91st Battle of the Saints St. Joseph’s has the edge over St. Peter’s

St. Joseph's: Seated (From left): Lahiru Perera (Assistant Coach), Lakmal De Silva (Head Coach), Asiri Caldera (MIC), Kenneth Liyanage (Captain), Rev. Fr. Priyan Tissera (Vice Rector), Rev. Fr. Ranjith Andradi (Rector), Rev. Fr. Samesh Anthony (Prefect of Games), Abhishek Jayaweera, Yenula Dewthusa, Sanjeewa Fernando (Second XI MIC), Miranga Wickramage (Assistant Coach), Pradeep Munasinghe (2ndXI Assistant Coach). Standing (From left): Lesitha Wijethunga, Dihen De Silva, Nimthaka Goonewardena, Senuja Wakunagoda, Yenula Danthanarayana, Ameesha Guruge, Manasa Madubashana, Dunik Perera, Nushan Perera, Mario Suraweera, Kavith Fernando, Demion De Silva, Rishma Amarasinghe and Aveesha Samash 

St. Peter’s: Seated (From left): Harsha Perera (Assistant Physio/Trainer and Masseur), Thusha Madusanka (Assistant Coach), Nalin Wijesinghe (Head Coach), Priyadharhana Cooray (MIC), Oween Salgado (Captain), Rev. Fr. Rohitha Rodrigo (Rector), Rev. Fr. Praveen Wijesekera (Priest in Charge Cricket), Lashmika Perera, Dilana Damsara, Rohan Fernando (MIC 2nd XI), Dinuka Godakanda (2nd XI Coach). Standing (1st Row) – Dinsara Ratnaweera, Dineth de Silva, Tharin Senvidu, Nathan David, Hiruka Silva, Thareen Sanketh, Virul Amarapala, Yatheendra Jayaweera, Salith Gallage, Raphael Hettige. Standing (2nd Row): Jason Fernando, Joshua Sebastian, Savi Fernando, Ethan Ransilige, Asadisi de Silva, Sadeesha Kariyawasam and Enosh Peterson

By M. Shamil Amit

All roads will lead to the SSC Grounds in Maitland Place when the traditional rivals St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s College clash in their annual Battle of the Saints Inter-School Big Match, which begins today.  

The Big Match, which is the 91st in the series, is fought out for the Rev. Fr. Maurice Le Goc Trophy and no doubt it’s going to be a closely contested affair since the two teams are evenly balanced.

Out of the 90 matches that have been played so far, the Josephians lead the series with 12 wins as against the nine by the Peterites.

The Josephians’ last win was achieved in 2008 under the leadership of Ruwantha Fernandopulle while the Peterites last victory was in 2016 under Vinu Mohotty.

St. Joseph’s will be spearheaded by Kenneth Liyanage and Oween Salgado will oversee St. Peter’s.

The two teams will be meeting each other for the second time this season with the first being when they battled out in the Under-19 two-day tournament quarter-final encounter, which ended in a first inning win for St. Joseph’s, who went out of contention with a first inning loss to St. Sebastian’s Moratuwa.

But the Josephians made amends as they qualified for the Under-19 limited over tournament with a win against Gurukula MV, Kelaniya and they are slotted to meet Trinity in the final which is scheduled to be played soon.

The Joesphians possess a strong batting line-up and they have five centurions in the side in Senuja Wakunugoda, who is their top scorer with over 550 runs, Yenula Dewthusa has cracked two tons and has scored over 500 runs, Aveesha Samash with over 500 runs, Rishma Amarasinghe over 450 runs and Maanasa Madubashana with Dunick Perera will be the backbone of the Josephian batting.

The bowling will be in the hands of Yenula Dewthusa who have taken over 50 wickets and support will be expected from Nushan Perera, Demion de Silva and Dunisk Perera who together took over 100 wickets between them.

The Peterites possess four centurions in Thareen Sanketh, the top scorer of the side with over 600 runs, Dilana Damsara with over 550, Jason Fernando who has made over 400 runs and Savi Fernando.

The other batsmen from whom much will be expected are Joshua Sebastian, Enosha Peterson, skipper Oween Salgado, Asadisi de Silva, Lashmika Perera and Nathan David.The bowling will revolve around Dilana Damsara and Lasmika Perera, who have shared over 75 wickets between them and support will be expected from Joshua Sebastian and Thareen Sanketh.

The three-day match will be followed with the limited over encounter which is fought out for the Rev. Fr. Peter A. Pillai Memorial Trophy to be played in April at the same venue and in this version too which is the 51st match the Josephians are leading with 25 wins to the Peterites 22 with one match ending in a tie and two no-results.

St. Peter’s are the holders of the trophy having won the match last year.

(Pix by Kushan Pathiraja)