St. Peter’s College ended a long 32-year wait as the Chathura Peiris-lead outfit, laden with the cream of Sri Lanka U-19 players, outclassed their arch-rivals, St. Joseph’s College to cruise to a ten-wicket victory with a session to spare before tea in the 76th ‘Battle of the Saints’ encounter which ended at P. Sara Oval yesterday.

Coming to the match as favourites, Petes kept up to their reputation cruising home for tea after their pace combination of Peiris and Lahiru Jayaratne ran though the Joes’ batting line-up for a second time to leave them a paltry victory target of 30 runs to chase.

Angelo Emmanuel, opening with Andri Berenger ahead of the injured opener (while he was fielding) Shehan Fernando, kept their wickets intact to reach the target in just nine overs. They were chasing 30 to win in as many as 48 overs.

Joes, commencing the day with three wickets in hand, saw their injured opener Vidusha Jayasinghe (he was on 35 n.o.) reaching 50 and Jann Jayasinghe adding seven runs to his overnight score (41) before being bowled out for 158.

Baffled by Peiris - Jayaratne pace combination, Joes batsmen folded up timidly when they were forced to follow on.

In their second innings, as many as four batsmen --namely Sadeera Samarawickrama, Jayasinghe, Supeshala Jayathilaka and Dinal Fonseka-- departed without adding a run to the total while a resistance came in patches from Enrico Silva, Roscoe Thattile and Vidusha Jayasinghe who were the only ones to top 30 runs.

They started in disastrous fashion losing the first three wickets for 28 as Angelo Emmanuel, coming as the first-change bowler, struck twice in successive overs. Then there was a 41-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Silva and Chathuranga Kumara. They were separated by Peiris when he got Kumara bowled with a beauty for 22. Silva’s resistance came to an end when Nilochana Perera held a diving catch off the bowling of Jayaratne.

Silva’s 46 was the top score of their innings and he faced 85 deliveries for that knock which also included five fours. Jayaratne got rid of Jayathilaka for a naught when the substitute fielder Shanendra Fernando held a superb diving catch. Fernando was also involved in a run out that broke a 64-run partnership for the eighth wicket between Jayasinghe and Thattil, who helped Joes avoid an innings defeat.

The Sri Lanka U-19 pacemen Peiris and Jayaratne shared five wickets apiece while spinner Emmanuel picked up two for 48.

The second day was dominated by Peiris and Jayaratne and they received the Man of the Match and Best All-rounder of the Match awards respectively at the presentation ceremony.

With four Sri Lanka U-19 players featuring in the St. Peter’s side, one would have expected them to sweep the board but Shehan Fernando denied them one award.

Coming to the match as a fresher, it was Shehan who set the stage for the historic victory when he cracked 83 runs in just 67 balls inclusive of eight fours and five sixes for Petes to post a commanding 293 runs in the first innings. He was awarded the Best Batsman of the match. Berenger took away the Best Fielder award for contributing for six dismissals in the match.

Chathuranga Kumara, who picked up five wickets in the first innings, was awarded the Best Bowler’s award.

The 76th big match saw Petes ending a long wait for a victory. Petes last won under the captaincy of Suraj Abeysekera in 1978 and there had been many formidable Petes’ outfits thereafter but finally it took to a SL U-19 captain to guide them to a win against Joes in their big match.

V. Jayasinghe c Berenger b Peiris 50

K. Perera run out (Berenger/Peiris) 00

E. Silva lbw Peiris 05

S. Samarasinghe c Peiris b Jayaratne 19

J. Jayasinghe c Berenger b Peiris 48

C. Kumara c Berenger b Peiris 00

R. Thattil b Emmanuel 05

S. Jayatilleke c & b Kannangara 02

D. Fonseka c Berenger b Kannangara 06

R. Vidanarachchi b Jayaratne 04

D. Dhambarage not out 00

Extras: (7b, 5w, 7nb) 19

Total: (all out) 158

Overs: 53

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-10, 3-55, 4-76, 5-93, 6-107, 7-117, 8-143, 9-151

Bowling: Peiris 17-4-37-4, Lahiru Jayaratne 13-1-49-2(5w), Perera 6-1-13-0(3n), Emmanuel 10-2-15-1, Kannangara 6-0-36-2(4n), A. Fernando 1-0-1-0

S. Samarawickrema b Peiris 00

K. Perera b Emmanuel 07

E. Silva c Perera b Jayaratne 46

J. Jayasinghe b Emmanuel 00

C. Kumara b Peiris 22

R. Thattill lbw Fernando 37

S. J’tilleke c S Fernando (sub) b J’ratne 00

D. Fonseka c Berenger b Hemantha 00

V. Jayasinghe run out 31

R. Vidanarachchi not out 15

D. Dhambarage b Peiris 02

Extras: (1b, 1lb, 2nb) 4

Overs: 48.5

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-20, 3-28, 4-69, 5-82, 6-82, 7-83, 8-147, 9-147

Bowling: Peiris 11.5-3-33-3, Jayaratne 9-4-19-2, Emmanuel 12-2-48-2, Perera 2-0-3-0, Hemantha 7-1-29-1, Kannangara 3-0-14-0(2n), A. Fernando 4-0-16-1

Angelo Emmanuel not out 15

Andri Berenger not out 17

Extras: (1b) 1

Overs: 8.5

Bowling: Dhambarage 4.5-0-23-0, Kumara 4-1-3-0

Umpires: A. Senanayake, N. Dhanasinghe