Josephians favourites, Peterites capable of upset
St. Joseph’s: Johanne de Zilva (captain), Lakshan Gamage, Ashian Daniel, Dineth Jayakody, Dunith Wellalage, Shalinda Seneviratne, Miranga Wickramage, Shevon Daniel, Sheran Fonseka, Sadeesh Jayawardena, Hiran Jayasundara, Shevon Rasool, Shenuka de Silva, Mithira Thenura, Dinal Anuradha, Ashan de Alwis, Lahiru Amarasekera. Officials: Niroshan Bandaratileke (Head Coach), Kavindu Perera (Asst. Coach), Suranga Perera (2nd XI Coach), Prashantha Ranaweera (MIC)
All roads for the young and old boys of the two premier Catholic schools in Colombo – St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s will lead to the P. Sara Stadium as their two teams march on to the cricket field in their annual ‘Battle of the Saints’ encounter which is the 86th in the series on March 6 and 7.
From the 85 encounters fought out for the Rev. Fr. Maurice Le Goc Memorial Trophy that have been played so far, the Josephians lead the series with 12 wins with their last win being in 2008 under the leadership of Ruwantha Fernandopulle while the Peterites have ten wins having won the encounter in 2016 under Vinu Mohottti thanks to the sportsmanship of St. Joseph’s rector Rev. Fr. Travis Gabriel who awarded the win to St. Peter’s due to the crowd invasion when the Peterites were on the verge of winning the game.
This time out the Josephians led by allrounder Johanne de Zilva looks the favoured team due to the fact that they have had a successful season by recording eight outright wins, but the Peterites led by Shannon Fernando are not going to be easy nuts to crack as they are capable of pulling off a surprise.
The Josephians have a host of batsmen in their team who could be a thorn in the flesh and they possess four centurions with Sheran Fonseka the leading scorer of the team having reached the 1,000-run milestone that includes two tons and eight half tons. He will be the batsman to take note of.
The other centurions of the side Dineth Jayakody has scored 763 runs inclusive of two tons and four half tons, allrounder Dunith Wellalage (748) with a ton and five half tons, and skipper Johanne (731) inclusive of a ton and five half tons, will be the players that the Peterites will have to get rid of early if they are looking at gaining an early advantage.
The Josephian bowling attack has been in the hands of spinners Miranga Wickramage who is their leading wicket-taker with 65 scalps and Dunith Wellalage (61). They will depend on the pair along with Shalinda Seneviratne, Ashian Daniel and skipper Johanne who all will be expected to put in their contribution to curtail the Peterite batting.
St. Peter’s: Shannon Fernando (captain), Nipunaka Fonseka, Bhanuka de Silva, Ruwin Seneviratne, Kanishka Maduwantha, Trishen Wickramasinghe, Rishitha Dawatage, Wanuja Sahan, Vinula Liyanage, Shenal Boteju, Danal Hemananda, Lahiru Dawatage, Sanshay Gunatileke, Niman Umesh, Senaka Galagoda, Nimuthu Gunawardena, Shenal Seneviratne, Saviru Peiris. Officials: Roger Wijesuriya (Coach), Sanath Chinthaka (MIC)
The Peterites’ trump card in the batting department will be Nipunaka Fonseka who is their leading scorer with 528 runs and is one of the three centurions. He also has four half tons under his belt.
Much will be expected from Kanishka Maduwantha and Wanuja Sahan the other two centurions of the side. Kanishka has made 451 runs, Wanuja (418), Rishitha Dwatage (412) and skipper Shannon (375) will be the other batsmen from whom the Peterites will depend.
The Peterite bowling will revolve around two bowlers Ruvin Seneviratne their top bowler who has taken 63 wickets and Kanishka Maduwantha (59) and support will be expected from Trishen Wickramasinghe and Danal Hewananda.
Nevertheless for any school their traditional encounter is something special and as mentioned even though the Josephians are coming into the game having the edge, they cannot afford to take the Peterities lightly, as in the past the underdogs have come out on top and likewise the two teams’ possess talented players which is one of the reason that it could be anybody’s game.
The two-day encounter will be followed by the 46th limited over encounter fought out for the Fr. Peter A. Pillai trophy which is scheduled to be played on March 22 at SSC ground. In this segment too the Josephians are leading with 23 wins being the winners last year, to 20 by the Peterites with two matches being washed out.
| History The ‘Battle of the Saints’ encounter started off in 1933 and was played at St. Peter’s ground in Bambalapitiya. The Josephians who won the inaugural game were led by Robert Fernando and the Peterites by George Jayaweera. The matches were not played in the year 1942 and 1943 due to the World War. The match venue from 1933 to 1941 was played at the venue of the two schools. The other venues were Varsity ground, SSC, NCC, R. Premadasa Stadium and P. Sara Stadium. The limited over version began in 1975 with the Peterites led by Bernard Wijetunge making a winning start while the Josephians were led by Dushan Soza. This being deemed as the oldest or longest among the schools. | |
| Records The lowest score of the series is by St. Peter’s who were bundled out for 36 runs in 1972 and St. Joseph’s lowest score is 56 in 1938. In the limited overs, the lowest is again by St. Peter’s who were bowled out for 58 in 2003. Clive Inman holds the highest score in the two-day version when he made 204 in 1954 while Shenal Warnakula holds the best bowling record of 9 for 41 which he achieved in 1997. In the shorter version, Hashan Warnasekera holds the batting record when he made 118 runs in the 42nd encounter and set a new partnership record of 152 runs. | |