12 March 1999

Sri Lanka Schools: Joes - a well balanced side

Chris Dhambarage

St. Joseph's College with a well balanced side will be determined to prove their all round capabilities when they take on their traditional rivals St. Peter's College in the 65th 'Battle of the Saints' cricket encounter on March 12 and 13 at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium.

The Joes received a tremendous boost on the eve of their 'Big Match' by recording their fifth win in the Elephant Lemonade Cup inter school cricket tournament match against Trinity College. Their previous victories were against De Mazenod College Kandana, Kingswood College Kandy, St. Benedict's and Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa.

This was a tremendous performance considering the fact that they were performing minus one of their star players Ian Daniels who is currently touring India with the Sri Lanka under 19 team. But the present outfit is packed with some talented all rounders with skipper Roshan de Silva leading the way. The medium paceman has captured a total of 35 wickets and has contributed over 400 runs as a middle order batsman.

The Josephian bowling attack has always looked penetrative with Ishan Hettiarachchi, Dinraj Fernando and Anouk de S. Wijeratne all proving their capabilities. In fact fast bowler Hettiarachchi has a haul of 62 wickets with a best effort of 7 for 7 runs against Mahinda College Galle.

The Josephian batting line up is spearheaded by opener Johannas Jayasuriya who has amassed a total of over 620 runs inclusive of five half centuries. Second year player Dilanka Perera too has crossed the 500 run mark for the season and has three half centuries to his credit.

The team: Roshan de Silva (captain), Johannas Jayasuriya (vice captain), Dilan Ramanayake, Ishan Hettiarachchi, Dilanka Perera, Dinraj Fernando, Dhanuka Pathirana, Anouk de S. Wijeratne, Sanka Rupasinghe, Glen Perera, Asanga Fernando, Dilshan Perumal, Prageeth Rajasuriua, Sandakelum Rodrigo, Suren Perera.

Coach: Upali Ahangama.
Master in Charge: John Livera.

Source :: Daily News (http://www.lanka.net)