Joes out to avenge last year’s defeat to Peterites

While the Josephians will try to come back with a vengeance to avenge last year’s humiliating defeat, the Peterites will surely try to maintain their supremacy and the psychological advantage which they gained when the two teams meet each other for the 79th occasion in their traditional Battle of the Saints ‘Big Match’ for the Rev. Fr. Maurice. J.Le Goc Memorial Trophy match at the P. Sara Oval on March 1st and 2nd.

St. Joseph’s (from): Sachin Hewawasam (Captain), Aravindh Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrema, Dylan Fernandopulle, Aravinda Akurugoda, Rajindu Rodrigo, Suren de Silva, Pathum Madusanka, Damith Weerasinghe, Shehan Perera, Duran de Alwis, Fabian Fernando, Kushan Weerakkody, Priyamal Perera. Kalpa Ravihara, Moditha Weerasinghe, Yashan Samarasinghe, N. Abeysekera, Bryan Jayamanne, Trishan Thanuja and Shammi Seneviratne.

St. Peter’s College (from): Shasheen Fernando, Jason Buultjens, Lahiru Milantha, Dushan Hemantha (Captain), Kavinda Tissera, Ramitha Liyanarachchi, Julien de Silva, Chemila Obeysekera, Chrishan Fernando, Sahan Nanayakkara, Oshan Karunaratne and Chandula Jayamanne

This encounter between St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s will herald in the ‘Big Match’ series for the year which will be followed by the Ananda-Nalanda encounter at the SSC on Saturday (March 2nd and Sunday, March 3).

The Peterites, after last year’s win are the holders of the Fr. Maurice. J. Le Goc Trophy when the Joes went down meekly . But this year the contest looks pretty even although the Peterites have recorded five outright wins and losing to St. Sebastian’s.

The Peterites batting revolves around their skipper Dushan Hemantha. In the 15 matches played so far he has scored over 700 runs with two centuries. However, the Peterite top order has been quite consistent with the bat as number four bat Lahiru Milantha (695) with a solitary hundred, opener Shasheen Fernando (640), Janith Liyanage (599) with a century and the other opener Jason Buultjens (316) have been doing the bulk of the scoring.

The two experienced Peterite openers Jason Buultjens and Shasheen Fernando are still to give a good start for the team and the Peterites hope they will come good in this all important match.

The Peterite bowling will depend heavily on left-arm spinner Julien de Zilva who had an impressive season last year and has continued in the same vein this year.

In 15 matches he has claimed 58 wickets with an average of 13.21 and 5 for 19 as his best figures. Skipper Dushan Hemantha has proved his all round qualities by taking 40 wickets besides heading the batting average.

The other bowlers who have been chipping in are: Chemila Obeysekera (35 wickets), Chrishan Fernando (25 wickets) ,Janitha Liyanage and Ranitha Liyanarachchi (14) wickets. Overall , the Peterites possess a well balanced side that is capable of a repetition of last year. On the other hand, the Joes have fared reasonably well this season with two good outright wins over Moratu Vidyalaya and over St. Anthony’s, Katugastota for the Vaas-Murali Trophy.

The Joes are unbeaten during the season. The eight-wicket win against Katugastota Antonians was something like a tonic for the Joes who were looking for more wins to build up their confidence prior to the ‘Big’ one. In that match, it was the spin combination of Moditha Weerasinghe and Aravinda Akurukgoda who took 4 wickets each and triggered the batting collapse to see the Antonians plunging to their lowest score (35) against the Joes.

The Josephian captain Sachin Hewawasam, like his opposite number has proved to be an useful allrounder. Besides topping the batting with 446 runs, he has taken 42 wickets. Priyamal Perera with 37 wickets is the second best while Moditha Weerasinghe (35) and Aravinda Arukkgoda (19) have struck late in the season to give hopes to the side.

The Joes batting will depend heavily on their opener Dylan Fernandopulle, Yashan Samarasinghe and Sadeera Samarawickrema. This trio are the only centurions in the side this season. But the late middle-order comprising Priamal Perera another useful all-rounder, Pathum Madusanka and Fabian Fernando are capable enough to gather runs when required. In the series, the Joes have won on 12 occasions to the Peterites 9. The Peterites won last year (2012) and the Joes under Ruwantha Fernandopulle won in 2008. The batting record of former Peterite, Ceylon and Leicestershire professional Clive Inman (204 n.o.) in 1954 still stands as the highest individual score in the series. Former Test cricketer Malinda Warnapura (159) in 1998 was the second best.

For the Joes, Hareen Silva 141 n.o. was the top scorer in 2009 while the present Test star Dimuth Karunaratne 131 in 2007 was the second highest. The Josephian bowlers have created a big impact in the series with Shenal Warnakula taking the highest number of wickets in an innings (9 for 41) in 1997. In the same match in the second innings he took 5 for 72 with a match bag of 14 for 113. Two more Joes Ranjith Malawana (8 for 57) in 1957 and left armer Rajive Benedict in 1972 went on to take 8 wickets in an innings.