The 83rd Battle of the Saints between St Joseph’s College and St Peter’s College is scheduled for the 3rd and 4th of March 2017 at the P Sara Stadium. The official media Conference was held at the Jetwing Colombo Seven on Thursday evening.
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In the past 82 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 it last year 2016 under the captaincy of Vinu Mohotty. The Josephians won it in 2008 under the leadership of Ruwantha Fernandopulle.
In this year’s encounter, the boys from Darley Road will be led by left-arm spinner Harin Cooray, while the Peterites will be under the captaincy of prolific middle order batsman Lakshina Rodrigo.
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 and Michael Vandort from St. Joseph’s College, while Roy Dias, Rumesh Rathnayake, Russell Arnold, Vinodhan John, Amal Silva, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Malinda Warnapura and Angelo Perera for St. Peter’s College respectively.
As usual the first innings will be restricted to 60 overs and the Joint Committee has broken the tradition to restrict the tea break to 15 minutes. For the first time, a match referee has also been appointed for this year’s encounter. A renowned name in domestic cricket, Nalliah Deverajan will act as the Match Referee this year.
Photos: 83rd Battle of Saints Press Briefing
The organizers have also made plans to beef up the security this time around in order to avoid unnecessary interruptions. The camaraderie between these two schools have always stood out from the rest of the schools in the cricketing arena and they are keen to uphold those values this time around as well.
Speaking at the media conference, the Rector of St Peter’s College, Rev Fr. Trevor Martin rightfully said; “When we speak of the Battle of the Saints, we have maintained high standards. We say it’s a friendly kind of rivalry we maintain. We are all friends and you can clearly see how both schools blend in together at the matches. “
Rev. Fr. Anton Ranjith, the Vice Rector of St. Joseph’s College Colombo 10, stated that, “People watch our Big match not only to enjoy but to learn Christian virtues, therefore it’s our duty to uphold the traditions”
The Joe-Pete limited overs clash which is the longest running schools limited overs encounter in the country and played for the Fr. Peter A Pillai trophy will be worked off on the 25th March at the Sinhalese Sports Club. Interestingly the match returns to SSC after 1994 and a huge crowd is expected to come witness an exciting game of cricket.
Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata PLC will sponsor the Joe-Pete Battle of the Saints for the second consecutive year. Mr. Jeramy Huxtable, Group Chief Officer of Dialog Enterprise, Dialog Axiata PLC handed over the Sponsorship cheque to both Rectors. The rest of the sponsors include Elephant House, Keells Krest, Nestle and Jetwing Hotels who have come forward to support the 83rd Battle of Saints encounter.
Both the two-day encounter and the one-day encounter will be telecasted live on Dialog TV Channel No.1, live-streamed on www.ThePapare.com and on the Mobile TV streaming platform My TV.
