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72nd Battle of the Saints
Sixth wicket pair sees Joes to safety
By M. Shamil Amit
The 72nd Battle of the Saints between St Joseph’s and St Peter’s concluded at the P. Sara Stadium yesterday fizzled out to another draw taking the tally to 54 for the series. The Josephians who were set a victory target of 165 in 32 overs went for the runs but with wickets falling at regular intervals they gave up the chase with the match being called off after the 17th over due to bad light.

But the credit of the performance on the second day should go the Josephian duo Dimuth Karunaratne and Thisara Perera who put on a match saving 130 runs in just 115 balls for the sixth wicket when they were back to the wall at the end of the first day’s play.The pair joined when the Joes were down on 71 for 5 and Thisara in particular was explosive as he made a 61 ball knock of 91 that included six hits to the ropes and seven towering sixes. Dimuth though slow in making an unbeaten 71 in 123 balls with four boundaries and a six, it was a worthwhile knock which took the Joes out of the woods.

The pair also erased the record of 107 for the sixth wicket held by Ken Serpanchy and Milroy Brohier made way back in 1952. When the Joes reached the score of 201 at which came the dismissal of Thisara who was caught at long on by a fantastic air borne catch taken by Umhar Samsudeen off skipper Hans Fernando they ended their innings for the lost of six wickets.
The Peterites batting the second time were again let down by the top order batsmen and they were struggling on 64 for 5. But skipper Hans Fernando who made 64 with 11 boundaries and again Angelo Perera who contributed a valuable 37 with four boundaries who along with Umhar Samsudeen put on a 32 run stand for the ninth wicket helped the Petes to make 147.

Pacie Thisara Perera was the wrecker capturing five wickets following his three in the first innings which earned him the best bowler, all rounder and the man of the match awards with Dimuth Karunaratne also of St Joseph’s the best batsman, Peterite Dasun Randika the best fielder.

The traditional encounter is played with brotherhood between the two top schools of the island but it was sad to see the behaviour of some of the players in front of a large gathering who came to enjoy. These kinds of actions will provoke spectators and the authorities concerned should see that it is not repeated and that they play the game the way it has to be played.

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