Petes take day one honours

88th Battle of the Saints

Dunith Wellalage and Shevon Daniel excelled with good all-round performances yet St. Peter’s took day one honours against St. Joseph’s at the 88th Battle of the Saint’s encounter at the P. Sara Oval on Monday.

St. Peter’s batting for the second time were 35 for two wickets at stumps with a lead of 123 runs.

Wellalage and Lahiru Amarasekara took the wickets to fall in the Petes’ second innings as the Joes were made to fight hard after conceding first innings lead.

In reply to Petes’ 251 for eight, the Joes were bowled out for 163 runs with almost 15 overs remaining in their innings. The first innings of both teams are restricted to 60 overs.

Batting first St. Peter’s posted 251 runs for eight wickets in their allotted 60 overs after spinners Wellalage and skipper Shevon Daniel troubled them taking three wickets each. With the top order batting lineup crumbling, Shenal Boteju dropped anchor with a valuable 81 runs (10x4s, 1x6s) but they were still in danger of being restricted to a low score as they lost six wickets for 157 runs with only 15 overs remaining.

However Danal Hemananda with an unbeaten 55 (in 58 balls) and Shanshay Gunathilaka with less than a run a ball 47 runs (2x4s, 2x6s) helped them reach their eventual total.

In their essay, the Joes were greatly helped by the experienced duo Daniel and Wellalage who were the only batsmen to make note-worthy contributions.

Daniel scored a back-to-the-wall knock of 71 runs which came in 93 balls. His entertaining knock included seven fours and four sixes. Wellalage scored 36 runs.

Wanuja Kumara was the pick of the bowlers for Petes as he took four wickets.

The Battle of the Saints was scheduled to be played on 14 and 15 but was postponed due to the curfew imposed on the eve of the match.