St. Joseph’s College took major honours in their drawn 87th Battle of the Saints Cricket encounter against St. Peter’s College, which concluded at SSC Grounds, Colombo on Tuesday.
The Josephians posted 261 for 7 from their allotted 60 overs. In reply, the Peterites were bowled out for 138 runs. After being enforced the follow-on, the Peterites ended the second day’s play on 82 for 2.
WATCH – Yesith Rupasinghe half century in 87th Battle of The Saints
Action on day two began at 10.30 am, with the scheduled start being delayed by an hour due to the wet outfield. First day’s play was brought to an end around 2.00 pm due to heavy showers, with the Josephians sitting pretty on 233 for 6. The boys from Darley Road managed to add 28 more runs to their overnight score with overnight batter Hiran Jayasundara reaching a well-deserved half-century.
WATCH – 87th Battle of The Saints – Day 1 – Highlights
The Peterites started their reply cautiously, having lost fresh Vishen Halambage early in the innings. Opening batter Shenal Botheju continued to lose partners as the Josephian spinners bowled brilliantly in conditions which favoured spin bowling.
The Peterites were 119 for 4 at one stage, but they lost their last 6 wickets for just 19 runs. Botheju was the most impressive batter for the boys from Bambalapitiya, scoring 62 off 149 balls with 4 fours. Apart from Botheju, no other player reached 20 runs for St. Peter’s College. The off-spin duo of Shenuka De Silva and Lahiru Amarasekara took 3 wickets apiece.
WATCH – Sheran Fonseka half century in 87th Battle of The Saints
De Silva ended with impressive figures of 3 for 25 off 12 overs, while Amarasekara returned figures of 3 for 40 in 20.3 overs. Yenula Dewthusa and Yesith Rupasinghe provided much needed support, picking a wicket apiece. With a session left, the Josephians enforced the follow-on. In the first ball of the Peterite second innings, Halambage was dismissed. However, Botheju and one drop batter Lahiru Dawatage batted to safety, scoring 43 runs for the second wicket. After Botheju fell for 23, Dawatage was joined by Skipper Nipunaka Fonseka as they scored 39 unbroken runs for the 3rd wicket before bad-light ended the game in the last hour. The Peterites retained the Maurice Le Goc Challenge Trophy having last won it in 2016.
Photos – 87th Battle of The Saints | Day 2
The two teams will battle it out once again on Thursday at the same venue when they play their 47th limited-overs encounter.
Individual Awards
- Best Fielder – Shenal Botheju (SPC)
- Best Bowler – Shenuka De Silva (SJC)
- Best Batsman – Shenal Botheju (SPC)
- Best All-Rounder – Yesith Rupasinghe (SJC)
- Man of the Match – Sheran Fonseka (SJC)
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheran Fonseka | lbw b Chamelka De SIlva | 52 | 142 | 0 | 0 | 36.62 |
| Yesith Rupasinghe | lbw b Niman Umesh | 57 | 88 | 0 | 0 | 64.77 |
| Hiran Jaysundara | not out | 53 | 98 | 0 | 0 | 54.08 |
| Mithira Thenura | b Shelon Rodrigo | 22 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 122.22 |
| Keneth Liyanage | st b Niman Umesh | 12 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Hirun Kapurubandara | c & b Niman Umesh | 4 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 28.57 |
| Shenuka De Silva | c & b Shelon Rodrigo | 21 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 131.25 |
| Sahan Dabare | run out () | 8 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 61.54 |
| Deshan Seneviratne | not out | 14 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 155.56 |
| Extras | 18 (b 4 , lb 4 , nb 10, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 261/7 (60 Overs, RR: 4.35) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danal Hemananda | 12 | 0 | 60 | 0 | 5.00 | |
| Chamelka De SIlva | 9 | 0 | 32 | 1 | 3.56 | |
| Vinuda Liyanage | 5 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 5.40 | |
| Niman Umesh | 16 | 0 | 56 | 3 | 3.50 | |
| Lashane Rodrigo | 9 | 0 | 48 | 2 | 5.33 | |
| Minol Silva | 9 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 3.33 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shenal Boteju | lbw b Shenuka De Silva | 62 | 149 | 0 | 0 | 41.61 |
| Vishen Halambage | b Mithira Thenura | 5 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 38.46 |
| Lahiru Dewatage | c & b | 12 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Nimuthu Gunawardene | c & b Hiran Jaysundara | 15 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 55.56 |
| Nipunaka Fonseka | c Deshan Seneviratne b Sheran Fonseka | 19 | 56 | 0 | 0 | 33.93 |
| Vinuda Liyanage | b Shenuka De Silva | 7 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 26.92 |
| Danal Hemananda | st b Lahiru Amarasekara | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Niman Umesh | b Lahiru Amarasekara | 12 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 37.50 |
| Shelon Rodrigo | st Sheran Fonseka b Shenuka De Silva | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Monil Silva | b Lahiru Amarasekara | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Chamelka De SIlva | not out | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 5 (b 0 , lb 0 , nb 3, w 2, pen 0) |
| Total | 138/10 (56.3 Overs, RR: 2.44) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mithira Thenura | 5 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 5.00 | |
| Deshan Seneviratne | 4 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 3.50 | |
| Yenula Dewthusa | 8 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 3.12 | |
| Lahiru Amarasekara | 20.3 | 5 | 40 | 3 | 1.97 | |
| Yesith Rupasinghe | 7 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 1.14 | |
| Shenuka De Silva | 12 | 1 | 25 | 3 | 2.08 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shenal Boteju | c Sahan Dabare b Yesith Rupasinghe | 23 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 65.71 |
| Vishen Halambage | c Dinal Anuradha b Shenuka De Silva | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Lahiru Dewatage | not out | 50 | 76 | 0 | 0 | 65.79 |
| Nipunaka Fonseka | not out | 4 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 17.39 |
| Extras | 5 (b 0 , lb 0 , nb 5, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 82/2 (22 Overs, RR: 3.73) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shenuka De Silva | 7 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 3.00 | |
| Yenula Dewthusa | 3 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 4.33 | |
| Yesith Rupasinghe | 6 | 2 | 19 | 1 | 3.17 | |
| Lahiru Amarasekara | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2.00 | |
| Deshan Seneviratne | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 6.00 | |
| Mithira Thenura | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 9.00 | |
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