Peterites out to put up a fine display this season

Chris Dhambarage

St. Peter’s College with four Sri Lanka youth players and nine coloursmen in their ranks are confident of putting up a good performance in the current inter school under 19 cricket season.

Skipper Chatura Peiris, vice captain Akshu Fernando, Andri Berenger and Lahiru Jayaratne are all members of the Sri Lanka Under 19 team which is currently touring New Zealand for the ICC Youth World Cup.

In fact they have been on national duty almost from the start of the season and were also part of the team that clinched a historic 3-2 series win in Australia last year and a Tri Nation limited overs tournament at home that featured Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The four players then made a trip to South Africa for another Tri Series that involved the hosts and India before taking wing to New Zealand for the all important Under-19 World Cup.

This means that St. Peter’s College have been forced to battle it out minus these four players almost the entire season which is a daunting task for any team. Nevertheless they have settled to play some of their youngsters this season and now they are shaping up well ahead of their important Big Match against the traditional rivals St. Joseph’s College.

The good news is that St. Peter’s College will be at full strength when they approach the Big Match in March with all their star players having rejoined the squad after a hectic international season.

Their performances this season of course have been pretty ordinary except for a couple of brilliant individual contributions from the more senior players in the team. They have been severely hit by the absence of the four key players and have so far notched up just a solitary victory against St. Aloysius College Galle.

In addition they suffered a morale shattering innings defeat at the hands of Dharmapala MV Pannipitiya which certainly put them on the back foot after having began the season on a promising note.

This was in contrast to their last year’s performances where they enjoyed one of their best seasons with as many as ten outright victories under their belts. This was mainly because they possessed a penetrative bowling attack which was spearheaded by opening bowler Chatura Peiris.

The left arm seamer enjoyed one of his finest seasons last year where he captured over 70 wickets and also played a major role in all their outright victories. But unfortunately he has been able to lead the side only on four matches this season due to his national commitments.

Skipper Peiris will be missed not only because of his bowling abilities but he has also scored heavily in the four games where he hit a splendid 124 against Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa and another fine knock of 92 against Nalanda on their home grounds at Bambalapitiya. Vice captain Akshu Fernando is another fine all rounder who was beginning to touch the peak form at the start of the season. The right hand middle order batsman hit an unbeaten 72 against Isipatana College and scored another half century against Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa having accumulated over 500 runs in the concluded season.

Dashing wicket keeper opening batsman Andri Berenger was one of their leading run getters last year with over 750 runs to his credit inclusive of one century. But this time he has been able to represent the school only in two matches and managed to hit a half century against Isipatana College. Berenger has now turned out to be the regular opening batsman in the Sri Lanka under 19 team having made a magnificent century in their warm up fixture against Hong Kong a couple of days ago.

The Peterites will also miss the services of Lahiru Jayaratne who is yet to represent the College team in a first eleven fixture. The former right arm fast bowler from S. Thomas’ College Matale was hit by injuries at the start of the season and then once he recovered he was called up for national duty.

All rounder Angelo Emmanuel has been the acting captain this season in the absence of these star players. The left hand middle order batsman also missed out a couple of games due to injuries but performed well to score a century against St. Aloysius College Galle and made 96 against Mahanama MV.

The off spinner has also been among the wickets this season having claimed a five wicket haul in the game against Dharmapala MV Pannipitiya. Coloursman and senior player Denham Perera has been the acting vice captain this time.

The right hand opening batsman has shown signs of emerging as a top run getter this time having made a career best 170 runs in the clash against St. Benedict’s College at Bambalapitiya. In addition he made another half century against Mahanama MV.

All rounder Nilochana Perera has been their most consistent player this season having hit an unbeaten century against St. Aloysius College Galle, 99 against Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa and 52 not out against Nalanda College.

Leg spinner Sidath Jayaweera will be one of their key bowlers having already bagged over 20 wickets this season. He will be supported by off spinner Kaushal Rodrigo who also proved his batting prowess by scoring a superb 90 against St. Benedict’s College at Bambalapitiya.

Among the newcomers second year player Sampath Kumara has been impressive with an unbeaten half century against Mahanama MV having represented the team only in four matches. All rounder Rashen Saverimuttu is another coloursman in the team but has been unable to make an impact due to injuries.

Dirk Muller, Tharindu Samaranayake, Janitha Kannangara and Kevin Prasad are the rest of the members of the First Eleven squad. St. Peter’s College will also play against Lumbini MV. S. Thomas’ Mount Lavinia, Royal, Prince of Wales, Thurstan and St. Anthony’s before they take on the traditional rivals St. Joseph’s College in their 76th annual Battle of the Saints encounter which is scheduled for March 4 and 5 at the P. Saravanamuttu Oval.