Sri Lanka Cricket play spoilsport with Joe-Pete Big Match

by Reemus Fernando

The 87th Battle of the Saints starting at the SSC ground in Colombo today will not feature the junior national players produced by St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s after Sri Lanka Cricket authorities backtracked a decision to allow them for the annual encounter just two days ahead of the Big Match.

The two schools had been informed by SLC on Friday not to field the Youth national players forcing cricket authorities of the Darley Road and Bambalapitiya schools to make last minute amendments to their Playing XIs for the Big Match.

St. Joseph’s are badly hit by the decision as they were planning to field a strong XI inclusive of Sri Lanka Under 19 players, namely, skipper Dunith Wellalage, all rounder Shevon Daniel and Sadeesh Jayawardena for today’s match after obtaining permission from the cricket governing body well before the dates for the match were finalised. St. Peter’s were looking forward to include Youth National player Wanuja Kumara. Danal Hemananda and Lahiru Dewatage who were released before the England series making them available for St. Peter’s XI.

“We obtain SLC’s permission to field Youth Players and set the dates of the Big Match accordingly. We would have easily scheduled the Big Match ahead of Sri Lanka Under 19 assignments the way Royal and S. Thomas’ officials scheduled their Big Match had we been informed that the players would not be allowed to compete for the schools in December,” a source close to the Darley Road school told The Island yesterday.

St. Joseph’s skipper Dunith Wellalage led Sri Lanka Under-19 team and won back to back Youth ODI series recently.

With three key youth national players not been allowed to take part, St. Joseph’s have handed the captaincy to Sheran Fonseka, who is the only remaining player from the last Big Match. Fonseka will lead a virtual  Under 17 team.

It has been customary for SLC to reserve Junior National players from competing for their schools when they are selected ahead of crucial assignments. Sri Lanka Under 19s are scheduled to take part in the Under 19 Asia Cup and ICC Youth World Cup. However, SLC released Royal and S. Thomas’ players for their annual Battle of the Blues just after the Bangladesh Under 19 series.

“We understand the importance to give priority to national duty. You cannot take a risk when a player is selected for national duty. But it would have been easy for us had the SLC announced their decision earlier without backtracking at the last minute,” a source closer to the Darley Road school said.

Teams:

St. Peter’s (from):

Nipunaka Fonseka (Captain), Vinuda Liyanage, Shenal Botheju, Lahiru Dawatage, Danal Hemananda, Nimuthu Gunawardena, Monil Silva, Niman Umesh, Chamelker de Silva, Rusanda Gamage, Vishen Halambage, Shannon Rodrigo, Lakindu Sachin.  

St. Joseph’s (from):

Sheran Fonseka (Captain), Yesith Rupasinghe, Mithira Thenura, Dinal Anuradha, Deshan Vimukthi, Sahan Dabare, Kenath Sasmina, Lahiru Amarasekara, Hirun Kapurubandara, Shenuka de Silva, Jaden Makalanda, Hiran Jayasundara, Yenula Dewthusa.