St John’s set to win Battle of the North

By M. Shamil Amit

St John’s College Jaffna put themselves in a strong position to record their third successive win against traditional rivals Jaffna Central College in their 119th Battle of the North match when play ended on day two at the Central ground in Jaffna yesterday.

The second day’s play saw St John’s batting the second time helped by a knock of 121 by Uthayanan Abijoyshanth make 223.

This left Jaffna Central a victory target of 248 runs and they were in trouble with the score on 120 for 6 needing a further 127 runs to prevent the Johnians from notching up their third successive win when play begins on the final day today.

Scores:

St John’s 119 (Sathkunarajah Vinukshan 22, Murfin Randyo 19, Uthayanan Abijoyshanth 16: Murali Thison 5/39, Valanteen Haris 3/37) and 223 (Uthayanan Abijoyshanth 121, Murfin Randyo 34, Sivakumar Nathenia 19, Jeeva Abisan 18: Murali Thison 7/78, Valanteen Haris 3/62)

Jaffna Central 95 (Antanareshan Abishek 23, Nagarasa Sajith 16: Ganeshamoorthy Kowsikan 5/41, Murfin Randyo 3/19) and 120 for 6 (Kabilan Amalan 44, Jeyaseelan Henishan 20, Murali Thison 22 n.o.)