Big Match: 110th Battle of the North ends in draw

The 110th Big Match encounter between St. John’s College and Jaffna Central College, dubbed as the Battle of the North, ended in a draw, thwarting a hat-trick for the Johnians, at the Jaffna Central ground on Saturday (12). 

St. John’s were chasing a target of 263 runs but in the end they had to settle in with a total of 179-5 to add the 40th draw of the series tally. 

The match took an interesting turn when both teams bowled out each other for scores less than 200 runs making an opening for an obvious result by the second day on Friday. 

But Jaffna Central, who elected to bat first, came back strong in their second innings to give their traditional opponents a challenging target while putting themselves in a safe spot. 

Jaffna Central faced a marathon 75.4 overs to post a meager total of 161 while St. John’s batted rather swiftly to take a two-run lead as they posted 163 runs in reply off 53 overs. 

By the second day Jaffna Central were able to take their lead by 162 runs after reaching 164-6. 

However they made St. John’s bowlers look a frustrated lot by stretching on to add another 100 runs to their tally before being bowled out for 264 runs in 94 overs. 

With almost two sessions left on the final day, St. John’s were able to 179-5, falling short of the target by 84 runs with five more wickets in hand. 

The only centurion of the game was Y. Kirubakaran Jaffna Central, who scored 103 runs in 152 balls with 12 boundaries and two sixes in their second innings. 

Jaffna Central also produced the only half centurion in A. Jeroshan, who made 51 runs off 161 deliveries inclusive of eight boundaries in the first innings. 

The bowling honours of the game definitely will go to Vasanthan Jethushan of St. John’s who took a match bag of seven wickets. 

When the game came to an end with St. John’s scoring 179-5, Jenie Fleming top scored for the side with a fluent knock of 37. 

K. Kapilraj hit 31 as M. Nilojan and P. Somakaran made identical knocks of 24 each. 

V. Jathusan chipped in with 20 while S. Mathushan claimed two scalps. 

Jaffna Central, adding more runs to their second innings yesterday, were powered by useful knocks from S. Komethagan and S. Alanraj besides Kirubakaran’s solitary ton. 

Komethagan hit 34 while Alanraj played a contrasting knock to remain on 34 when his side was bowled out. 

U. Priyaluxshan came down in the order to hit a cameo knock of 28. 

Vasantha Jathusan claimed three wickets following his first innings four wicket haul. 

Supporting him was K. Kapilraj, who also took three wickets. M. Nilojan and A. Gnanamirthan shared four wickets. 

Electing to bat on the opening day, Jaffna Central College were bowled out 161 runs in 75.4 overs. 

Besides Jeroshan’s 51, S. Komethakan scored 39 runs. 

Jeroshan and Komethakan shared a useful partnership of 63 runs for the second wicket. 

Jathushan took 4 wickets and Mahalingam Nilojan claimed three scalps. Arulananthan Ghanamirthan took two wickets.

With J. Krishanjuthan top scoring 31 followed by V. Jathusan’s unbeaten 28 run St. John’s replied with 163 runs. 

K. Thespian Raj took claimed four scalps while and S. Thashopan took three wickets. S. Alanraj took two wickets.

The Battle of the North is the oldest big match in the Jaffna peninsula. 

According to available records from the 110 matches played so far St. John’s leads the series with 35 wins while Jaffna Central have won on 27 occasions. 

With yesterday’s draw the tally become 40 with one abandoned game. 

Results of seven matches are unavailable. 

Last year St. John’s won the game by 84 runs, continuing their winning run gained in 2014, when they were awarded the win after a crowd invasion which came on the brink of an obvious win. 

The three-day encounter will be followed by the limited over encounter which will be the 14th in the series. 

It will be played next Saturday at the St. John’s ground. 

Jaffna Central, last year’s winners, lead the series with seven wins while the remaining six were won by St. John’s.

Jaffna Central 161 all out in 75.4 overs (A. Jeroshan 51, S. Komethakan 39, V. Dinojan 13 n.o., S. Alanraj 10, Vasantha Jathushan 4 for 39, Mahalingam Nilojan 3 for 28, Arulananthan Ghanamirthan 2 for 38) and (164-4 overnight) 264 all out in 94 overs (Y. Kirubakaran 103, S. Komethagan 34, S. Alanraj 34, n.o., U. Priyaluxshan 28, V. Dinojan 15, S. Kowthaman 13, V. Jathusana 3 for 53, K. Kapilaraj 3 for 65, M. Nilojan 2 for 52, A. Gnanamirthan 2 for 53)

St. John’s 163 all out in 53 overs (J. Krishanjuthan 31, V. Jathusan 28 n.o., K. Kapilraj 22, J. Stalon 18, M. Nilojan 15, C. Thevaprashanth 14, K. Thespian Raj 4 for 74, S. Thashopan 3 for 24, S. Alanraj 2 for 29) and 179 for 5 wickets in 63 overs at close (Jenie Fleming 37, K. Kapilraj 31, M. Nilojan 24, P. Somakaran 24, V. Jathushan 20, S. Mathushan 2 for 32)