15Friday 19th March, 2010

by Reemus Fernando

A keen contest is expected when St.Servatius’ College meet St. Thomas’College, in the 110th ‘Battle of the Blues’which will be played for three days com-mencing today at the UyanwatteStadium, Matara.

Only the third Big Match in SriLanka that stages the event for threedays, the 110th encounter will see twoequally good teams battling it out forsupremacy.

Both teams playing in the Division II

Two-day tournament this season did wellto secure a spot each in the Inter SchoolUnder-19 limited overs tournament,which draws only the best teams of theseason.

St. Thomas’ will take the field underthe captaincy of Kasun Attanayaka, whowas their batting hero throughout theseason, aggregating over 750 runs, with acentury. Although they could record onlya solitary outright victory, their perform-ances in the drawn encounters earnedthem enough points to rise above their

opponents to secure a place in the knock-out stage. In as many as 16 outings, St.Thomas’ recorded one outright victoryand suffered one defeat, while the othermatches ended in draws.

While their batting revolves aroundAttanayake, off spinner DinuraRanasinghe is their key wicket takingbowler. Ranasinghe has picked up over 70wickets and will combine with the skip-per who has taken 40 wickets. They willbe the key players to watch.

Meanwhile, St. Servatius’, under the

captaincy of Oshan Kalhara played 12matches and registered three outrightvictories, while conceding four outrightdefeats. They will have the pride of play-ing a Sri Lanka Under-19 cap in the BigMatch when Kasun Madusanka spear-heads their bowling attack. St. Servatius’did not have his services for some oftheir matches as he was with the SriLanka Under-19 team taking part in tour-naments including the ICC Youth WorldCup.

A. H. D. Sanjika Ridma, who picked

up over 70 wickets this season and N.Madhushanka who has scored over 400runs are the players to watch in the St.Servatius’ team, apart from speedsterMadusanka.

According to school sources, theseries which started in 1900 has beenplayed without interruption and theThomians lead the series 33-27 while 50matches have ended in draws. The lastvictory of the series was recorded in 2007when St. Thomas’ won under the cap-taincy of Tharaka Dushantha.

by Rukshan Razak

Another draw seems to be in store,when St. Sylvester’s College take onVidyartha College, in their 52nd ‘Battle ofthe Babes’ at the Asgiriya Stadium inKandy on Friday and Saturday, com-mencing 9.30 a.m. each day.

According to the records, of the 51matches played so far, St. Sylvester’s areahead with 15 wins against three byVidyartha College. St. Sylvester’s lastwon under Hemantha Wimalawickremain 1998 which was also the last time a def-inite result was forthcoming in thisseries.

Confusion and controversy But last year, St. Sylvester’s, under

Chanaka Colombage, won by default,amidst much controversy as the MatchReferee, Bernard Perera, awarded thematch to them.

On that occasion, in a low scoringgame, St. Sylvester’s, were set a target of117 in 33 overs. When they had reached107-3 in 21.1 overs, the umpires took theteams off the field due to bad light. Atthis stage St. Sylvester’s required 10 runsfor victory with plenty of overs in hand.When the umpires returned to the middleto resume play, the Vidyartha teamrefused to take the field. The umpires andthe two sylvestrian batsmen were keptwaiting for nearly 20 minutes in the mid-dle and with no sign of the Vidyarthaside coming on to the field, the match ref-eree decided to award the match to St.Sylvester’s, who with this victory tooktheir overall tally to 15 wins in the seriesagainst Vidyartha’s two.

Thus, history was created.

Last win Vidyartha’s last win came in 1967

under R. M. Lafir, who later rose to therank of Deputy Inspector General ofPolice. Thus the Vidyarthians have a 41-year-old ‘jinx’ to roast.

Thushara Kodikara of VidyarthaCollege holds the record for the highest

individual score in the series. Heslammed 217 not out in 1983 and the sameyear, V. P. Sugathadasa responded with amagnificent 128 not out to force a draw.

Another little known fact is that thepresent Governor of the CentralProvince, Tikiri Kobbekaduwa scored acentury for St. Sylvester’s College in thisbig match in the late ‘70s.

The late Hiran Rajakaruna, in a phe-nomenal spell, captured 4 wickets in fourballs in 1967. The late Sarath Basnayake,a medium pacer from St. Sylvester’s,bowled with such hostility in 1962 that hetook 9 for 14 in the first innings and 5 for34 in the second, to finish with a matchhaul of 14 for 48, which could be a recordfor a big match in the Central Province.

