Light fails certain Peterite victory
Bad light may have prevented St. Peter’s the joy of celebrating a thrilling victory but unsporty behavior by certain St. Joseph’s supporters gave them something to cheer about despite the 82nd Battle of the Saints ended in a thrilling draw at the P. Sara Oval yesterday.
Peterites celebrate as St. Joseph's batsman Nipun Samarasinghe is run out for 51 - Pic by Ranjith Perera
St. Peter’s in pursuit of 66 runs in 12 overs was denied a well-deserved win when they were 59 for 4 in 9.2 overs with just seven runs away and just under two overs of play left but they were awarded the win by the Rector of St. Joseph’s Fr. Travis Gabriel. It was evident that St. Joseph’s supporters invaded the field when their team plucked Peterite wickets, at times causing long delays. St. Peter’s, chasing 66 runs in 12 overs under fading lights had to overcome the emotional stress of being deliberately holding play by their rival camp supporters, which occurred four times, when they lost wickets. Fr. Travis Gabriel speaking to the Sunday Times said that the Peterites deserved the win.
“At the latter stages of the game there was too much of disturbance due to the crowd invading the field so many times which was a stumbling block to get on with game properly and I took the decision of awarding the match to St. Peter’s.”
The win was awarded to the Petes at the awards ceremony after the game ended in a thrilling draw. Bad light emerged as the savior for St. Joseph’s while it stood across a certain St. Peter’s, who was denied a well-deserved as bad light put an abrupt stoppage when they were 59 for 4 in 9.2 overs with just seven runs away off under two overs.
For the Josephians, it was a narrow escape as they were struggling for survival in the first two sessions of play having resumed their second innings from their overnight score of 28 for no loss. But action of their supporters eventually bounced back on the poor players who put up a gallant performance.
The Josephians came into the field on the second day with a daunting task of having to erase a deficit of 170 runs after being made to follow on in the opening day. St. Joseph’s fought well to post 263 after being forced follow on after while frustrating the Peterites, who were eager for a win. In the first innings St. Joseph’s were bowled out for 106 in reply to St. Peter’s 304 for 9 in the restricted 60 overs of batting in the innings.
Resuming from 28 for no loss in the second innings, the Josephians had to struggle all the way before being dismissed in the second innings, which left a target of 66 runs in 12 overs for the Peterites. Despite a fighting knock of 31 not out from Lakshina Rodrigo and quick knocks from the top order St. Peter’s had end their effort with the departing sun, which prevented them from a well earned win.
Earlier on Josephian openers Revan Kelly and skipper Sandaruwan Rodrigo came with intentions of holding fort, but they were separated after adding 14 runs to the overnight score. Kelly fell to Ravindu Silva offering a simple catch to Lakshina Rodrigo.Skipper Rodrigo did not last long, he was sent back to the pavilion by Weerakoon, St. Joseph’s nightmare in the first innings. By then Rodrigo and Nipun Samarasinghe had added 29 runs for the second wicket.
Much would have been expected from Sri Lanka youth player Jehan Daniel. But he too failed to deliver the goods — for the second successive time in the game – and was dismissed for just one run when the Josephian score was on 93.
With the situation turning bad to worse the Josephians looked unsettled until Nipun Samarasinghe, who top scored for St. Joseph’s, helped them raise their heads. Samarasinghe got together with Pahan Perera and gradually progressed, lifting the Josephians from their horrid situation. However, bad luck struck Samarasinghe, ending his short yet gallant resistance with an unexpected run out. By then Samarasinghe got together with Perera to add 31 runs for the fourth wicket and had done his best in contributing a valuable knock of 51 runs inclusive of seven boundaries.
When the first session of the second and final day ended for lunch, Perera and Neran Gunatileke were gradually building up momentum with a valuable partnership of 33 runs for the fifth wicket as the Josephians reached 157 for 4. Yet, the Josephians are not yet out of the woods as the determined Peterites are waiting for the correct time to strike with two more sessions to go. Had the Josephians succumbed early, they would have faced a certain defeat.
But Gunatileke emerged the hero for the Josephians after his fighting knock of 72 which had eight boundaries. Useful knocks coming from Pahan Perera and Shevond Fonseka helped them recover and post 263.
On the opening day St. Peter’s were put into bat first and they posted 304 for 9 wickets in the restricted 60 overs of batting in the innings and swelled by two useful partnerships. The first was between Hashan Wanasekara and Lakshina Rodrigo for the third wicket which was 65 runs, followed by a 108-run stand between Manelka de Silva and Ranmith Jayasena for the fifth wicket. Wanasekera hit 56 and de Silva top scored with 71. St. Joseph’s in their turn was able to survive only 32.3 overs after Weerakoon ran through their batting lineup. Eventually they were bundled out for a meager 106 with Taneesha Weerakoon’s impressive 6 for 33 and were forced to follow on.
