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Lakshan and Angelo give Petes an emphatic victory
32nd Joe-Pete limited over
By M. Shamil Amit
Man-of-the-match and best bowler, right arm leggie Lakshan Rodrigo mesmerized the strong Josephian batting line up to give the Peterites an emphatic 40 run win in the annual 32nd limited over encounter at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday. Thus they retain the Rev. Fr. Peter. A. Pillai memorial challenge shield.

Lakshan turned the game in their favour with defeat staring at the Petes when the Joes were well on the road to victory with the score at 55 for no loss in the 14th over. They were chasing a modest target of 153. He changed the complexion of the match within a space of nine overs to send the Joes reeling to 91 for 7 in the 23rd over.

Earlier in the day Pete skipper Hans Fernando won the toss and elected to bat. Once again they were let down by the top order batting as in the big match last week and were struggling on 67 for 7 in the 21st over.

It was the late order batting that came to their rescue, thanks to a face saving 36 from Angelo Perera, which earned him the best batsman award.Together with Shivanga Ranasuriya and Lakshan Rodrigo they put on stands of 37 and 49 for the eighth and ninth wicket respectively which helped the Peterites to make a respectable 153.

The Josephians in their run chase under estimated the Peterites due to the fact they were given a sound start by openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Ruwantha Fernandopulle. However with the dismissal of Karunaratne, the rest failed to take the initiative as they threw away their wickets. With the exception of Thisara Perera (who made a quick-fire 26 in just 11 balls) the others had nothing to offer with none of the batsmen being able to reach double figures. Lakshan ended with figures of 5 for 32 in his ten overs and was supported by his skipper Hans who took 3 for 25 in his ten overs.

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