Countdown to Battle of the Saints
“Platinum Jubilee Encounter”:
Arndt and Perera in record stand
Supun PERERA
The 2nd Battle of the Saints encounter took place on March 2 and 3,
1934 at St Joseph’s College grounds Darley Road watched by a large
gathering.
What was notable in this encounter was that five SJC seniors had quit
and they looked a fresher laden outfit led by allrounder Claude (Lonta)
Wijesinghe.
The Peterites looked a more formidable side and was led by that
outstanding cricketer Shirley Illesinghe and the two colleges had
exchanged a player each.
That stylish left hand opening bat K.R.L.(Kennneth) De Silva had
crossed over to St Joseph’s and Desmond Morreira who opened the batting
for St Joseph’s in the previous year had crossed over to the
Bambalapitiya School.
Elected to bat
The Josephian captain Wijesinghe won the toss and elected to bat and
his decision was proved right as the openers gave them a cracking start
where Kenneth De Silva and E.L.F.Gunasekera put on 60 valuable runs.
However after the fall of the first wicket of E.L.F. Gunasekera the
Josephian middle suffered an unexpected collapse due to some fine
bowling by skipper Shirley Illesinghe and last year’s Peterite hero
Cyril Dias.
The departure of that brilliant stumper Alcon Powell brought two
freshers who were just 15years to the crease. For David Arndt and Fred
Perera It was virtually a “Baptism of fire.”
The Josephians were tottering at 143 for the loss of 8 wickets. And
these two showed what talented freshers they were ! They put the
Petetrite bowlers to the “sword” and put on a record 219 run 9th wicket
partnership which todate stands as an inter-school record! The record
too is reaching it’s “Platinum Jubilee”. This unique feat is very hard
to break.
Unbeaten
When David Arndt departed for a well compiled 110 runs Josephians
were well over the “seas”. When the Joes were bowled out for 380; Fred
Perera remained unbeaten on 114. What a tremendous recovery it was ! The
former St Joseph’s and All Ceylon allrounder Gerry Gooneratne commented
thus: “The maturity shown by Arndt and Perera completely unsettled the
Peterites. Also playing under tremendous pressure how they handled the
situation was truly remarkable”.
Once again it was Cyril Dias who bowled with lot of fire with
immaculate line and length to bag 5 for 105.
When the Petarites began their essay they were never in the chase and
were bundled out for 139 with only Theobald Heart making a patient 41
and skipper Shirley Illesinghe making a quickfire 37.
The Josephian paceman Peter Peries completely baffled the Peterite’s
“Rock” like defence to take 5 wickets for 26. Following on they crumbled
against Peries and Fred Perera.
Incidentally Perera took a hat trick which is the only hat trick in
the 75 year old series so far. Peries took 3 for 14 an had a match bag
of 8 for 40 and Perera finished with the incredible figures of 7.1 - 00
- 11 - 06. He took a match bag of 7 for 41. Petes were bowled out for a
paltry 39 in their follow on and which was only
bettered by Roy Dias’s Petes in 1972 where they were bowled out for
36.The significant feature in this 2nd encounter was that only D.
Pereira reached double figures in the Peterite second Innings.
St Joseph’s
K.R.L. De Silva. Bld Wimalasuriya 63
E.L.F. Gunasekera ct Illesinghe bld Dias 16
Peter Peries st D.Pereira bld Dias 03
Malcolm Spittel bld Illesinghe 01
Claude Wijesinghe ct Morreira bld Illesinghe 19
Laddie Outschoorn ct Herat bld Morreira 14
V.A.Piyadasa ct Wimalasuriya bld Dias 19
David Arndt ct Illesinghe bld Dias 110
A.Powell ct D.Pereira bld Morreira 00
Fred Perera not out 114
S.J.C. Cruze st D.Pereira bld Dias 09
Extras 12
Total 380
F.o.w.60/69/74/104/106/137/143/143/362/380
Bowling: S.Illesinghe 16-00-52-02, D.Morreira 23-02-101-02,
C.Dias 18.2-00-105-05, C. Wimalasuriya 08-01-23-01.
ST PETER’S 1st Innings
D. Pereira ct Wijesinghe bld Fred Perera 19
C.Dias bld Wijesinghe 00
A. Waas ct Powell bld Wijesinghe 14
T.Herat ct Spittel bld Peries 41
D.Morreira lbw bld Peries 04
G.Perera bld Peries 00
S.Illesinghe lbw Spittel 37
R.Reimers bld Peries 06
P.S.Anthonisz bld K.R.L.De Silva 04
C.Wimalasuriya not out 07
G.Walles ct Spittel bld Peries 00
Extras 7
Total 139
F.o.w 0/24/39/55/61/108/119/127/135/139
Bowling: Peter Peries 20.2 10 26 05, C. Wijesinghe 17 05 35 02,
D.Arndt 13 05 16 00, Fred Perera 13 04 30 01,
Malcolm Spittel 10 06 11 01, K.R.L. De SiIva 04 00 07 01
ST PETER’S 2nd Innings
D. Pereira ct Arndt bld Perera 17
C.Dias bld Perera 00
A.Waas ct Spittel bld Peries 05
T.Herat bld Perera 00
D.Morreira ct Arndt bld Perera 00
G.Perera ct Outschoorn bld Perera 00
S.Illesinghe bld Peries 04
R.Reimers ct Gunasekera bld Perera 00
P.S.Anthonisz lbw Peries 05
C.Wimalasuriya st Powell bld Arndt 06
G.Walles Not Out 01
Extras 01
Total 139
F.o.w.23/23/23/23/23/30/31/36/37/39
Bowling: Peter Peries 10 05 14 03, C. Wijesinghe 06 04 03 00,
D.Arndt 06 03 10 01, Fred Perera 7.1 00 11 06, |
