At Stumps on Day 1, St. Peter’s College were seen to be in a commanding position, leading St. Joseph’s College by 123 runs in the second innings at the 88th of Battle of the Saints, played at P Sara Oval.
St. Peter’s College Skipper Wanuja Sahan won the toss and elected to bat first. The Josephians started off with a bang in the first over, dismissing Vishen Halambage for a duck. Shenal Boteju hung around for the Petes as he top-scored with 81. An unbeaten half-century by Danal Hemananda, and two cameos from Nimuthu Gunawardane and Sanshay Gunathilake helped St. Peter’s College post 251 in the first innings.
In reply, St. Joseph’s College kept losing wickets until Skipper Shevon Daniel and Sri Lanka National Cap Dunith Wellalage joined in the middle. Daniel top-scored with 71. The Josephians lost their last five wickets for just 21 runs which had them bundled out for 163, 88 runs behind the Peterite first innings total. St. Peter’s were 35 for 2 at stumps, leading by 123 runs.
Analysis
The Josephians had a horrible day on the field. They had the chance to close out the game early on when Shenal Boteju gave a couple of easy chances in the first session. Not only did they miss catches, their ground fielding was disappointing to say the least. It cost them a lot of runs, and it could even go on to cost them the match.
The Peterites, on the other hand, were electric in the field. They took two fine catches to make the difference in the innings. First it was Shennon Rodrigo who held on a blinder at gully for the wicket of Sadeesh Jayawardane, off the bowling of Hemananda.
Later on, substitute fielder Lakindu Sachin caught a stunner diving in front to get rid of Muditha Lakshan, off the bowling of Wanuja.
The Josephians were punished for their overdependence on Wellalage. He bowled 24 overs out of the 60 in the first innings and took the new ball in the second innings as well. Daniel, for a strange reason, under-bowled his premier off spinner Lahiru Amarasekara, giving him only 8 overs in the first innings.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vishen Halambage | c Sadeesh Jayawardana b Deshan Seneviratne | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Rusanda Gamage | lbw b Shevon Daniel | 13 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 54.17 |
| Shenal Boteju | c Lahiru Amarasekara b Muditha Lakshan | 81 | 136 | 10 | 1 | 59.56 |
| Lahiru Dewatage | c Shevon Daniel b Dunith wellalage | 6 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 31.58 |
| Wanuja Sahan | b Shevon Daniel | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Nimuthu Gunawardene | b Dunith wellalage | 36 | 64 | 3 | 1 | 56.25 |
| Danal Hemananda | not out | 55 | 58 | 2 | 2 | 94.83 |
| Niman Umesh | b Dunith wellalage | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28.57 |
| Shanshay Gunathilaka | c Sadeesh Jayawardana b Shevon Daniel | 47 | 46 | 3 | 2 | 102.17 |
| Shenon Rodrigo | not out | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Extras | 9 (b 2 , lb 0 , nb 3, w 4, pen 0) |
| Total | 251/8 (60 Overs, RR: 4.18) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deshan Seneviratne | 2 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 6.50 | |
| Muditha Lakshan | 8 | 0 | 48 | 1 | 6.00 | |
| Dunith wellalage | 24 | 3 | 92 | 1 | 3.83 | |
| Shevon Daniel | 15 | 2 | 67 | 2 | 4.47 | |
| Lahiru Amarasekara | 8 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 2.00 | |
| Shenuka Serasinghe | 3 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 4.33 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sadeesh Jayawardana | c Shenon Rodrigo b Danal Hemananda | 15 | 31 | 2 | 0 | 48.39 |
| Naren Muralidaran | lbw b Wanuja Sahan | 6 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 21.43 |
| Shevon Daniel | c Nimuthu Gunawardene b Wanuja Sahan | 71 | 93 | 7 | 4 | 76.34 |
| Hiran Jaysundara | c Wanuja Sahan b Shenon Rodrigo | 2 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 11.11 |
