89th Battle of the Saints

Formidable St. Joseph’s will have an edge over their archrivals St. Peter’s when the two teams meet for the 89th time in the Battle of the Saints encounter today and tomorrow at the SSC ground.Captained by Sri Lanka Under 19 player Sadeesh Jayawardena, St. Joseph’s are entering the most important match of the year with the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ two-day tournament title in their bag. St. Joseph’s shared the joint champions’ title with Trinity this year to make it three in a row.

They have four Sri Lanka Under 19 players making it to the annual battle. Shevon Daniel who has not played very many schools matches this season due to various national level commitments, Hiran Jayasundara and Hirun Kapurubandara who were part of the junior national team that toured UAE recently will be eager to make a big impression.

Joes have been relying on the combination of Yenula Dewthusa’s left arm spin and Lahiru Amarasekara’s off spin in the bowling department. When they are joined by Shevon Daniel they have a complete spin armoury. Manasa Madubashana and Gagan Chamod will share the new ball duties.

Jayawardena is their leading bat after having amassed over 1000 runs for the season. Hiran Jayasundara, Muditha Dissanayake and Naren Muralidaran have maintained healthy averages this season with the latter providing resistance when the team were in trouble.

St. Peter’s under Nimuthu Gunawardane had to be content with a fourth place finish in their group during the first round in the Under 19 tier ‘B’ tournament. They too have their share of Sri Lanka Under 19 players with Vishen Halambage featuring in the Youth team in UAE recently.

Skipper Gunawardena (over 700 runs), Vishen Halambage (over 500 runs), Rusanda Gamage (close to 600 runs), Oween Salgado (over 500 runs), Kavika Jayasundara (500 runs) and Chamindu Perera (over 400 runs) form the backbone of the Petes batting line up.

In the bowling department Shennon Rodrigo(36 wickets), Halambage (18 wickets) and Gunawardena control spin, while Lakindu Sachin and Sean Roberts  share pacemen duties.

St. Joseph’s are leading the victory tally of his Big Match series 12-10.

Teams

St. Joseph’s

(from): Sadeesh Jayawardena (Captain), Lahiru Amarasekara, Shevon Daniel, Naren Muralidaran, Hiran Jayasundara, Hirun Kapurubandara, Manasa Madubashana, Keneth Liyanage, Yenula Dewthusa, Gagan Chamod, Muditha Dissanayake, Avintha de Alwis.

St. Peter’s

(from): Nimuthu Gunawardane (Captain), Sanshay Gunathileke, Vishen Halambage, Oween Salgado, Rusanda Gamage, Chamindu Perera, Kavika Jayasundara, Nathan David, Shennon Rodrigo, Lakindu Sachin, Sean Roberta, Lashmika Perera.