Vidyartha were bowled out for 45 and

98 and St. Sylvester’s won the match byan innings and 12 runs.

This big match will be played for theRev. Fr. Don George Trophy donated bythe late N. C. R. Herathge.

Incidentally, the Sylvestrians alsojourneyed to Jaffna a fortnight ago tohonour a fixture against St. John’sCollege which they won by six wickets inaddition to their participation in aTwenty-20 cricket tournament held in theone-time war-torn Jaffna peninsula.

St. Sylvester’s College will be led byfourth year player and all rounderNuwan Nilantha, who has amassed wellover 500 runs this season while capturing30 wickets with his off spin.

The vice captain of the team will be

third year player Dananjaya Athauda,who has scored 350 runs and captured 46wickets with his medium pacers.

The Sylvestrians have played 14matches and have recorded a solitary winagainst President’s College, Kotte, whilelosing to D. S. Senanayake College, St.Sebastian’s College, Moratu Vidyalayaand Maliyadewa College. The rest of thematches have been drawn.

In fact, the top run scorer in the sideis Dileepa Gayashan, who has aggregated570 runs this season with a top score of146 against St. Aloysius’ College, Galle.

The Sylvestrians will also bank onNuwan Nilantha, who has made over 500runs, Dananjaya Athauda, who has madeclose to 300 runs, Menuka Nanayakkara,who is in close proximity to enter the 500

run club, in addition to RuwanthaEkanayake, who has made 400 runstogether with Warun Wijesinghe (300runs), Kanishka Herath (350 runs) andNiluka Kanderage (150 runs).

Dananjaya Athauda, who hasaccounted for 46 wickets will open theattack with Waruna Wijesinghe, whilethey will depend on Janith Herath forextra pace.

Leg spinner Dushan Malalasena hasbeen the most successful spinner in theside, taking 32 wickets. The other spin-ners are: off spinners Nuwan Nilantha,who has captured 27 wickets and DileepaGayashan, who has taken 25 wickets.

They also have the services of legspinners Kanishka Herath and

Ruwantha Ekanayaka apart from off-spinner Faiz Ahamed.

Menuka Nanayakkara is the stumperof the side and has 50 victims to his cred-it.

Vidyartha College, this season haveplayed 10 matches and have won only onegame which was against PiliyandalaCentral, College. They lost to St.Anthony’s College and GurukulaVidyalaya. The rest of the games haveended in draws.

Thirantha Dissanayake leads Vidyartha

Vidyartha College will be led byfourth year player ThiranthaDissanayake, who has scored over 600runs with four half centuries to his cred-it. A dependable bat on whom the teamwill heavily depend on, he came up withhis best performance last year when hescored 112 against Trinity College atAsgiriya. On top of that, the lad is alsocapable of bowling effective off spinners.

Kasun Wijekoon, a third year player,is the vice captain of the side. He is agood right hand bat who has scored 650runs, including a top score of 142 againstTrinity College.

The other batsmen in the side are lastyear’s skipper Sameera Abeyratne (450runs), Dinusha Gunatillake (530 runs),Ruwan Bandara (550 runs), ChamilChandrasiri (350 runs), NilakshaGalapitige (250 runs) and KeshanGamage (150 runs). Kasun Wijekoon,with 35 wickets will open the attack withSameera Abeyratne (30 wickets). Theirmain spinner will be off spinner TilinaRupasena (45 wickets), supported legspinner Samitha Attanayake (40 wickets).

This duo will have to bear the brunt ofthe slow bowling. The other spinners inthe side are off spinner ThiranthaDissanayake (20 wkts), leg spinnerKeshan Gamage (20 wkts) and off spinnerTharindu Ranaweera (25 wkts).

Ruwan Bandara, who has 40 victimsbehind the stumps, will keep wickets.

Vidyartha CollegeSeated from left: Dinusha Gunatillake, Jayantha Kumara (MiC), ThiranthaDissanayake (Captain), H. J. Ananda Upatissa (PoG), Kasun Wijekoon (Vice Captain),B. P. K. Ranasinghe (Coach) and Sameera Abeyratne. Standing from left: IndikaRanaweera, Kanushka Senaviratne, Dulaj Perera, Chinthaka Deshapriya, SamithaAttanayake, Kasun Chathuranga, Niluksha Galapitage, Ruwan Sanjeewa, BasuruSenadeera, Chamil Chandrasiri, Keshan Gamage, Tilina Rupasena, TharinduRanaweera, Devaka Abeywardena and Ruwan Kumara.

