Evenly balanced teams in battle today

73rd Battle of the Blues:

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Two equally good teams St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s College will meet in the 73rd annual inter school Battle of the Saints Big Match at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium starting today.

Both teams are packed with some outstanding cricketers and have just completed a highly successful season where they have maintained an unbeaten record.

In fact the Josephians will have the services of five Sri Lanka youth players in their ranks in addition to a number of other senior players. The Peterites too will be fielding a star studded line up spearheaded by the season campaigner Lahiru Peiris.

With the batting sides of both teams packed with some top stroke makers the possibility of a result seems to be unlikely unless something sensational take place. No side seems to have the bowling to dismiss the opposition twice within two days and a high scoring draw is on the cards.

Even then there will be few players who will be determined to make an impact and simply convert this outing into a memorable outing. In the Peterite camp there is Lakshan Rodrigo who is eight wickets away from completing one hundred wickets for the season.

Skipper Lahiru Peiris is yet to make a hundred this year and this will be his last chance to sign off on a high note. The Josephian captain Rajeewa Weerasinghe is also just five wickets short of completing the fifty wicket mark for the current season.

But a lot will depend on the performance of paceman Angelo Mathew who is capable of running through an innings in a short period. His batting is also of great importance for St. Joseph’s College who will be keen to put up a formidable total on the board.

But the Peterites have a number of talented players in their ranks in the form of Angelo Perera, Srimnatha Wijerathna, Krishal Magage and Andry Berenger who are capable of rising to the big occasion. The only setback for the Peterites is the absence of promising player Shiwanga Ranasuriya who has been sidelined due to an injury.

In the 72 encounters played so far between the two schools, the Josephians have won 11 matches to the Peterites 7, with 54 ending in draws. St. Joseph’s last won the Big Match in 1972 under the leadership of Rohan Fernando and former Test batsman Roy Dias was the Peterite captain.

Peterites last won under Suraj Abeysekera in 1978 and the Josephian captain was Shamilal de S. Wijeratne.

The highest individual score in the series is by former All Ceylon cricketer Clive Inman (204 n.o) in 1954. Fred Perera’s 114 n.o still remains as the highest individual score by a Josephian in 1934.

Josephian Shenal Warnakula has the best bowling analysis in an innings (9 for 41) in 1997, he had a matchbag of 14 for 113 in that game. For the Peterites, Dion Walles (9 for 53) in 1947 and Cyril Dias (9 for 64) in 1933 also had impressive bowling figures.

The teams

St. Joseph’s College (from): Rajeeva Weerasinghe (captain), Dimuth Karunaratne, Ruwantha Fernandopulle, Angelo Mathew, Roshane Silva, Anton de Livera, Prabuddha Sankalpa, Thisara Perera, Shameera Weerasinghe, Sahan Wijesiri, Treshan Rajasuriya, Nirmal Rajapakse, Haren Silva, Hashan Perera, Dinal Dhambarage, Nishika de Silva.

St. Peter’s College (from): Lahiru Pieris (captain), Krishal Magage, Srimantha Wijeratne, Anuka Silva, Shivanga Ranasuriya, Angelo Perera, Ruwan Wickremanayake, Lakshan Rodrigo, Umhar Samsudeen, Vinod Perera, Chanaka Fernando, Akshu Fernando, Chatura Peiris, Thivanka Silva.