Petes inflict humiliating defeat on Joes

by Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: St. Peter's College brought an end to a 32 year long wait with a stunning performance as they defeated their traditional rivals St. Joseph's College by ten wickets in their 76th annual inter-school Battle of the Saints cricket encounter which concluded at the P. Saravanamuttu Oval yesterday.

The Josephians trailing by 135 runs on the first innings were forced to follow on and were bundled out for 164 runs in their second innings. St. Peter's College who piled up a formidable 293 in the first innings then hit up the required runs quite convincingly to complete a memorable victory with more than a session to spare.

St. Peter's College recorded their previous win in the series way back in 1978 under the captaincy of Suraj Abeysekera. This was also their eighth victory in the series with St. Joseph's still ahead having recorded 12 victories.

Skipper Chatura Peiris led from the front with another inspired spell of bowling that earned him the Man of the Match award. The left arm fast bowler added three more scalps to his tally following his four wicket burst in the first innings.

His newball partner Lahiru Jayaratne was equally good with a couple of crucial wickets with Angelo Emmanuel, Janika Kannangara, Dushan Hemantha and Akshu Fernando providing the back up support.

St. Peter's College made their intentions clear from the start as they wrapped up the Josephian innings and captured the remaining three wickets for the addition of just 26 runs.

However opener Vidusha Jayasinghe who retired following an injury returned back and went on to make a fighting half century from 105 deliveries inclusive of eight boundaries. In fact Jayasinghe offered stiff resistance in the second innings too while batting down the order when he put on a valuable 64 runs for the eighth wicket along with all rounder Rosco Thatill.

But it was middle order batsman Enrico Silva who made a top score of 46 from 85 balls with the aid of five boundaries. Josephian opening bowler Chaturanga Kumara who took a five wicket haul in the first innings was named as the Best Bowler.

In addition Peterite opening batsman Shehan Fernando who struck an elegant 83 was picked as the Best Batsman while wicket keeper Andri Berenger won the Best Fielders award.

ST. PETER'S - 1ST INNINGS: 293 (Shehan Fernando 83, Chaturanga Kumara 5 for 84).

ST. JOSEPH'S - 1ST INNINGS: Vidusha Jayasinghe c Berenger b Peiris 50, Keshan Perera run out 0, Enrico Silva lbw b Peiris 5, Sadeera Samarasinghe c Peiris b Jayaratne 19, Jaan Jayasinghe c Berenger b Peiris 48, Chaturanga Kumara c Berenger b Peiris 0, Rosco Thattil b Emmanuel 5, Supechala Jayatilleke c and b Kannangara 2, Dinal Fonseka c Berenger b Kannangara 6, Ramesh Vidanarachchi b Jayaratne 4, Dinal Dhambarage not out 0.

Extras (7b, 5w, 7nb) 19.

Total 158.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-10, 3-55, 4-76, 5-93, 6-107, 7-117, 8-143, 9-151.

Bowling: Chatura Peiris 17-4-37-4, Lahiru Jayaratne 13-1-49-2, Nilochana Perera 6-1-13-0, Angelo Emmanuel 10-2-15-1, Janika Kannangara 6-0-36-2, Akshu Fernando 1-0-1-0.

ST. JOSEPH'S - 2ND INNINGS: Sadeera Samarawickrema b Peiris 0, Keshan Perera b Emmanuel 7, Enrico Silva c Perera b Jayaratne 46, Jaan Jayasinghe b Emmanuel 0, Chaturanga Kumara b Peiris 22, Rosco Thatill lbw b Fernando 37, Supechala Jayatilleke c Fernando (sub) b Jayaratne 0, Dinal Fonseka c Berenger b Hemantha 0, Vidusha Jayasinghe run out 31, Ramesh Vidanarachchi not out 15, Dinal Dhambarage b Peiris 2.

Extras (2nb, 1lb, 1b) 4.

Total 164.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-20, 3-28, 4-69, 5-82, 6-82, 7-83, 8-147, 9-147

Bowling: Chatura Peiris 11.5-3-33-3, Lahiru Jayaratne 9-4-19-2, Angelo Emmanuel 12-2-48-2, Nilochana Perera 2-0-3-0, Dhushan Hemantha 7-1-29-1, Janika Kannangara 3-0-14-0, Akshu Fernando 4-0-16-1

ST. PETER'S - 2ND INNINGS: Angelo Emmanuel not out 15, Andri Berenger not out 17.

Extras (b1) 1.

Total for no loss 33.

Bowling: Dinal Dhambarage 4.5-0-23-0, Chaturanga Kumara 4-1-3-0.