Oshan and Sahan save Peterites

by Sajeewa Jayakody

St Peter's College all-rounders Oshan Karunaratne and Sahan Nanayakkara ensured a draw in the 80th Battle of the Saints as the pair put on a 61-run partnership for the ninth wicket afte they had lost seven wickets for 87 in their second innings at P Sara Oval, Colombo yesterday.

After a challening first innings total of 282 on day one, Peterites top order were strugging to counter the Joes spin-cum pace attack losing seven wickets for 87. First innings centurion Chandula Jayamanne was awarded with Man-of-the-Match while Aravinda Akurugoda, who claimed six wickets for 75 in the first innings. The right arm leg spinner had a match bag of nine wickets to be awarded as the best bowler for the second seccessive year.

Resuming from the overnight score of 92-2, St Joseph's College unbeaten batsmen Sadeera Samarawickrama and Pathum Madusanka were unable to further extend their partnership as Samarawickrama perished missing an attempted pull shot and ball hit the off stump ending Josephians top score of 74 off Naveen Dharshana.

After the early wicket in the morning, vice captain Priyamal Perera and Pathum Madusanka settled for consolidation adding 63 runs for the fourth wicket. Perera was caught off Sahan Nanayakkara giving left arm spinner his second wicket.

Since then, Josephian lost wickets at key intervals except Madusanka's resistance packed innings. The right hander scored 72 runs before being bowled by Nanayakkara as the sixth wicket of Darly Road school. Those scalp ensured the left arm spinner Nanayakkara taking his fourth wicket. St Joseph's College delcared their innings for 251-8 at lunch break.

Paceman Fabian Fernando gave spectators a thrilling batting display hitting 43 runs with his power hitting. Fernando's unbeaten sparkling 43 earned him to be the Best All-rounder of the 80th Battle of the Saints. The right arm paceman took three wickets for 26 runs completed four wickets in the match.

After the early flurry of wickets Oshan Karunaratne and Sahan Nanayakkara settled for resulution defence as Peterites sought their great escape to earn an unlikely draw, having lost seven wickets for just 87 runs. Taneesha Weerakoon and Chemila Obeyesekera added 19 runs for the eighth wicket before Obesekera was caught behind due to a miscued hook off a Fabian Fernando bouncer for 9.

The ninth-wicket rock hard partnership of 61 between Oshan Karunaratne and Sahan Nanayakkara averted another embarrasing Peterite collapse. After lost their ninth wicket. Karunaratne provided a late flurry scoring heavily and right hander, who is tipped to be appointed captain Peterites next year, got out for an stunning catch at deep mid-wicket rope by Hasindra Perera off leg spinner Priyamal Perera.

Man-of-the-Match: Chandula Jayamanne (St Peter's College)

Best Fielder: Kalpa Ravihara (St Josep's College wicket-keeper)

Best Bowler: Aravinda Akurugoda (St Joseph's College)

Best Batsman: Janith Liyanage (St Peter's College)

Best All-rounder: Fabian Fernando (St Joseph's College)

Scoreboard

St Peter's - 1st innings 282 all out, 
St Joseph's  - 1st innings
(overnight 92-2)

Yashan Samarasinghe b Liyanage				08
Dylan Fernandopulle c Dalpadadu b Obeyesekere		00
Sadeera Samarawickrama b Dharshana			74
Pathum Madusanka b Nanayakkara				72
Priyamal Perera c Dalpadadu b Nanayakkara		33
Kalpa Ravihara c Karunaratne b Nanayakkara		04
Fabian Fernando not out					43
Hashindra Perera c Nanayakkara b Weerakoon		07
Aravinda Akurugoda c Tissera b Nanayakkara		03
Trishan Thanuja not out					02
Malshan Rodrigo did not bat
Extras (2w, 3nb)					05
TOTAL (8 wickets decl; 53 overs)		       251

Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Fernandopulle), 2-39 (Samarasinghe)
		 3-114 (Samarawickrama), 4-177 (Perera)
		 5-193 (Ravihara), 6-204 (Madusanka)
		 7-221 (Perera), 8-224 (Akurugoda)
Bolwing: Chemila Obeyesekere 9-1-38-1
	 Janith Liyanage 11-1-47-1
	 Naveen Dharshana 11-0-48-1
	 Sahan Nanayakkara 13-4-50-4
	 Taneesha Weerakoon 5-0-44-1
	 Chandula Jayamanne 4-0-24-0

St Peter's 2nd innings
Dineth Thimodya lbw b Fernando				01
Hashan Wanasekere st Ravihara b Akurugoda		05
Janith Liyanage b Fernando				04
Chandula Jayamanne b Rodrigo				13
Kavinda de Tissera c Samarawickrama b Akurugoda		22
Sachin Dalpadadu lbw Akurugoda				06
Taneesha Weerakoon c Fernandopulle b Rodrigo		01
Chemila Obeyesekere c Ravihara b Fernando		09
Oshan Karunaratne c H Perera b P Perera			66
Sahan Nanayakkara c Fernandopulle b Rodrigo		14
Naveen Dharshana not out				00
Extras (2b, 5lb, 1w, 2nb)				10
TOTAL (all out; 68.3 overs)			       181

Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Thimodya), 2-8 (Liyanage), 3-30 (Jayamanne)
		 4-68 (De Tissera), 5-86 (Dalpadadu), 6-87 (Wanasekere)
		 7-87 (Weerakoon), 8-106 (Obeyesekere), 9-167 (Nanayakkara)
		 10-181 (Karunaratne)
Bowling: Fabian Fernando 9-3-26-3
	 Trishan Thanuja 5-1-14-0
	 Malshan Rodrigo 15-5-40-3
	 Yashan Samarasinghe 4-1-11-0
	 Hasindra Perera 13-5-34-0
	 Aravinda Akurugoda 19-5-39-3
	 Pathum Madusanka 2-0-6-0
	 Sadeera Samarawickrama 1-1-0-0
	 Priyamal Perera 3-0-4-1