Noteworthy performances by Lahiru and Lakshan

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: One stole the limelight by capturing one hundred wickets while the other missed out on a golden opportunity of scoring one thousand runs to join a select band of players during the concluded inter school cricket season.

Peterites Lakshan Rodrigo and Lahiru Peiris may be players belonging to a different class. But both players had something in common and that was to achieve success on the field and to bring victory to their team.

Leg spinner Rodrigo completed a memorable season when he finished with a tally of 101 wickets from sixteen matches. But Peiris agonizingly fell short by just 27 runs from achieving his goal of scoring 973 runs from sixteen matches.

The pressure was no doubt on young Peiris going into the important Big Match against their traditional rivals St. Joseph's College although he had earlier completed three centuries and seven half centuries. Peiris was also deprived of scoring some runs as three of their regular fixtures against Ananda College, Trinity College and D. S. Senanayake College did not come off due to reasons unknown.

That he just could not reach his goal is a different matter but overall on an average he was far more superior with a fantastic strike rate of 60.81.

This was a clear indication of his consistency and the temperament where he played a dominant role in the Peterite batting line up throughout the season. In fact this was quite an eventful and memorable season for Peiris who was crowned as the Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the year twice.

The stylish middle order batsman was given the added task of leading the St. Peter's team during the absence of their regular captain Hans Fernando who was on national duty. But Peiris accepted this task as a challenge for him having earlier captained the school under 13 and 15 teams quite successfully.

The results were quite outstanding because under his leadership St. Peter's College notched up four outright victories including a famous win over Royal College which came after a lapse of five years.

That victory of course could have not achieved without the brilliance of Lakshan Rodrigo who took a matchbag of ten wickets. While Rodrigo picked up wickets at a tremendous pace, Peiris kept the scoreboard moving at an equally good pace to form the right combination for St. Peter's College. He scored back to back unbeaten centuries against Holy Cross College, Kalutara and St. Aloysius College Galle to set the pace for another magnificent inter-school season.

However Rodrigo could not make the same brilliant start for the season but he picked up later on and soon came into his own which certainly signalled a warning to the batsmen. He first made a real impact with a six wicket haul against Isipatana College and produced his best performance capturing fourteen wickets against St. Benedict's College which helped St. Peter's College cruise to an easy victory.

Among his other significant contributions are 5 for 80 against Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa, 5 for 33 against Sri Sumangala MV, 5 for 49 against Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala, 6 for 53 against De Mazenod College Kandana, 7 for 68 against St. Sylvester's and 7 for 108 against St. Anthony's College.

Altogether Rodrigo took a matchbag of ten wickets on three occasions and returned figures of five wickets or more on ten occasions. He also made a huge impact during the Big Match against the traditional rivals St. Joseph's College where he claimed a matchbag of seven wickets. In addition he played a key role in their success over the Josephians in the annual one day fixture capturing five wickets for 32 which earned him the man of the match award.

Peiris may have failed to impress in the Big Match but his record during the season is quite outstanding where he compiled three centuries against Holy Cross College (104 n.o), St. Aloysius College (110 n.o), Sri Sumangala MV (100 n.o) and seven fifties against Rahula College (64), Nalanda College (69), Maliyadeva College (64 n.o), Sri Sumangala MV (80), St. Sylvester's College (74), S. Thomas' College (51) and St. Anthony's College (79).

Both Lahiru and Lakshan are very much grateful to their present coach Roger Wijesuriya, former coach L. H. Sunil, Shanaka Fernando, master in charge Wasantha Haputhantri, prefect of games Rev. Fr. Sunil Ranjith Perera and Rector of St. Peter's College Rev. Fr. Travis Gabriel.