The 84th Battle of the Saints annual cricket big match between St Peter’s College and St Joseph’s College is scheduled for the 2 and 3 of March at the P Sara Oval. A media conference on this was held at Barnes Hall, Jetwing Hotel in Colombo 7 on Tuesday.
In this year’s encounter the Peterites will be led by all rounder and national under 19 youth cap Santhush Gunathilake while the Darley Road school will be captained by Sri Lanka under 19 all rounder Jehan Daniel.
Speaking at the media conference Rev. Father Trevor Martin-the rector of St. Peter’s College said, “The Battle of the Saints between St. Peter’s and St. Joseph’s has a long and rich history of tradition and camaraderie spanning over eight decades as two of the leading Catholic schools in Sri Lanka. I am sure both teams will play positive cricket to bring excitement for both young and old Peterites and Josephians. I wish both schools the best of luck.”
“The Big match between the two schools is one of the most looked forward to events in the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket itinerary and this year also it will be no exception as well. I wish both the schools the very best to deliver two days of exhilarating cricket” said Rev. Father Travis Gabriel, rector of St. Joseph’s College.
St. Joseph’s leads the series tally with 12 wins and their last win came under the captaincy of Ruwantha Fernandopulle in 2008. St. Peter’s won the 2016 encounter under all-rounder Vinu Mohotty and has an overall tally of 10 wins in the series.
The chief guest at the 84th Battle of the Saints will be Viran Perera, who led the St.Joseph’s in 1991.
Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata PLC will sponsor the 84th edition of the annual Battle of the Saints encounter that will be contested for the Father Maurice J. Legoc Trophy.
The two schools have the distinction of having produced several players to the national team, with Angelo Mathews current Sri Lanka ODI captian, Chaminda Vaas, Thisara Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Ashley de Silva, Michael Van Dort, Roshen Silva and Sadeera Samarawickrama having represented St. Joseph’s College, while Roy Dias, Rumesh Ratnayake, Russell Arnold, Vinodhan John, Amal Silva, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Malinda Warnapura and Angelo Perera have represented St. Peter’s.
JOE-PETE LIMITED OVER GAME
The Josephian-Peterite limited overs match which is the longest running limited over encounter between schools and played for the Fr. Peter A Pillai trophy will be worked off on 24 of March at the SSC grounds. The Josephian-Peterite limited over commenced in 1975 under the Rectorship of Rev. Fr. Quintus Fernando of St. Joseph’s College and Rev. Fr. Claver Perera of St. Peter’s College, with the first game of the series played at St. Joseph’s College grounds on the 16 of March 1975.
The Josephian-Peterite limited over game which was the first encounter among schools has always attracted the highest number of spectators for a school’s 50 over cricket match.
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