Will Joes win again?
by Chris Dhambarage
St. Joseph's College with a brilliant track record in
the current inter school season are confident of producing a result when
they take on their traditional rivals St. Peter's College in their 71st
annual Battle of the Saints Big Match scheduled for Friday and Saturday
at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium.
In their 14 outings this season, the Joes have nine
outright wins with an unbeaten record. They beat D. S. Senanayake
College, Maris Stella College Negombo, De Mazenod College Kandana, St.
Benedict's College, Harischandra MV, Taxila MMV Horana, Royal College,
Trinity College Kandy and St. Sebastian's College Moratuwa.
The Josephians have emerged as one of the most
successful teams in the history of school cricket recording nine
victories in the current season. This was easily their best performance
for the past fifty years while eclipsing the previous record of seven
wins which they achieved in 1997 under the captaincy of Trevin Mathews.
In addition they also won six matches in 1990 under the
leadership of Orril de Mel. This years team is ably led by wicket keeper
batsman and fourth year coloursman Hashan Goonethilleke and coached by
Harsha de Silva who also represented St. Joseph's College during the
1990/91 season as an opening bowler.
Their best effort this season was probably the innings
and 14 runs win which they recorded against Royal in their 108th
encounter at Reid Avenue. This was also the second time in a row that
they had beaten Royal in a schools match. Their success was built around
the individual brilliance of Angelo Mathews who picked up a matchbag of
ten wickets. The Sri Lanka Youth Cap came out with his best performance
for the season while destroying the Royal batting in both innings and so
far he has captured 49 wickets.
Mathews who has been hit by few injuries in the last
couple of seasons have certainly reached his peak form at last following
a similar performance against St. Benedict's College. This match also
turned out to be a successful outing for three young prospects Ruwantha
Fernandopulle, Dhanuka Hettiarachchi and Roshane Silva all scoring half
centuries.
The Josephians also went on to beat St. Benedict's
College by an innings and 15 runs at Darley Road. The matchwinner once
again was their vice captain Angelo Mathews who produced a magnificent
performance to claim a matchhaul of nine wickets.
His six wicket haul in the first innings completely
shattered the Benedictines hopes as they folded up for just 84 runs.
Spinner Rajiv Weerasinghe then added the finishing touches with a
penetrative spell of bowling which earned him a four wicket haul as the
Joes sealed the game with more than a session to spare.
St. Joseph's College recorded another memorable victory
against Trinity College Kandy when they triumphed by nine wickets on
their home grounds at Darley Road. The Josephians simply outclassed the
Trinitians in both batting and bowling with another superlative
performance on their home grounds. They took the initiative once again
by dismissing the opposition for 156 runs in their first innings.
The Josephians proved their bowling has tremendous
variety and this time it were the spinners who did most of the damage in
both innings. In the past they have rallied around through the
individual brilliance of paceman Angelo Mathews one of the top wicket
takers this season. However this time the Josephians changed their
strategy with the spinners Ranesh Perera and Rajiv Weerasinghe sharing
the wickets.
Incidentally Weerasinghe opened the gates for another
comprehensive victory while claiming a five wicket haul in the first
innings and Perera added the finishing touches with a four wicket haul
in the second innings. Ranesh Perera has captured 49 wickets and Rajive
Weerasinghe has 40 wickets to his credit. |
