has scored the four centuries has scored over 850 runs while Hashan Wanasekera who has two tons in his season tally of over 800 runs will be the mainstay of the Peterite batting department.
The other two centurions Ranmith Jayasena (650 runs) and Santhush Gunatilleke if he is included in the final playing eleven along with Manelker de Silva skipper Vinu Mohotty, Inesh Fernando and Anishka Perera will be expected to make their contributions to bolster the Peters scoreboard. There is no shortage of amour in their bowling attack too and they will be banking on two bowlers Taneesha Weerakoon their top wicket taker with over 80 scalps and skipper Mohotty who has taken over 70 wickets and they have plenty more in Sadish Pathiranage, Dinal Jayakody, Ravindu Silva and Manelker to give the duo the backing.
All in all the supporters of both the sides are going to have two days of entertaining cricket. However for an outcome of the match it will depend on the runs scored in the first inning due to the 60 overs restriction. The two day encounter will be followed by the limited over clash which is played for the Rev. Fr. Peter Pillai memorial Challenge Trophy which is scheduled to be played on March 12 at R. Premadasa Stadium.
This is the 42nd match in the series and in this version too the Josephians are leading with 21 wins as against to the 18 by the Peterites.
- MSA