The 84th Battle of the Saints between St Joseph’s College and St Peter’s College will be played on the 2nd and 3rd March 2018 at P. Sara Oval Grounds.
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Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata PLC, has stepped forward to sponsor the Josephian-Peterite encounter for the third consecutive year.
In the past 83 encounters between these two prestigious schools, St Joseph’s have won the trophy 12 times while St Peter’s have bagged the trophy 10 times. The Rev. Fr. Maurice Le Goc Memorial Trophy is currently in the hands of the Peterites after they won in 2016 under the captaincy of Vinu Mohotty. The Josephians last registered a victory in 2008 under the leadership of Ruwantha Fernandopulle.
In this year’s encounter, the boys from Darley Road will be led by all-rounder Jehan Daniel who was also the Vice-Captain of the Sri Lanka U19 team that toured New Zealand for the ICC U19 World Cup, whilst the Peterites will be under the captaincy of batting all-rounder and Sri Lanka youth player Santhush Gunathilaka.
Both teams had produced many cricketers who have had the distinction of representing the national team, with Angelo Mathews, Chaminda Vaas, Thisara Perera, Dimuth Karunarathne, Ashley De Silva, Michael Vandort, Roshen Silva and Sadeera Samarawickrama from St. Joseph’s College and Roy Dias, Rumesh Rathnayake, Russell Arnold, Vinodhan John, Amal Silva, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Malinda Warnapura and Angelo Perera from St. Peter’s College being a few prominent names.
Speaking at the media conference held on Tuesday evening, Rev. Fr Trevor Martin, the rector of St. Peter’s College said, “The ‘Battle of the Saints’ between St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s, two of the leading catholic schools in Sri Lanka has a long and rich history, tradition and comradery for the last 83 years. I bestow my blessing to both skippers and their respective team for two days of exciting cricket.”
Mr. Jeramy Huxtable, Group Chief Officer of Dialog Enterprise, Dialog Axiata PLC handed over the Sponsorship cheque to both Rectors. Sponsors including Elephant House, Keells Krest, Nestle and Jetwing Hotels have come forward to support the 83rd Battle of Saints encounter.
“I would like to also thank the management and staff of Dialog Axiata for their generous gesture to sponsor again. The ‘Big Match’ between our two schools is one of the most looked forward events in the cricket calendar by both young and old, and this year’s encounter, I’m certain will be no exception. I wish both schools, the very best and may the Josephian-Peterite tradition grow from strength to strength.” Rev. Fr Travis Gabrial, the rector of St. Joseph’s College said.
Both the two-day encounter and the one-day encounter will be telecast live on Dialog TV Channel No.1, live-streamed on www.ThePapare.com and on the Mobile TV streaming platform My TV.
