As expected the 78th Battle of the Saints between traditional rivals St. Peter’s and St. Joseph’s got underway on Friday. The outcome of a positive result of the game was in the offing due to the controversy that took place even before a ball was bowled at the P. Sara Stadium.
It ended in a cakewalk six wicket win for St. Peter’s who was chasing a target of 115 runs as they needed just 24.3 overs achieve the victory which was initiated by an unbeaten knock 68 in 70 balls from Janith Liyanage which included 11 boundaries and a six.
But the player who turned the game in favour of the Peterites was their left arm spinner Julian de Zilva who had a fine game. He ended by claiming a match bag of 10 for 92. Julian’s’ impressive figures of 5 for 42 in the Josephian first inning almost nailed the fate of the disoriented St. Joseph’s side which was smarting from the resignation of the school’s Cricket Advisory Committee and the coach.
Nevertheless the match was almost played low profile but credit cannot be taken away from the Peterite side as they did not relax at any stage. They put pressure on their opponents and achieved their target with time to spare.
St. Peter’s after making a reply of 192 had their opponents struggling on the second day after resuming from their overnight score of 17 for 1. The writing was almost on the wall for the Josephians when they went into lunch with the score on 107 for 6 with two sessions of play left and only four wickets in hand.
The only resistance was by Sadeera Samarawickrama who made a dogged innings facing 116 balls for his 66. But even then he was forced to watch losing his partners at the other end as spinner Julian was on fire as he finished with top figures of 5 for 50.
The target set for the Peterites was no doubt was insufficient for the Josephians to defend. Their opponents had more than one session of play to achieve the target which they ultimately did in style. The celebration of the Petes win culminated with their Rector declaring a holiday on Monday.
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