School Cricket Review:

Thisara and Chathuranga - architects of Joes' victory

Chris Dhambarage

St. Joseph's College produced their best performance this season to beat their traditional rivals St. Peter's College by an innings and 42 runs in their 74th Battle of the Saints annual inter school cricket encounter worked off at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium last week.

Their success had a great amount of significance because they had the better of their opponents after a lapse of 35 years having last defeated the Peterites way back in 1972 under the captaincy of Rohan Fenando at this same venue.

This was also the fourth win for the Josephians at this venue and they now lead the overall series with 12 victories against St. Peter's seven wins. The result could also be considered as one of the biggest victories in the series as St. Joseph's College completed their task in the last over before lunch on the second day.

In fact the Josephians needed only 79.3 overs to dismiss their opponents in both innings after they had piled up a formidable 255 runs in their only innings. Last year of course the Peterites survived after being asked to follow on at this same venue thanks to a magnificent century from their captain Lahiru Peiris. `But this time St. Joseph's College were more superior in all departments of the game and were able to conclude the season on a impressive note. They were determined from the moment they won the toss and went about their task quite brilliantly.

And more importantly St. Joseph's College had a great amount of confidence with them as they played to their true potential while completely outplaying their opponents. They of course went into the Big Match with just three outright victories under their belt.

Nevertheless the senior players with most of them making their final appearance for their school were really determined to give their best effort in this all important encounter. In the bowling department Thisara Perera and Chathuranga Kumara were simply outstanding and proved once again that they are genuine match winning bowlers.

Perera gave St. Joseph's College the initiative with a five wicket haul in the first innings and fresher Kumara playing in his first Big Match added the finishing touches with a four wicket burst on the second day. In between there were some outstanding batting from the consistent Roshane Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne and all rounder Shameera Weerasinghe.

St. Peter's College certainly looked a completely disorganized unit and they never looked like making a match of it after being bowed out for a paltry 137 runs in the first innings. Even then the manner in which they surrendered was quite surprising having remained unbeaten throughout the season.

St. Peter's College no doubt paid the penalty for letting off third year coloursman and one of their more experienced players Shivanga Ranasuriya from the final eleven. The elegant right hander has the temperament and the ability to occupy the crease for a long period which was something lacking from the present outfit.

Ananda v Nalanda

Traditional rivals Ananda College and Nalanda College figured in a tame draw in their 79th annual Battle of the Maroons inter school cricket encounter worked off at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place last week.

The Anandians spoiled any chances of obtaining a result from this outing by occupying the crease for nearly five hours. They batted for more than 80 overs and collected their runs at a pace of just over three runs per over.

This was certainly not the right attitude to move about in a two day fixture after they had been put into bat by the Nalanda captain Madawa Warnapura.

This was certainly a surprising move from the Anandians who had some of the better stroke makers in their ranks and having proved it on many occasions this season. The major contributions for Ananda College came from the bat of Udara Peiris and Dinesh Chandimal with both completing solid half centuries. In fact left hander Peiris played the sheet anchor role and held their middle order together with a superb innings which contained one six and seven boundaries.

He was also associated in a 62 run partnership with Dinesh Chandimal who struck an attractive 55 with the help of ten boundaries. The Sri Lanka under 19 wicket keeper batsman fresh after the ICC Under 19 World Cup in Malaysia struck form immediately and carried the Anandians to a safe position with a responsible innings.

However the bulk of the runs came from the bat of Udara Peiris who was prepared to stay at the crease and play a long innings.

He was rewarded for his concentration and determination as he remained unbeaten on a magnificent 85 runs having occupied the crease for more than two sessions.

In addition the Ananda batting received a tremendous boost during the latter stages of their innings with right hander Ishara Wickremasinghe stroking a fluent 40 and Praboda Seneviratne also making a useful contribution.

The Nalandians of course made a desperate attempt to contain their opponents with left arm spinner Amal Atapattu, left arm pacman Chaturanga Wickremasinghe, Ashan Priyanjan and off spinner Dilshan Munaweera capturing two wickets each.

In contrast Nalanda College went about their task in a more spectacular manner with decided to close their innings shortly before the tea interval. Their batsmen showed more urgency in collecting their runs and did not mind conceding a first innings lead of 25 runs. They were helped by three half centuries from opener Dilshan Munaweera, Madawa Warnapura ad Nipun Karunanayake.

The trio realized the situation well and kept the score moving at a steady pace even through singles and the two's when it was difficult to score boundaries.

S. Thomas' v St. Sebastian's

S. Thomas' College suffered a major blow just few days ahead of their Big Match when they suffered a shock eight wicket defeat at the hands of St. Sebastian's College Moratuwa in their annual inter school cricket encounter worked off at Mount Lavinia last week.

In contrast this was a great morale booster for the Sebastianites who will take on their traditional rivals Prince of Wales College in their annual Big Match this weekend. The manner in which they pulled off the game was quite outstanding because they were bundled out for just 70 runs in their first innings.

But they produced an improved batting performance in the second innings and reached their modest target of 156 runs with Trevin Fernando and Rajitha Mendis stroking half centuries.

Prince of Wales v Trinity

Prince of Wales College also warmed up for the up coming Big Match by defeating Trinity College outright by eight wickets in their annual inter school encounter worked off at Moratuwa last week.

The Cambrians put up a splendid all round performance to dismiss their opponents for the identical score of 134 runs in the two innings respectively. The match winner for Prince of Wales was Chamesh Shanka who had a matchbag of eleven wickets.