Joe-Pete will revive their rivalry in under-19 final

Chris Dhambarage

The traditional rivals St. Peter's College and St. Joseph's College will revive their rivalry when the two teams meet in the Munchee inter school under 19 knock out limited overs cricket tournament final at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place today.

The Peterites are enjoying a great season this year and will be hoping to conclude the proceedings on a winning note.

They will of course have a psychological advantage going into the final having trounced the same opponents by a convincing margin in their annual Battle of the Saints one day fixture last month.

In addition the Peterites also had the better of the exchanges during their 75th annual Big Match and followed up with a rousing victory over their rivals in the Battle of the Saints Twenty20 encounter at the Khettarama Stadium.

However St. Joseph's College have made a good comeback into the tournament following a series of impressive victories in the shorter version of the game. They will be quite confident after having defeated the giant killers Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala in the semi-final match.

St. Joseph's College had the better of Maris Stella College Negombo and Trinity College in the quarter-final and pre quarter-final matches respectively. The Peterites too have made it to the final without any difficulties and look set to add the finishing touches to another excellent season.

The manner in which they pulled off the semi-final game against D. S. Senanayake College was quite outstanding after been under tremendous pressure at one stage.

They were struggling to put up a competitive score on the board after the top order batsmen had disappointed. However St. Peter's College simply proved their batting depth and the all round potential by piling up a formidable 280 for 7 from their 50 overs.

This was mainly due to some outstanding batting from skipper Angelo Perera, Akshu Fernando and Vinod Perera. In fact this trio has been the key players for St. Peters College throughout the season along with wicket keeper batsman Andy Berenger, Denham Perera, Chatura Peiris and Shiwanga Ranasuriya.

St. Joseph's College of course will be banking heavily on their dynamic all rounder and skipper Shameera Weerasinghe who is fresh after completing a unique double of having scored over one thousand runs and captured one hundred wickets during the current inter school season.

The teams: St. Peter's: Angelo Perera (captain), Chatura Peiris, Shivanga Ranasuriya, Vinod Perera, Andy Berenger, Akshu Fernando, Angelo Emmanuel, Shalendra Fernando, Hashan Wickremasuriya, Isuru Peiris, Niluchana Perera, Sidath Jayaweera, Denham Perera.

St. Joseph's: Shameera Weerasinghe (captain), Hareen Silva, Trishen Rajasuriya, Nishika de Silva, Dinal Dhambarage, Chaturanga Kumara, Jaan Jayasinghe, Shalendra Perera, Rosco Tatil, Vidhusha Jayasinghe, Asiri Jayatilleke and Dinal Fonseka (12th man).

The road to the final:

St. Peter's College: beat Dharmaraja College Kandy in pre quarterfinals, beat Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda in quarterfinals, beat D. S. Senanayake College in semifinals.

St. Joseph's: beat Mahanama MV in first round, beat Trinity College in pre quarterfinals, beat Maris Stella College Negombo in quarterfinals and beat Maliyadeva College Kurunegala in semifinals.