78th Battle of the Saints:

Peterites take honours on the first day

Thushan JAYASURIYA

St.Peter's College were in a strong position at the end of the first day's play in the 78 th “Battle of the Saints” against St.Joseph's College which began at P.Sara Oval yesterday.

St.Joseph's electing to bat first after winning the toss, could not make much headway and were bundled out for 141 runs.Opener Sadeera Samarawickrama top scored for the Joes with 33 runs inclusive of four boundaries. Vidusha Jayasinghe made a well compiled 26 with three hits to the ropes and one over it.the wreckers of the josephian innings were Julian De Zilwa(five for 42) and Dushan Hemantha (two for 17 ).

The peterites made a modest 192 runs which gave them a valuable lead of 51 runs. Jason Buultjens top scored for the Peterites with an attractive 48 in 68 balls with five boundaries and one six .He was well supported by Janith Liyanage, who made a well compiled 26 with six hits to the ropes and one over it .

Kavinda Tissera also chipped in with 26 runs inclusive of four boundaries.The Josephian spin duo of Priyamal Perera (four for 81) and Yashan Samarasinghe(four for 37) kept the Peterite batsmen in check. The Joes in their second innings had lost one wicket for 17 runs in their second innings stilled trailing performance by 34 runs.The match is poised by for an interesting finish when it resumes at 9.30 AM today.