Petes retain Fr. Peter Pillai Trophy

by Chris DHAMBARAGE

CRICKET: St. Peter's College retained the Rev. Fr. Peter Pillai Trophy for the third successive year when they defeated their traditional rivals St. Joseph's College in the 36th annual inter school Battle of the Saints limited over encounter worked off at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium yesterday.

St. Joseph's were restricted to 202 in 46.4 overs after they had been put into bat and St. Peter's reached the target in the 45th over with five wickets to spare. The Peterites also brought their overall tally to 16 victories with the Joes still ahead having recorded 18 wins in the series.

The Peterite run chase was spearheaded by the opening batsman Shehan Fernando who hit a top score of 70 from 68 balls inclusive of four sixes and four boundaries.

Together with Denham Perera (45) they put on a century stand for the second wicket after Andri Berenger had made a first ball duck.

St. Peter's College suffered a middle order collapse while losing Angelo Emmanuel and Akshu Fernando cheaply against some superb bowling from seamer Chaturanga Kumara.

However skipper Chatura Peiris added the finishing touches with an unbeaten half century while hoisting two sixes and five boundaries.

Earlier St. Joseph's College reached a healthy 202 in 46.4 overs with all rounder Rosco Thathil making a top score of 45. Opening bowler Lahiru Jayaratne did most of the damage with a splendid four wicket haul.

St. Joseph's: 202 in 46.4 overs (C. Kumara 23, R. Thathil 45, S. Samarasekera 34, D. Fonseka 19, C. Peiris 2 for 33, L. Jayaratne 4 for 40, S. Fernando 2 for 35).

St. Peter's: 203 for 5 in 44.1 overs (S. Fernando 70, D. Perera 45, C. Peiris 59 n.o, C. Kumara 3 for 30).