BY CHRIS Dhambarage

St. Peter's College put themselves in a commanding position taking a vital first innings lead of 94 runs on the opening day of their 71st annual inter school 'Battle of the Saints' cricket encounter against traditional rivals St. Joseph's College played at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium yesterday.

After bundling out the strong Josephian batting line up for just 126 runs, they hit up an impressive 220 with skipper Prajiv Jansz leading from the front. The stylish opening batsman hit a fluent 63 from 88 balls with nine fours to set the pace for a good first innings total.

Earlier the Peterites who won the toss and decided to field took the initiative with a magnificent performance with the ball as they picked up wickets at regular intervals. They never allowed the Josephians to settle down and build up a partnership with opening bowler Umhar Samsudeen leading way.

The medium paceman produced his best effort in the current season getting rid of the cream of the Josephian batting through a hostile spell of bowling.

Samsudeen and Hans Fernando formed a fearsome combination for the Peterites as they ran through the opposition in a spectacular manner. In fact this pair proved their dominance to a great extent while taking nine wickets between them and the other wicket was a run out.

St. Joseph's College were struggling to reach the three figure mark at one stage after they had collapsed to 37 for 6 and again 91 for 8. However they were rescued to a great extent by the consistent Roshan Silva who stroked a fighting half century from 124 balls and with the help of six fours.

ST. JOSEPH’S 1ST INNINGS
Ruwantha Fernandopulle c L. Peiris b Samsudeen	 0
Dimuth Karunaratne run out			 9
Dhanuka Hettiarachchi lbw b Fernando		11
Hashan Goonethileke lbw b Samsudeen		 1
Roshane Silva not out				59
Angelo Mathew b Samsudeen			 0
Ranesh Perera lbw b Fernando			 0
Anton de Livera c Randhika b Fernando		 9 
Christopher Fleming c Rodrigo b Samsudeen	 9
Dhanushka Lazarus c Randhika b Samsudeen	 0
Rajeeva Weerasinghe c Randhika b Fernando	 7
Extras						19
TOTAL (all out in 45.5 overs)			126
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-15, 3-16, 4-26, 
5-34, 6-37, 7-78, 8-91, 9-112.
Bowling: U. Samsudeen 16-4-50-4, 
H. Fernando 15.5-5-36-4, K. Magage 3-1-5-0, 
D. Udugamasuriya 5-3-3-0, 
S. Wickremasekera 4-0-15-0, S. Fernando 2-0-6-0. 

ST. PETER’S 1ST INNINGS
Prajiv Jansz c and b R. Perera			63
Denham Udugamasuriya run out			28
Shanaka Wickremasekera c and b Weerasinghe	21
Hans Fernando lbw b R. Perera			14
Dasun Randhika c Livera b Mathew		22
Krishal Magage c Goonathileke b Mathew		23
Lahiru Peiris c Goonethilke b Fleming		20
Prabudda Perera b R. Perera			 3
Umhar Samsudeen b Fleming			 2
Lakshan Rodrigo not out				 6
Chanaka Fernando b Fleming			 0 
Extras						18
TOTAL (all out in 53.4 overs) 			220
Fall of wickets: 1-96, 2-103, 3-132, 4-136, 
5-172, 6-195, 7-198, 8-210, 9-220.
Bowling: A. Mathew 13-0-66-2, 
C. Fleming 8.4-2-27-3, A. de Livera 1-0-10-0, 
R. Perera 19-2-66-3, R. Weerasinghe 12-1-49-1

ST. JOSEPH’S 2ND INNINGS
Ruwantha Fernandopulle not out	 9
Dimuth Karunaratne not out	 2
Extras				 1
TOTAL (for no loss in 5 overs)	12
Bowling: U. Samsudeen 2-1-1-0, 
H. Fernando 2-0-7-0, S. Wickremasekera 1-0-4-0.