The much look forward to big match clash between the two leading cricket playing schools in Moratuwa Prince of Wales and St Sebastian’s will take place on March 11 and 12 at De Zoysa Stadium in Moratuwa.
This is the 61st in the series which the Cambrians are leading with six wins against two to the Sebs. This will be followed with the limited over 26th encounter due to be played on March 13 at the same venue. In this version too the Cambrians are leading with 12 wins to 11 by the Sebs and two matches being abandoned due to rain.
The last win in the series was achieved by the Cambrians in 1977 when the side was led by Pemlal Fernando while the last win for the Sebs was way back in 1966 under Sarath Perera. So more than the 33 year jinx the Sebs will be going all out to break the 44 year hoodoo which they are capable of doing it with the team they possess.
Nevertheless it will be interesting to see how the two teams will battle it out in the middle as they will be coming into the game with an unbeaten record this season.
But looking at the performances of the Sebs they seem to have the edge over their rivals due to the fact that they have recorded seven wins from the 14 matches that they played while the Cambrians have only one outright win from 16 matches played.
The Sebs this year is led by Sri Lanka youth player Sanitha de Mel who was not able to play the full season due to national duty. But even then he was consistent when he came back at the latter part of the season.
Charith Fernando who led the team in the absence of Sanitha will be one of the players to watch in this encounter. The batting will revolve round two top players Oshada Fernando and Deshan Dias who has scored three tons this season.
They have four other players who have scored tons in skipper Sanitha, Charith, Oshada and Marlon Fernando. Oshada was their top batsman accumulating over 900 runs while Deshan comes in second with over 800 runs.
Charith has chalked up over 600 runs and Anuk de Alwis the last year captain over 500 runs while Marlon has made over 400 runs. So with this strong batting line up it’s going to be a daunting task for the Cambrians.
The Sebs bowling department will be spearheaded by two left handers Sri Lanka youth player and spinner Amila Aponso who has been very consistent and their top wicket taker with over 55 wickets to his name and left arm pacie Wishwa Fernando who has also taken over 50 wickets. Then they have two other spinners the left an right combination of Anuk de Alwis and Marlon Fernando and right arm pacies skipper Sanitha and Charith to support them.
The Cambrians this year is led by Isuru Thilina and their batting will be in charge in the hands of Sri Lanka youth player Shehan Jayasuriya who had a successful season and was also was prominent in the recently concluded youth series against England. Shehan playing only ten matches accumulated a score of 800 runs. Though he was unable to represent his school during the middle part of the season when he came back he showed his class by cracking four half tons and warmed up with an unbeaten knock of 137 before the big match.
He is going to be the player that the Sebs bowlers will have to keep an eye on and if he is not dislodged early then they are going to have problems. The Cambrians have four other players on whom they will depend in skipper Isuru who has scored over 500 runs, Kusal Mendis (450), Rajeewa Perera (450) and Tharindu Dilshan (400).
The Cambrians main striker will be left arm spinner Tharindu Dilshan their top wicket taker who along with freshers left arm spinner Namindu Fernando and right arm pacie Hashan Fernando have a job in their hands to curtail the strong Sebs batting department.
With talent oozing in both the teams its left to be seen who will have the honour of break the long standing jinx of the Battle of Gold’s. |
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