Joes, Petes reignite Sri Lanka’s first ever one-day flame

St. Joseph’s College captain of 1975 Dushan Soza (left) and his St. Peter’s College counterpart Bernard Wijetunge who came together in nostalgia at the 50th match in 2024 holding the Rev Fr. Peter Pillai Shield

By M. Shamil Amit

Traditional rivals St Peter’s College and St Joseph’s College will take the field for their annual 52nd Battle of the Saints 50 over cricket encounter in their quest for the Rev. Fr. Peter Pillai Memorial Shield scheduled to be played on April 25 at the SSC ground in Colombo.
The encounter retraces the first one-day match by traditional rival schools in the country that began on March 16, 1975 at Darley Road amid a packed venue where the Peterites were led by all-rounder Bernard Wijetunge and the Joes by Dushan Soza.
The Peterites won the encounter by five wickets after bowling out the fancied host team for 111.
Peterite fast bowler Sunanda Jayasekera created a record that will never be broken when Wijetunga threw the ball to him and he had Joes opener Rohan Wijesinghe dismissed first ball.
Eventually what started as a match of friendly rivalry inspired limited overs cricket in the island to the point that it has now come to be with Royal College and S. Thomas’ College also gaining inspiration from the truncated version of school cricket in the following year.
This year the Peterites are led by Enosh Peterson seeking to retain the Shield for the third successive year. 
Last year, led by Oween Salgado, they came out winners by four wickets.
The Joes led by Rishma Amarasinghe will also be aiming to regain the Shield which they last won with the leadership of Sadeesh Jayawardena.
However the Joes lead the series tally with 25 wins to 23 by the Peterites.