St.Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa are hungry for a win at the 66th Battle of the Golds against rivals Prince of Wales on the 11th & 12th of March at De Zoyza Stadium, Moratuwa.
Refresh on History
Much like their counterparts Prince of Wales College, St. Sebastian’s have also produced National cricketers in the calibre of Duleep Mendis, Romesh Kaluwitharana & Roger Wijesuriya, the current Sri Lanka U19 coach, who incidentally holds the record for the most number of wickets (22) in the series during 1975-1979. Brothers Roger and Russel Wijesuriya went on to represent Sri Lanka at the U19 level while Sanitha de Mel & Anuk Fernando did so in the more recent past. Sanitha De Mel captained the Sri Lanka U19 team in the 2012 World Cup while the last win in the Battle of the Gold’s came under his reign. Anuk Fernando represented the Sri Lanka U19 side in 2014 as well. Current St.Sebastian’s captain Visal Senanayaka led the team to the U17 championship three years ago.
Key Players
With the experienced campaigner and national youth cap Avishka Fernando leading the Knights from Moratuwa, the St. Sebastian team boasts of a well balanced and well jelled team. With the skipper being away on national duty it was most certainly a team effort that got them through the season. The team is living proof of not having Champions but being a Champion team.
Skipper Avishka, who played the ‘Big Match’ first at a tender age of 13, is currently a 5th year coloursman but it is unclear if he will be taking part in the encounter due to a disciplinary reason which arose during the schools cricket league.
The Batting of the Sebastianites will purely depend on right-handed opener Praveen Perera who has notched up 852 runs during the season, he will be supported by those who have scored 700+ runs; Sandaruwan Fernando (760 runs) and Mishen Silva (740 runs). Mishen and Sandaru will play a key role in their bowling setup as well. Having shared 28 wickets between them (Mishen 17 wickets/ Sandaruwan 11 wickets), their part time bowling stints could always come in handy as the “Sebs” open up opportunities in their bowling.
Left arm leg spinner Praveen Jayawickrama leads the bowling department with 82 wickets against his name and is supported by Sachintha Silva, Nimesh Bandara and Tharusha Fernando who have shared 30+ wickets between them.
Final say
Coach Nimal Botheju, who will be assisted by Manoj Chanaka, has trained and mentored an outfit, which is very capable of taking major honours at this year’s game once again.
Fielding has always been a major forte of the Sebastians and they are nothing but above par on the field. Playing aggressive cricket is an added trait of the Sebs while the Blood of Moratuwa will bring the excitement and fun to a passion for the game they all share.
