All arrangements have been finalized to hold the annual ‘Battle of Kotte’ between two leading schools in the area Sri Jayawardenapura MV and St. Thomas due to be played on March 11 and 12 at the Moors Ground in Braybrooke Place.
This will be the 35th in the series with Sri Jayawardenapura MV leading the tally with 12 wins as against five to St Thomas. The last win in the series was in 2003 when the Thomians came out victorious while Sri Jayawardenapura MV secured their win in 2000.
So looking at the Jayawardenpura MV boys who are having a strong side they are getting a good opportunity to break their ten year hoodoo while on the other side they cannot also afford to take their opponents lightly as in most of the big matches the weaker side dominated the proceedings.
Looking at the performances of the two sides Sri Jayawardenapura MV has played 13 matches with two outright wins against Siri Piyaratana MMV Padukka and Sri Rahula Katugastota and a loss to Raddoluwa MV while St Thomas has played eight matches with two outright wins against P. de S. Kularatna MV Ambalangoda and Siri Piyaratana MMV Padukka with three defeats at the hands of St Thomas Matara, Devananda Ambalangoda and President’s Rajagiriya.
Sri Jayawardenapura MV is led by one of the top batsman in the school circuit this season in Navod Illukwatte who has had the honour of scoring over 1500 runs which he has achieved in only 13 matches.
He has another batsman who has topped the 700 runs mark in Iroshan Silva and three players who has scored over 400 runs in Hasitha Samaranayake, Isuru Kariyawasam and Madushan Gomes while another Krishan Boteju has made over 350 runs.
They also posses a fine bowling outfit in right arm pacie Tharindu Hashan who has over 50 scalps, skipper Navod, Madushan and Hasitha who will be on fire to restrict their opponents to a low score.
St Thomas will be led by Dilan Daniel with Nipuna Mahesh as his deputy and the duo has not performed to their best right throughout the season. So they will have to do something special to give the others the confidence.
Their batting will revolve around Ravindu Yohan who has been their top scorer this season with over 500 runs to his credit which includes a ton. The Ebert brothers Brendon and Darren will be the players to watch. Brendon has made over 350 runs while Darren’s success is in the bowling.
Openers Ravindu and Brendon will have to give them a solid start for the others to keep the scoreboard moving without being under pressure. The bowling will be in the hands of the spinners Nipuna who has reach the 50 wicket mark and Darren while the opening attack of Gamika Ushan and Pathum Serasinghe will be of importance to the side in curtailing the strong batting of their opponents.
As mentioned earlier Sri Jayawardenapura MV should not be over confident as this may result in their downfall, likewise St Thomas who are coming into the game as underdogs have nothing to lose and could come out on top at the end. |
E-mail
