St. Peter’s opener Shehan Fernando brightened up the crowd in a game which was heading for an inevitable draw at the P. Sara Stadium with a swashbuckling 159 which gave a fitting finale to the 77th Battle of the Saints against St. Joseph’s which ended yesterday.
Shehan’s unbeaten knock came off just 151 balls which included 14 boundaries and five sixes. In the process he along with his partner Shasheen Fernando created a new first wicket record partnership for St Peter’s in the series by putting on 147 runs eclipsing the record of 97 set by Amal Silva and Michael Ellias way back in 1980.
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| Peterite opener Shehan Fernando in action against St. Joseph’s in the 77th ’’Battle of the Saints”. - Pic by Ranjith Perera |
Shehan put on another century stand of 102 runs for the second wicket with skipper Denham Perera as St. Peter’s batting the second time made 260 for 2 when bad light stopped play for the second successive day.
Earlier in the day St. Joseph’s resuming from their overnight score of 126 for 4 went on to make 224 for 9 before declaring in reply to the St. Peter’s score of 189.
Skipper Rosco Thattil and Priyamal Perera who were the overnight batsmen had already added a valuable 85 runs on day one which saved the side from embarrassment. But they were able to add only a further five runs as they were separated.
Their separation saw the Josephians losing wickets at regular intervals. Skipper Rosco and Priyamal in the process went on to make half tons with the duo making identical knocks of 50. Rosco had six and Priyamal seven boundaries.
There were no other valuable contributions between the wickets beside a quick fire knock of 38 coming from Chathuranga Kumara.
The opening day’s play saw the Peterites being invited to bat being wrecked by the right and left pace combination of Chathuranga Kumara and Dinal Dhambarage who together send them reeling to 56 for 5.
This was followed by a fine rescue act between Nilochana Perera and Kavinda Tissera who took the side out of the woods with a match saving stand of 86 runs for the sixth wicket which helped the Peterites make a respectable score of 189.
But even then the Josephians in their turn too had to undergo some anxious moments with the Peterite right arm pacies Nilochana Perera and Lahiru Jayaratne sending shockwaves to have them struggling 41 for 4 before skipper Rosco and Priyamal joined.The pacies from both the sides had a field day with Josephians Chathuranga Kumara (four) and Dinal Dhambarage (three) sharing seven wickets and the Peterite pair Lahiru Jayaratne and Nilochana Perera sharing wickets the same way.
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