Team-work - key to Peterite success

Chris Dhambarage

SCHOOL CRICKET: Team work, determination and a real commitment towards the game was the key factors for the success of St. Peter's College which has emerged as the best all island team during the 2005/06 inter school cricket season.

The champion Peterite team will receive their awards together with two other top individual awards Lahiru Peiris (best batsman) and Lakshan Rodrigo (best bowler) on Saturday at a ceremony organised by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association and to be held at the BMICH in Colombo.

St. Peter's College edged out their closest rivals St. Sebastian's College, Moratuwa in the division one contest for the best team while registering five outright victories and maintaining an unbeaten record throughout the season. They were also the runners-up to Ananda College in the inter-school limited-overs knock-out tournament.

Stylish middle-order batsman Lahiru Peiris who captained St. Peter's College on twelve outings was selected as the best batsman where he aggregated a total of 973 runs including three unbeaten centuries and seven fifties. His teammate Lakshan Rodrigo who captured over one hundred wickets during a fantastic season was picked as the best bowler in the division one tournament.

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 scoring 973 runs from sixteen matches. But overall on 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 the task as a challenge for him having earlier captained the school under 13 and 15 teams quite successfully.

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).

Apart from Lahiru and Lakshan, there were two other promising players Shivanga Ranasuriya and Angelo Perera who contributed magnificently for the success of the team with both bat and ball.

The Peterites of course are very much grateful to their present coach Roger Wijesuriya, master-in-charge Wasantha Haputhantri, prefect of games Rev. Fr. Sunil Ranjith Perera and Rector of St. Peter's College Rev. Fr. Travis Gabriel who have always provided the much needed encouragement both on and off the field and throughout the season.