St. Peter’s College overcame a serious scare, thanks to Danal Hemananda (50) and Ruvin Seneviratne (53) venturing on a daring rescue mission and a match-saving unbeaten partnership of 88 that forced a thrilling draw in their 86th Battle of the Saints big match at the P. Sara Oval, yesterday.
The Danal-Ruvin duo despite smelling the threat of losing the trophy, played bold and unafraid cricket with the latter’s 50 coming off only 53 deliveries.
That also meant the Fr. Maurice Le Goc Memorial Trophy was retained and will remain at Bambalapitiya after play ended with the Peterites having a lead of 253.
The third and the final session sent shock waves to all Peterites as the game turned on its head with two wickets in the same over. Nipunaka Fonseka, three shy of a 50 and a recovery act, appeared in disbelief after a peach of a delivery beat and bowled him.
Dunith Wellalage, the destroyer on both occasions, dealt the triple-trouble, thanking and sending Wanuja Kumarapacking for an easy caught-and-bowled. The lead, that had crawled and climbed, had stalled at 153.
By tea, the lead raised to 136, with Fonseka dragging the innings and inching towards his first fifty of the match, using his own cool time.
Rishika Santhush having played patiently for his 68, looking to clear the deep mid-wicket, fell for a full toss ending a 66-run association for the fourth-wicket.
That gifted Ashian Daniel’s first and above all, the badly-needed breakthrough, in an otherwise uninteresting session.
Big matches in pressure situations tend to produce saviours and typifying that, right-handed Rishika Santhush reached the need of the hour with a knock of 50.
In further frustration for the Joes many appeals went against them, before they finally found reward in their counterpart captain Shannon Fernando, nicking the easiest of catches to the slip cordon on the stroke of lunch.
However, breaking a boring passage of play for the joy of Joes, the Bambalapitiya boys lost their first essay top-scorer Lahiru Chethaka, courtesy a smart catch at silly point.
The Joes building on their overnight score of 191, with a new record stand of 192 for the fifth wicket after resuming, the pair added 54 from the overnight score, before the centurion Dineth Jayakody was the first to be separated for a rapid 122 with three sixes.
Sadeesh Jayawardena, the maiden half centurion at a big match, followed suit for a well played 70.
The resumption was off to an interesting fashion with two teams with two goals. The Joes were accelerating and the Peterites were applying the brakes. But the latter found prompt success, by inflicting a collapse and dismissing them for 259, conceding a deficit of 35.
Chief scores:
St. Peter’s 224 (Lahiru Chethaka 64, Wanuja Kumara 48, Ashian Daniel 4-70, Dunith Wellalage 2-39) and 288 for 8 (Rishika Santhush 68, Ruvin Seneviratne 53 n.o., Danal Hemananda 50 n.o., Nipunaka Fonseka 47, Dunith Wellalge 4-84)
St. Joseph’s 259 (Dineth Jayakody 122, Sadeesh Jayawardena 70, Vinuda 4-61, Trishen Wickramasinghe 3-52)
Best bowler- Vinuda Liyanage- (SPC: 4-56)
Best batsman- Dineth Jayakody (SJC: 122)
Best all-rounder- Danal Hemananda (SPC: 2-40, 50*)
Man-of-the-match- Dineth Jayakody