St. John’s trounce Jaffna Central by 5 wickets
St. John’s College secured a commanding 5-wicket victory over traditional rivals Jaffna Central College in the 118th Battle of the North, which concluded at the Central ground in Jaffna yesterday.
The Johnians had virtually sealed the match by the end of day two, leaving Jaffna Central struggling at 135 for 8 in their second innings. On the final day morning, it took them just five overs to wrap up the Centralites’ innings, who could only add seven more runs before being dismissed for 142.
Skipper and left-arm spinner Jeyachandran Ashnath was the wrecker-in-chief, claiming four wickets in the second innings to finish with an impressive match haul of nine wickets, following his five-wicket effort in the first innings.
St. John’s skipper Jeyachandran Ashnath receiving the Battle of the North Trophy
Chasing a modest target of 83 for victory, St. John’s suffered an early setback, losing two wickets for just one run. However, steady contributions from Uthayanan Abijoyshanth and skipper Ashnath guided them to victory before the tea break.In addition to retaining the Battle of the North Trophy, St. John’s dominated the individual awards, claiming four of the six accolades. Raymand Anushanth was awarded Best Batsman, Jeyachandran Ashnath took home Best Bowler and Man of the Match honours, while Kirubaharan Sanjuthan was adjudged Best Wicketkeeper. Jaffna Central’s Antnaireshan Abishek and skipper Ranjithkumar Newton were recognised as Best Fielder and Best All-rounder, respectively.
| Scoreboard | |
| Jaffna Central 131 all out (57.2) (Anatanireshan Abishek 27, Ranjithkumar Newton 24, Sathakaran Similton 24, Matheeswaran Kartigan 15; Jeyachandran Ashnath 5/38, Murfin Randyo 2/25, Kugathas Mathulan 2/27) St. John’s 181 all out (66) (Raymand Anushanth 86, Jeyachandran Ashnath 29, Kirubakaran Sanjuthan 22n.o., Murfin Randyo 20; Rsnjithkumsr Newton 5/62, Murali Thison 2/47) Jaffna Central – 2nd innings (135/8 overnight) Ranjithkumar Newton c Sanjuthan b Mathulan 04 Selvarajah Thison lbw b Ashnath 02 Matheswaran Karthigan c Sanjuthan b Mathulan 03 Sathakaran Similtan run out 34 Kanesalinkam Mathusuthan b Ashnath 17 Thakuthas Abilash c Sanjuthan b Abijoyshanth 28 Murali Thison b Ashnath 16 Antanireshan Abishek b Randyo 05 Vikneswaran Paruthi not out 16 Pathmakumaran Navinthan run out 06 Ranjithkumar Akshayan not out 00 Extras (b5, lb2, nb6, w1) 14 Total (all out; 59 overs) 142 Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Newton), 2-8 (S. Thison), 3-12 (Karthigan), 4-53 (Mathusuthan), 5-77 (Similtan), 6-110 (Abilash), 7-120 (M. Thison), 8-122 (Abishek), 9-136 (Navinthan), 10-142 (Akshayan) Bowling: Kugathas Mathulan 10-4-17-2, Vijayaraja Samjay 1-0-1-0, Jeyachandran Ashnath 25-7-54-4, Murfin Randyo 14-3-34-1, Nageshwaran Krishan 5-2-15-0, John Nathenia 2-1-9-0, Uthayanan Abijoyshanth 2-0-5-1 St. John’s 2nd innings Sathkunaraja Vinukshan c M. Thison b Newton 00 Uthayanan Abijoyshanth c Paruthi b M. Thison 33 Raymand Anushanth b Abilash 01 Murfin Randyo c Abilash b M. Thison 11 Jeyachandran Ashnath not out 29 John Nathenia c Paruthi b Newton 11 Kirubakaran Sanjuthan not out 03 Extras (b4, nb1) 05 Total (5 wickets; 28.5 overs) 93 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Vinukshan), 2-1 (Anushanth), 3-34 (Randyo), 4-61 (Abijoyshanth), 5-88 (Nathenia). Bowling: Ranjithkumar Newton 9.6-0-37-2, Thakuthas Abilash 3-1-11-1, Murali Thison 11-2-29-2, Kanesalinkam Mathusuthan 1-0-3-0, Ranjithkumar Akshayan 4-0-9-0. |