Sri Lanka’s National Mobile Service Provider, Mobitel, was the Principal Sponsor of the high profile ‘2018 Battle of the North 112th Cricket Encounter’ organized by Jaffna Central College and St. John’s College Jaffna, which concluded successful recently.
Jaffna Central College won the game by one wicket to take. This annual sporting encounter between the two leading Colleges in Jaffna was well attended by students, past pupils, teachers and cricket fans in general in the area.
Day one started off with Jaffna Central College winning the toss and electing to bowl first on a good pitch which was helpful to the bowlers. In the first Innings, opposing team St. John’s College was bowled out for 217.
The batsmen who made their mark that day for St. John’s were D. Sheropan (65), T. Dinoshan (28), M. Sawmiyan (22) and J. Subeedsan (18) who came good with the willow. Fine bowling performances from Jaffna Central’s Viyaskanth (4/58) and Thasopan (3/38) did well to restrict Johnians to the above total.
In reply Jaffna Central put up a robust total of 328 all out, with A. Jeyatharasan (77), S. Nishan (30), K. Iyalarasan (22), S. Madushan (52), S. Thasopan (49) and R. Rajclinton (54 not out) scoring well. K. Kapilraj and Abhinach were the outstanding bowlers with figure of 5/94 and 2/72 respectively.
In the second innings St. John’s could manage only two runs more than their first innings scoring 219 with V. Jathusan (50), D. Shiropan (46), T. Dinoshan (33) and K. Kapilraj (50) showing their batting skills once again. Jaffna Central, the bowlers who made it difficult for their rivals to score were S. Sujan (4/49), Mathusan (3/30) and .V. Viyaskanth (2/60).
Needing 109 for victory Jaffna Central were unsettled by the Johnian bowlers in the early stage taking wickets at regular intervals. But the Central College’s last pair held on strongly to achieve victory for their team reaching 110/9 wickets. S. Mathushan (53) came up with a another fine batting performance to score back to back half centuries for the Centralites team. S. Thushanthan was unbeaten on 14 at the end of the match.
Special Awards:
The Man of the Match: S. Madushan Jaffna Central College
Best Bowler: K, Kapilraj St. John’s.
Best All-rounder: Jathusan St. John’s.