Postponed 87th Battle of the Saints at SSC tomorrow
Dunith Wellalage - St. Joseph’s captain
All arrangements have been finalised to conduct the postponed Battle of the Saints big match cricket encounter between traditional rivals St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s colleges, which is to be played under strict health guidelines set by the health authorities with only the parents of players and no spectators allowed to the venue.
The encounter will be the 87th in the series and is scheduled to be played on December 13 and 14 with the limited over encounter to be played two days later on December 16. For the first time in history of the Saints’ battle the two-day match will be played at the SSC ground.
From the 86 encounters fought out for the Fr. Maurice Le Goc Memorial Trophy, the Josephians are in the lead with 12 wins having recorded their last win in 2008 under the leadership of Ruwantha Fernandopulle while the Peterites have 10 times, with the last win coming in 2016 under Vinu Mohotti.
Sri Lanka youth captain and fourth year coloursman Dunith Wellalage will spearhead the Josephians while fifth year coloursman Nipunaka Fonseka will guide the Peterites and with the two experienced players leading the side the battle points to an interesting end.
School cricket has taken a back seat for a considerable period and it’s going to be a blessing for the youngsters, who have been in hunger to showcase their talent. Of course performance-wise there is no record to mention regarding the players from both sides apart from a few practice matches that they have played.
Nipunaka Fonseka - St. Peter’s captain
The two sides’ posses players who represented the Sri Lanka junior national team with Josephians having skipper Wellalage, Sadeesh Jayawardena and Shevon Daniel while the Peterites have in their ranks Wanuja Sahan, Lahiru Dewalage and Danal Hemananda.
Apart from these players the Josephians will bank on players in the calibre of Sheran Fonseka, Mithira Thenura, Dinal Anuradha and Shenuka de Silva while the Peterites will pin their hopes on skipper Fonseka, Vinula Liyanage, Shenal Boteju, Nimuthu Gunawardena and Niman Umesh to deliver the goods.
But no doubt the focus is going to be the two captains Dunith Wellalage, who has had a successful stint in the two Youth ODI series against Bangladesh and England and Nipunaka Fonseka, who has been in the forefront in the Peterites in the last few seasons.
The limited over encounter played for the Fr. Peter Pillai Trophy, the 46th in the series, also will be played at the SSC ground. The Josephians lead series with 23 wins while St. Peter’s have 20 wins, while two matches were washed out.
History
The Battle of the Saints encounter started off in 1933 and 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 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 is 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 uns.