St. Servatius’, St. Thomas’ battle to break the shackles

by Reemus Fernando  

The annual Battle of the Blues Big Match of Matara which starts at the Uyanwatta Stadium today will provide the ideal stage for arch-rivals St. Thomas’ and St. Servatius’ to break the shackles of a lackluster season after they concluded the league stage of the Under 19 Division I limited-overs cricket tournament without much  success.

Both teams ended up in the bottom part of the points table in their respective groups in the schools cricket tournament and will be looking forward to make amends to achieve a result at the three-day encounter.

St. Thomas’ captained by Sineth Sithara Dissanayake will rely on their Sri Lanka Under 19 player Harindu Jayasekara, wicketkeeper-batsman Nipun Samarasinghe, Dumindu Sakshara and Sachira Rashmika to provide a solid foundation on a wicket where many teams found it a nightmare to bat during recent weeks.

The new ball will be shared by Loshitha Diksith and Sanju Dilshan, while skipper Dissanayake leads the spin department with his left-arm spin. Rashmika and Navija de Saram are the off-spinners joining their skipper. Senura Perera provides additional support with his left-arm spin.

St. Servatius’ will bank on captain Hasitha Amarasinghe, wicketkeeper-batsman Diniru Abeywickremasinghe, Vishwa Supun, Bathiya de Silva and Kushan Wijerama to provide batting strength.

Speedsters Wijerama and Damindu Sankalpa will share the new ball, while Chathum Bimsara provides additional pace strength.

Amarasinghe, his deputy Chiran Neththaru and Supun will be the players to watch in the spin department for St. Servatius’.