Scoreboard
St. Peter’s College 1st innings
Imesh Fernando c Kelly b S. Rodrigo 29
Anisha Perera b Daniel 8
Hashan Wanasekera c M. Rodrigo 53
Lakshina Rodrigo lbw b Cooray 18
Ranmith Jayasena c Ekanayake b Daniel 56
Manelka de Silva lbw b Ullandupitiya 71
Vinu Mohotti hit wkt b Ullandupitiya 14
Ravindu Silva not out 14
Taneesha Weerakoon c S. Rodrigo b Ekanayake 1
Randel Seneviratne c M. Rodrigo b Ekanayake 18
Sadish Pathiranage not out 0
Extras (b1, lb5, nb7, w4) 17
Total (9 wickets: 60 overs) 304
Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Perera), 2-59 (Fernando), 3-124 (Wanasekera), 4-131 (Rodrigo), 5-239 (de Silva), 6-267 (Mohotty), 7-269 (Jayasena), 8-273 (Weerakoon), 9-302 (Seneviratne).
Bowling: Ruchira Ekanayake 6-0-55-2, Jehan Daniel 17-1-79-3, Sandaruwan Ekanayake 5-0-23-1, Harin Cooray 10-2-39-1, Charuka Ekanayake 12-0-52-2, Malshan Rodrigo 3-0-22-0, Pahan Perera 7-0-28-0.
St. Joseph’s College 1st innings
Revan Kelly c Pathiranage b R. Silva 11
Sandaruwan Rodrigo c Perera b R. Silva 8
Nipun Samarasinghe c Rodrigo b Weerakoon 25
Jehan Daniel c Perera b M. de Silva 11
Pahan Perera lbw b Weerakoon 14
Neran Gunatileke b Weerakoon 0
Shevon Fonseka c Rodrigo b Weerakoon 0
Malshan Rodrigo c Rodrigo b Mohotty 7
Charuka Ullandupitiya lbw b Weerakoon 0
Harin Cooray not out 0
Ruchira Ekanayake c Wanasekera b Weerakoon 18
Extras (nb7, w5) 12
Total (all out: 32.3 overs) 106
Fall of wickets: 1- 15 (Kelly), 2-23 (S. Rodrigo), 3-39 (Daniel), 4-74 (Perera), 5-79 (Samarasinghe), 6-79 (Fonseka), 7-87 (Gunatileke), 8-87 (M. Rodrigo), 9-87 (Ullandupitiya).
Bowling: Randel Seneviratne 6-2-17-0, Ravindu Silva 7-1-28-2, Manelka de Silva 3-0-17-1, Taneesha Weerakoon 10.3-1-33-6, Vinu Mohotty 6-2-11-1.
St. Joseph’s College 2nd innings (28/0 overnight)
Revan Kelly c Rodrigo b R. Silva 20
Sandaruwan Rodrigo c Fernando b Weerakoon 31
Nipun Samarasinghe run out 51
Jehan Daniel b Mohotty 1
Pahan Perera lbw b Pathiranage 30
Neran Gunatileke lbw b Weerakoon 72
Shevon Fonseka c Fernando b Pathiranage 22
Malshan Rodrigo lbw b Weerakoon 16
Charuka Ullandupitiya lbw b Mohotty 6
Harin Cooray b Weerakoon 6
Ruchira Ekanayake not out 0
Extras (lb3, nb4, w1) 0
Total (all out: 107.5 overs) 263
Fall of wickets: 1-42 (Kelly), 2-71 (S. Rodrigo), 3-93 (Daniel), 4-124 (Samarasinghe), 5-159 (Perera), 6-185 (Fonseka), 7-206 (M. Rodrigo), 8-231 (Ullandupitiya), 9-258 (Gunatileke).
Bowling: Taneesha Weerakoon 39.5-8-81-4, Ravindu Silva 15-2-44-1, Vinu Mohotty 37-8-69-2, Sadish Pathiranage 17-3-39-2, Randel Seneviratne 8-2-77-0, Manelka de Silva 1-1-0-0.
St. Peter’s College 2nd innings
Imesh Fernando c Kelly b Daniel 2
Anisha Perera b Daniel 0
Hashan Wanasekera c S. Rodrigo b Ekanayake 15
Lakshina Rodrigo not out 31
Manelka de Silva c M. Rodrigo b Ekanayake 2
Vinu Mohotty not out 0
Extras (b1, lb1, w7) 9
Total (4 wickets: 9.2 overs) when play stopped 59
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Perera), 2-11 (Fernando), 3-49 (Wanasekera), 4-59 (M. de. Silva).
Bowling: Jehan Daniel 5-0-27-2, Harin Cooray 2-0-15-0, Ruchira Ekanayake 2.2-0-15-2.