119th Battle of the North St John’s aiming for third successive win

St John’s College - Seated from left- C.A. Aravinthan (POG), Kirubaharan Sanjuthan, Kugathas Mathulan, Murfin Randyo (Captain), V.S.B. Thuseetharan (Principal), Uthayanan Abijoyshanth, Sivakumar Nathenia, S. Thileepan (Master in Charge), A. Sansajan (Coach). Standing from left - Ganeshamoorthy Kowsikan, Puvaneswaran Kishanth, Kirubakaran Pirathesan, Sivashankar Kirshan, Jeeva Abisan, Uthayakumar Shanon, Vijayaraja Sanjay, Gajanthan Methun, Nageswaran Krishan, Satkunarajah Vinukshan, Dineshk Larun, E. Vandat Mario, Aravinthan Avinkan, Gopalakrishnan Rojithan, Raveenthiran. Dilojan

By M. Shamil Amit

It’s the match between the top cricket playing schools in the Jaffna peninsula and all arrangements have been finalised for the 119th Battle of the North encounter between St John’s College Jaffna and Jaffna Central College scheduled to be played over three days from March 5 at the Jaffna Central ground.

The two schools will move in with a mission with St John’s led by fifth year Coloursman Murfin Randyo aiming to record their third successive win while Jaffna Central led by third year player Antanneshan Abishek will seek to avenge their back to back defeats.

From the 119 matches that have been played,  St John’s are way ahead leading with 40 wins to 29 by Jaffna Central with their last win achieved in the 116th match.

Looking back at the performance of the teams, Johnian skipper Randyo will be the player for the Centralites to take note of as he has succeeded and been in the forefront of his team in both the batting and bowling departments.

Much will be expected from Kugathas Mathulan who had the honour representing the Sri Lanka youth team at the recently concluded ICC Youth World Cup. 

The other players from whom much is expected are deputy skipper Uthayanan Abijoyshanth, Sivakumar Nathenia, Ganeshamoorthy Kowsikan and Kirubaharan Santjuthan.

Centralite skipper Abishek too has a host of players on whom he will depend on in the likes of his deputy Valanteen Haris, allrounder Murali Thison, Pathmakumaran Navinthan, Jeyaseelan Jenoshan, Sajinthan Nijanthan and Nagarasa Sajith.

With the Johnians aiming to make it three in a row and the Centralites seeking to avenge their defeats a keen tussle could be expected.

The three day big match will be followed by the 23rd limited overs encounter scheduled to be played on March 14 at St John’s College ground. In this version too St John’s leads with 12 wins to 10 by Jaffna Central who are the holders of the title having won in 2024 and 2025.

Jaffna Central College- Seated from left - Pathmakumaran Navinthan, F.K. Shelton (Coach), Valanteen Haris, C.S.R. Selvagunalan (Principal), Antanneshan Abishek (Captain), M. Kohilathas (POG), Sajinthan Nijanthan, S. Manimaran (Master in Charge) Standing from left - Matheeswaran Karththikan, Nagarasa Sajith, Jesuthasan Nitharasan, Thavarasha Venujan, Alexander Nilavan, Murali Thison, Arulthas Sharalan, Kabilan Amalan, Jeyaseelan Jenoshan, Iyathure Kabishek, Uthayarasa Valtan, Vithanaka Ranuka, Saravanakumarn Tharishanan, Piratheep Danushan, Lokeswaran Pavish, Uthayarasa Asmin