| Dunith wellalage | b Niman Umesh | 36 | 26 | 3 | 2 | 138.46 |
| Mithira Thenura | b Nimuthu Gunawardene | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16.67 |
| Rishma Amarasinghe | lbw b Shenon Rodrigo | 5 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 26.32 |
| Muditha Lakshan | c Lakindu Sachin b Wanuja Sahan | 4 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 16.67 |
| Deshan Seneviratne | b Shenon Rodrigo | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 57.14 |
| Lahiru Amarasekara | st Wanuja Sahan b Lahiru Dewatage | 11 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 61.11 |
| Shenuka Serasinghe | not out | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 8 (b 5 , lb 0 , nb 1, w 2, pen 0) |
| Total | 163/10 (45.1 Overs, RR: 3.61) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danal Hemananda | 7 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 3.29 | |
| Abilash Dinakara | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7.00 | |
| Wanuja Sahan | 18.1 | 3 | 63 | 4 | 3.48 | |
| Niman Umesh | 9 | 3 | 31 | 1 | 3.44 | |
| Shenon Rodrigo | 7 | 1 | 26 | 3 | 3.71 | |
| Nimuthu Gunawardene | 3 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 2.67 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rusanda Gamage | c Mithira Thenura b Lahiru Amarasekara | 7 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 29.17 |
| Vishen Halambage | st Sadeesh Jayawardana b Dunith wellalage | 22 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 104.76 |
| Abilash Dinakara | b Shevon Daniel | 61 | 134 | 2 | 0 | 45.52 |
| Shenal Boteju | c Mithira Thenura b Shevon Daniel | 18 | 45 | 1 | 0 | 40.00 |
| Lahiru Dewatage | c Muditha Lakshan b Shevon Daniel | 53 | 65 | 6 | 0 | 81.54 |
| Wanuja Sahan | c Deshan Seneviratne b Shevon Daniel | 28 | 33 | 2 | 0 | 84.85 |
| Shanshay Gunathilaka | b Shevon Daniel | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Danal Hemananda | not out | 21 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 84.00 |
| Niman Umesh | not out | 17 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 188.89 |
| Extras | 5 (b 2 , lb 2 , nb 1, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 232/7 (59.5 Overs, RR: 3.88) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunith wellalage | 12 | 2 | 49 | 1 | 4.08 | |
| Shevon Daniel | 17.5 | 1 | 80 | 4 | 4.57 | |
| Lahiru Amarasekara | 14 | 3 | 42 | 1 | 3.00 | |
| Shenuka Serasinghe | 6 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 3.50 | |
| Mithira Thenura | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 2.67 | |
| Deshan Seneviratne | 4 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 3.75 | |
| Naren Muralidaran | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 5.00 | |
| Muditha Lakshan | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sadeesh Jayawardana | not out | 103 | 189 | 11 | 0 | 54.50 |
| Naren Muralidaran | c Wanuja Sahan b Danal Hemananda | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 80.00 |
| Shevon Daniel | run out (Abilash Dinakara) | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Muditha Lakshan | c Wanuja Sahan b Nimuthu Gunawardene | 14 | 37 | 3 | 0 | 37.84 |
| Dunith wellalage | c Lahiru Dewatage b Niman Umesh | 10 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Mithira Thenura | c Shanshay Gunathilaka b Wanuja Sahan | 6 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 31.58 |
| Hiran Jaysundara | not out | 19 | 63 | 1 | 0 | 30.16 |
| Extras | 2 (b 1 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 163/5 (58 Overs, RR: 2.81) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danal Hemananda | 4 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 4.25 | |
| Wanuja Sahan | 27 | 2 | 76 | 1 | 2.81 | |
| Shenon Rodrigo | 10 | 4 | 22 | 0 | 2.20 | |
| Nimuthu Gunawardene | 12 | 2 | 29 | 1 | 2.42 | |
| Niman Umesh | 5 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 3.40 | |
