The 80th Battle of the Saints played for the Rev.Fr Maurice LeGoc trophy between St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s College ended in a tame draw at P.Sara Oval grounds amidst thousands of faithful supporters from both premier catholic schools in Sri Lanka.
St. Joseph’s resumed their 1st innings from their overnight score of 92 for 2 with two of their main batting backbones Sadeera Samarawickrama and Pathum Madusanka holding the innings for the College from Darley Road. Sadeera Samarawickrama started the day in a positive manner stroking the ball sweetly from where he left last evening. Right arm fast bowler Naveen Dharshana rattled the stumps to dismiss Sadeera Samarawickrama for a well compiled 74 runs in 80 balls with 11 classic boundaries in the 28th over of the Josephian innings. Pathum Madusanka was then joined by another promising young batsman in Priyamal Perera. The fourth wicket pair went on to make 63 runs in 56 balls with the Josephian vice captain Priyamal Perera scoring a 25 ball 33 runs before he was caught by Janith Liyanage off the bowling of Sahan Nanayakkara.
Pathum Madusanka kept anchoring the innings with his calm and composed batting knock. He made a valuable contribution of 72 runs in 124 balls with 11 well executed fours. The Josephians lost quick wickets to the bowling of left arm spinner Sahan Nanayakkara but the experienced all rounder Fabian Fernando showed his batting prowess scoring a quick fire unbeaten 42 runs in 32 balls with four powerful sixes (all in one over) and two fours. Fabian’s cameo knock helped St. Joseph’s reach a healthy 251 for 8 wickets in 53 overs with the game stopping for the lunch break.
The course of the game changed when Josephian skipper Dylan Fernandopulle took a brave decision to declare the innings while being behind by 31 runs and with 7 overs remaining to the lunch break which showed the positive intent from the Josephian camp.
Josephian spearhead Fabian Fernando justified his captain’s decision right after resuming play in the second session by getting the better of Dineth Thimodya and Janith Liyanage early in the Peterite 2nd innings to cause some worries. The first innings centurion Chandula Jayamanne could not emulate his performance yesterday as he was clean bowled by the Josephian left arm spinner Malshan Rodrigo when the score was on 30 runs. Opening batsman Hashan Wanasekara and skipper Kavinda De Thissera guided the Peter’s innings till leg spinner Aravinda Akurugoda forced the Peterite skipper to go for an expansive drive which was well caught by Sadeera Samarawickrama at short extra covers.
Hashan Wanasekara made a steering 35 runs before Josephian spin duo of Aravinda Akurugoda and Malshan Rodrigo gave some hopes for a St. Joseph’s win as they ripped through the Peterite middle order which put the Bambalapitiya lads in tatters on 87 for 7 just before the tea break. The Peterites went into the tea break as a nervous unit on 94 for 7 and with their 31 runs lead in the first innings they were only in front by 125 runs.
After a 20 minute break for Tea, Peterites batted with grit led by their wicket keeper batsman Oshan Karunarathne who played a match saving rearguard knock of 66 runs facing 124 balls holding the tail strongly to ensure a draw. Oshan Karunaratne and Sahan Nanayakkara played more than 23 overs for the 9th wicket scoring a record breaking 59 runs which ensured that the Peterites got out of danger.
St. Peter’s 2nd innings finally ended on 181 runs in the 69th over which was the end to an entertaining but yet another drawn Joe-Pete which has a tally of 61 drawn encounters. St. Peter’s will safely keep the Rev.Fr Maurice LeGoc trophy for another year after their triumph in 2012.
Individual Awards :
Best Fielder – Kalpa Ravihara (SJC)
Best Bowler – Aravinda Akurugoda (SJC)
Best Batsman – Janith Liyanage (SPC)
Best All Rounder – Fabian Fernando (SJC)
Man of the Match – Chandula Jayamanne (SPC)
Chief Scores :
SPC (1st inn) – 282 all out in 59.2 overs : Chandula Jayamanne 116, Janith Liyanage 80, Chemila Obeysekara 20, Aravinda Akurugoda 6/75….
SJC (1st inn) – 251/8 declared in 53 overs : Sadeera Samarawickrama 74, Pathum Madusanka 72, Priyamal Perera 33, Fabian Fernando 42*, Sahan Nanayakkara 4/50.
SPC (2nd inn) – 181 all out in 68.3 overs : Oshan Karunaratne 66, Hashan Wanasekara 35, Malshan Rodrigo 3/38, Fabian Fernando 3/26, Aravinda Akurugoda 3/41.
Match Result: Match Drawn
