As we look into the 2012/2013 school cricket season, St.Joseph’s College Colombo promises to deliver some excellent cricket this year. Enriched with great talents & skill, the boys from Darley Road are very keen in putting up a disciplined show this Season.
The Josephians are focused to reach two main two goals; to remain unbeaten among the top three school teams in the country and to win the 79th Battle of the Saints cricket encounter against their arch rivals St.Peters College.We take a look at the St.Joseph’s College 1st XI Cricket team in our season roundup.
Brief History
St.Joseph’s College was one of the first Schools in the country to embrace Cricket and it has been played over 110 years so far. Over the years St.Joseph’s College has produced many great and classic cricketers such as Fairley Dalpethado,Ashley De Silva,Ajith Weerakkody and legend Chaminda Vaas.
In the recent years St.Joseph’s College has developed cricketers good enough to represent the country. Angelo Mathews,Thisara Perera and Dimuth Karunarathne also known as the ‘Josephian Mafia’ and players like Roshane Silva, Chathuranga Kumara & Supeshala Jayathilake are also on their way to the national team with good club cricket performances.
2011/2012 – Recap
Under the leadership of Wicket Keeper/Batsman Vidusha Jayasinghe St.Joseph’s College had a very good season until the ‘Big Match’ where Josephians ended up losing to the Peterites. Josephians won 3 games outright and won more than 8 matches on 1stinnings.Vice captain SupeshalaJayathilake had a splendid season with his all-round abilities.
Current Season
Josephiansupto now have played 7 matches during the 3rd term of 2012 and still could not notch up an outright win due to bad weather at crucial matches.Joes have won 5 matches on 1st innings and remain unbeaten so far.
Head Coach – Janaka Deegodagamage
This season Josephians will be coached by a versatile &qualified coach namely Janaka Deegodagamage.After last year’s head coach resigned from his duties college administrator’s found a brilliant choice in Janaka to coach the St.Joseph’s College Cricket team to greater heights.
Captain – 4th Year Player Sachin Hewawasam
Leading the team from the front is what required from a great leader and Sachin has shown this quality amply. He has showcased qualities of a true leader in and off the field. Sachin has grown into a handy allrounder with his right arm off spin and his stylish batting, but his fighting qualities came to play when he scored a brave 91 runs against Isipathana College in the 1st match of the season when his team was in a tricky situation.Sachin is very determined to win more matches for his alma mater during the upcoming games.
Opening combo – Sadeera& Dylan
St.Joseph’s College is very strong in their batting department mainly thanks to solidand brilliant openers Sadeera Samarawickrama and Dylan Fernandopulle.Both have amassed over 350 runs so far in the season and both are centurions. Sadeera is a very elegant and fluent batsman with a wide range of aggressive shots and he scored more than 900 runs last season and he is on his way for 1000 runs this season and he is a future Sri Lankan national prospect. Dylan is a technically sound left hand batsman and he is capable of going great guns in the coming matches.
Stylish and Dependable Middle Order
Possessed with stylish strokemakers, the Josephian middle order looks very impressive. The captain leads the way in the middle order followed by Yashan Samarasinghe an attacking left hand batsman with an ability to score runs at will and vice captainArvindh Fernando is a very promising right hand batsmanl. One of the most promising and talented batsman in the middle order is Priyamal Perera also known as ‘Bullet’. He is a strong player with great power to change a game on it’s head with his big hitting.Damith Weerasinghe is a dependable left hand batsman with a cool head over his shoulder to tackle pressure situations and accumulate runs and followed by PathumMadusanka who is a hard hitting right hand batsman who can be dangerous to the opposition when he’s on the peak.
Fast Bowling Attack
The bowling is spearheaded by an attacking fast bowler Fabian Fernando who is very accurate with his line and length, supported by a crafty Rajindu Rodrigo who can torment opposition batting line ups. Kushan Weerakkody is another fast bowler who can be very useful with his swing to take important wickets.
Match Winning Spin Department
The biggest strength for the Blue & White boys will be their spinners.Lead by the off spin of captain Sachin and his partner in crime Priyamal; both off spinners have triggered many collapses in opposition batting line ups. They have taken more than 20 wickets apiece this season so far. Fresher Aravinda Akurugoda is a wicket taking leg spinner and team’s main left arm leg spinner is Moditha Weerasinghe who can be handy to a winning cause. Part time spinners such as Yashan Samarasinghe, PathumMadusanka&Damith Weerasinghe can always chip in with few overs and effect crucial breakthroughs.
Final Words
Positive approach to the game is the forte for the Josephians to taste success this season. May the Blue & White college flag stay aloft with an impressive season.
