77th 'Battle of the Saints' on March 4 and 5:

St.Peter's fancied to win, but St.Joseph's will give a good fight

by Ranjan ANANDAPPA

Josephian-Peterite: With almost half of last year's winning combination, the Peterites look set for a repetition, of last year's win, but the Josephians are not in a mood to cave in and are determined to hit back strongly when their annual 'Big' match the Battle Of the Saints will get underway for the 77th occasion on March 4 and 5 at the P. Sara Oval.

To make the match a result-oriented one, only the first Innings of either side has been restricted to 60 overs. Since this strategy has been introduced some years back, the spectator interest has been quite high with the expectation of a keen tussle on the card.

The Peterites captained by Chatura Pieris won last year's encounter in convincing fashion as the Joes went down meekly. Six of those players namely skipper Denam Perera, Nilochana Perera, Dushan Hemantha, Shehan Fernando, Jason Buultjens and Lahiru Jayaratne are representing the Peterites this year too. The Josephians last won in 2008 under the captaincy of Ruwantha Fernandopulle.

The Peterites have an experienced batting line up with opener Shehan Fernando topping the 700 run mark and the rest of the batsmen Shashin Fernando, Denam Perera, Lahiru Nilantha and Nilochana Perera all striking it rich during the season.

Both teams will be at full strength for this all- important 'big' encounter. The Peterites were sans their main strike bowler Lahiru Jayaratne who was a member of the Sri Lanka Under 19 team against the touring English counterparts and the Joes too were minus two of their top performers all-rounder Chaturanga Kumara and Asiri Supekshala who were also on national duty with the Under 19 team during the English tour. The two teams are at full strength. The Joes will also have the services of last year's losing skipper left-arm medium pacer Dinal Dhambarage, spinner Rosco Thattil has been the Joes chief wicket taker with 68 scalps. Out of the 16 matches played, the Joes, while remaining unbeaten have won against Kalutara MV, Maris Stella and Kingswood and have drawn the rest of the matches. The Peterites, on the other hand have a solitary win defeating Holy Cross, Kalutara but they have lost to Trinity.

The highest individual score at the 'big' match belongs to Clive Inman of St.Peter's in 1954 when he struck a whirlwind 204 prior to retiring hurt.

Haren Silva 141 n.o has been the top scorer for the Joes in 2009. Shenal Warnakula's (St.Joseph's) 9 for 41 in the first Innings and 5 for 72 in the second Innings who had a match bag of (14 for 113) in 1997 stands as the best bowling performance in the series.

In 1947, Peterite Dion Walles too, had a match bag of 13 for 106, taking 9 for 53 in the first Innings and 4 for 53 in the second Innings.

Teams

St.Peter's College (from): Denam Perera (Captain), Shehan Fernando, Shashin Fernando, Lahiru Nilantha, Thanusha Jayawardena, Nilochana Perera (V.Captain), Dushan Hemantha, Lahiru Jayaratne, Julien Zilva, Ali Khan, Udaka Galhena, Jason Buultjens, Kavinda Tissera, Treshan Fernando, Janith Kannangara, Sidath Jayaweera.

St.Joseph's College (from): Rosco Thattil (Captain), Kevin Bernadus, Vidusha Jayasinghe, Sadeera Samarawickrema, Chaturanga Kumara, Dilan Fernandopulle, Sachin Hewawasam, Asiri Supekshala, Dinal Dhambarage, Fabian Fernando, Piyamal Perera, Keshan Perera, Dinmithri Cooray, Dilshan Dissanayake.