Sports

Sports

Gritty Petes roar to emphatic 72 run win
By M. Shamil Amit
St. Peter's recorded an emphatic 72 run win over traditional rivals St. Joseph's in their annual 31st limited over encounter at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday. The Peterites outclassed their opponents in all the departments to dominate play from the start to finish.

Peterite skipper Prajeev Jansz winning the toss decided to bat. He spearheaded the batting with an elegant 82 after his side had lost two early wickets at 22. The turning point for the Petes came when Hans Fernando joined his skipper and the pair added a valuable 88 runs for the third wicket before Fernando was dismissed for 37. But they lost three wickets for the addition of another 50 runs which included skipper Jansz's wicket with his individual score at 82 in 113 balls with six boundaries.

From then onwards the Petes middle order batsman Lahiru Peiris continued the good work, batting with responsibility. Peiris too made his contribution when the Petes really needed it. Together with Delon Udugamasuriya, he figured in a valuable 76 run stand for the seventh wicket. Peiris in particular was very severe on the bowlers. He cracked a 54 ball 59 which included four hits to the ropes and two towering sixes. This gave the Petes more confidence ultimately ending the innings with a challenging 257.

The Joes who went into the game without vice captain Angelo Mathews were left with the daunting task of making 258 but they were never near the target. Though punishing opening bowler Umhar Samsudeen for 15 runs in the first four balls of the first over. They lost the first wicket in the fifth ball and never recovered and by the 22nd over they were badly placed at 78 for 5. An eighth wicket stand of 56 runs between Christopher Fleming and Rajeeva Weerasinghe gave some respectability to the score.

The tail-enders were unable to resist the onslaught of the Pete bowling and were bowled out for 185 for the Petes to regain the Re. Fr. Peter A. Pillai trophy after two years. Peterite skipper Prajeev Jansz bagged two awards when he won the best batsman and the man of the match awards while the prizes for the best bowler and best fielder went to Christopher Fleming of St. Joseph's and Dasun Randika of St Peter's respectively.

Top