St. Sylvester’s CollegeSeated from left: Palinda Mahesh de Silva (MiC), Thiwanka Gunaratne, NuwanNilantha (Captain), Ranil Meetiyagoda), Dananjaya Athauda (Vice Captain), MenukaNanayakkara and Tudor Gunaratne (coach). Standing from left: Chamila Perera,Kanushka Herath, Anuradha Eriyagama, Diliepa Gayashan, Janith Herath, WarunaWijesinghe, Suraj Yatigammana, Niluka Kandaderage, Kasun Wickremawardena,Faiz Ahamed, Dushan Malalasena, Ruwantha Ekanayake and SumedhaDissanayake.

110th ‘Battle of the Blues’ of Matara

Two balanced teams clashfor supremacy

St. Servatius’ College Seated from left: Sanindu Ediriweera, Kasun Madusanka (V. Capt), Tharindu Manage (Asst. Coach),Manjula Priyantha (MiC), Nimalsiri Wanigabaduge (Principal), A. M. Priyantha (Asst. Coach), OshanKalhara (Captain) and Lahiru Kokila. (Absent P. B. Buddhika - Coach) Standing from left: Anjana de Silva,Vibaga Madushan, Yohan Chanuka, Sanjika Ridma, Nimanda Madusanka, Kasun Rajitha, SameeraDharshana, Himasha Gunawardena, Gihan Nimsara, Pium Kaushan, Inzam Mohamed and LasithaUdyakumara.

St. Thomas’ College Seated from left: Janutha Ranasingha, Nipun Ranaweera, Kasun Attanayake (Captain), Charith Palliyage(Coach), J. Mathangadeera (PoG), S. Suraweera (Principal), Sisira Weerasinghe (MiC), DinushaJayasanka (V.Capt), Nisal Nadeepa and Ashan Dinura. Standing from left: Ajitha Dilhara, LahiruDantanarayana, Dumindu Chamod, Ashan Lakintha, Ravindu Damsara, Thilina Mahesh, IshanMaduranga, Rajinda Punchihewa, Jayanga Nirmana, Suresh Kumar, Rasika Damith, Ishan Khanishka,Nayana Roy, Thusitha Dushan, Norman Ratnayake and Mohamed Ismath.

Kandy’s ‘Babes’battle at Asgiriya

Stadium

“It’s one of your biggest chal-lenges in test cricket. If you can’tget up for that then you’re not goingto get up for much.” - New Zealandcaptain Daniel Vettori describes histeam’s pending battle against trans-Tasman foes Australia, which startsin Wellington on Friday.

The Black Caps face a mammothtask in attempting to beat theAussies for the first time since AllanBorder’s men lost in Auckland wayback in March 1993. Australia havewon 13 of the 19 head-to-head fix-tures since then and are clearfavourites to add to that record atthe Basin Reserve.

One major reason is the vulnera-bility of New Zealand’s batting line-up, which includes the inexperi-enced Tim McIntosh, BJ Watlingand Peter Ingram. The trio, who willfront the order, boast just 14 Testcaps between them.

While inexperienced, the Kiwibatsmen will not be short of prepa-ration as this week saw them com-plete a number of extended sessionsunder the watchful eye of formercaptain and batting consultantMartin Crowe.

(Cricket365.com)

First Test in Wellington

NEW DELHI (AP) - A court-appoint-ed panel says at least 43 workers havebeen killed building venues for theupcoming Commonwealth Games inNew Delhi because of dangerous worksites and a lack of proper safety gear.

India’s games organizing commit-tee stepped up the pace of work at thevenues for athletics, swimming,weightlifting and some other eventsafter Commonwealth Games officialssaid the slow pace of constructionand repeatedly missed deadlinesthreatened the event.

The Commonwealth Games isscheduled to be held from Oct. 3-14and feature 71 nations and territoriesof the old British Empire.

The monitoring panel filed areport to the New Delhi High Court onWednesday saying conditions at theconstruction sites were poor andmany accidents went unreported,while workers continued to work with-out proper safety gear.

C’wealth Gamesconstruction kills 43

Well prepared Black Capstake on Aussies

Probable Teams:New Zealand: Tim McIntosh, BJ Watling, PeterIngram, Ross Taylor, Matthew Sinclair, MartinGuptill, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori,Daryl Tuffey, Tim Southee and Chris Martin. Australia: Shane Watson, Simon Katich, RickyPonting, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey,Marcus North, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson,Nathan Hauritz, Clint McKay and DougBollinger.