A keen tussle in the offing ...:

54th 'Battle of Babes'on March 16 and 17

by S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy sports Corr.

St. Sylvester's vs Vidyartha: A keenly fought out battle is expected when the unbeaten St. Sylvester's College takes on Vidyartha College in their 54th 'Battle of Babes' which will be played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on March 16 and 17. Of the 54 matches played so far, the Sylvestrians are in the lead winning 14 matches and their last win was in 2009 under Chanaka Colombage when the umpires awarded the match to the Sylvestrians after Vidyartha College refused to continue the match, following a stoppage due to bad light. The last Vidyartha Victory was in 1967 under R.M. Lafir which was 44 years ago. Vidyartha has won 3 matches in the series.

The highest individual score stands to the credit of Thushara Kodikara of Vidyartha College who scored 212 not out in 1984. The best bowling record is held by late Sarath Basnayake of St. Sylvester's College who took 9 for 14 and 5 for 34 in 1962 to spearhead the Sylvestrians to an innings win. He had a match bag of 14 for 48.

St. Sylvester's College led by fourth year player Ruwantha Ekanayake have played 16 matches won 4 'outright' and drawn the rest. Ruwantha Ekanayake is an attacking left-hand bat and has scored over 500 runs and captured over 40 wickets with his right arm leg spinners.

Waruna Wijesinghe, also a fourth year player, is the Vice-Captain of the side. He has scored over 500 runs captured 40 wickets with his medium pacers.

Left-arm spinner Nimesha Mendis playing only in his second year has been the most successful bowler capturing over 85 wickets.

Their batting will depend on skipper Ruwantha Ekanayake, Waruna Wijesinghe, Faiz Ahamed, Thanuja Hettiarachchi, Dushan Malalasena, Sumedha Dissanayake, Hansamal Perera, Indunil Samarananda, Dilan de Mel.

Waruna Wijesinghe will open the attack with Indunil Samarananda. But their forte will be their spin attack led by left-arm spinner Nimesha Mendis, leg spinner Ruwantha Ekanayake, off-spinner Faiz Ahamed, leg-spinner Dushan Malalasena.

Galapitige captains Vidyartha

Vidyartha College will be led fourth year coloursman Niluksha Galapitige and have played 17 matches and have won 4 matches outright, losing one and drawn the rest. He has scored over 600 runs and also bowls left arm spinners.

Fourth year player Tilina Rupasena is the deputy skipper of the side. A solid right had bat who scored over 600 runs and captured 80 wickets with his off-spinners.

Opening batsman Ruwan Bandara is the most successful batsman scoring over a thousand runs, including three centuries. He is the first Vidyarthian to score thousand runs in a season.

Last year's captain Tharindu Ranaweera playing in his fifth year has scored over 400 runs and captured 30 wickets. But he missed most of the matches due to injury.

Both Vidyartha openers Ruwan Bandara and skipper Niluksha Galapitige are in form and will be hard to dislodge. The others who should be among the runs are Tilina Rupasena, Keshan Gamage, Tharindu Ranaweera, Samitha Attanayake, Muditha Elpitiya, Isuru Weerasinghe, Ravindu Dissanayake and Sherad Buddhika. Isuru Weerasinghe (50 wkts) will open the attack with Samitha Attanayake. Muditha Elpitiya and Nipuna Ranaweera are the other pacies. They will look to their spinners like off-spinner Tilina Rupasena, leg-spinner Keshan Gamage, off-spinner Tharindu Ranaweera, off spinner Ravindu Dissanayake and left arm Spinner Chanaka Ratnayake. St. Sylvester's College are coached by Roland Perera and Vidyartha College by Susantha Basnayake. Jayantha Kumara is the Master-in-charge at Vidyartha College and S. Palinda at St. Sylvester's.

Teams

St. Sylvester's College: Ruwantha Ekanayake (Captain), Waruna Wijesinghe (vice Captain), Faiz Ahamed, Dushan Malalasena, Sumedha Dissanayake, Nimesha Mendis, Hansamal Dhanuja Hettiarachchi, Hansamal Perera, Dulip Maduranga, Indunil Samarananda, Harsha Wedikara, Nimesha Piyaratne, Chandula Hansantha, Janitha Perera, Sandeep Singh, Upendra Palamakumbura, Chamod Samararatne, J. Kugapragashan (Coach Roland Perera, Assistant Coach Sankalpa Gunasekera).

Vidyartha College: (from) Niluksha Galapitige (Captain), Tilina Rupasena (Vice Captain), Tharindu Ranaweera, Keshan Gamage, Samitha Attanayake, Isuru Weerasinghe, Muditha Elpitiya, Ravindu Dissanayake, Nipuna Ranaweera, Kasun Nawaratne, Sherad Buddhika, Chanaka Ratnayake, Dasun Nuwaratne, Chinthana Lokuketiya, Sameera Wickremasinghe, Pathum Colombage, Sahan Amerasinghe (Coach Susantha Basnayake).

Vidyartha College    Pix: S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen – Kandy Sports Corr.

St. Sylvester’s College