The 85th Battle of the Saints Inter-School Big Match between traditional rivals St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s College ended in a high scoring draw at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo yesterday.

The hero on the second day was Peterite batsman Santhush Gunathilake who smashed an unbeaten 161 to join a list of centurions in the Big Match series. 

Gunathilake of course, came into the crease at a vital stage of the innings when his team were in a spot of bother.  
 
However, with Kanishka Maduwantha joining him, the pair were able to rescue the side from danger with an unfinished century partnership.
  
As a result, St. Peter’s went on to amass a formidable 317 for six wickets in their second innings while making some amends for their first innings batting debacle.  

Earlier, St. Joseph’s put themselves in a strong position by building up a good first innings lead of 67 runs thanks to some useful contributions from Dineth Jayakody (77), Dilesh Perera (62), Johanne De Zilva (45) and Shevon Fonseka (37).

The Joes were of course, well placed to reach a much bigger total in their first innings but they completely lost their way on the second day due to some accurate bowling from Ranmith Jayasena (2/33), Kanishka Maduwantha (2/51) and Tariq Saboor (2/51).  

St. Peter’s: 219 and 317/6 (Santhush Gunathilake 161 n.o, Kanishka Maduwantha 89 n.o, Shannon Fernando 25, Ashen Daniel 2/65)

St. Joseph’s: 286/8 declared (Dineth Jayakody 77, Dilesh Perera 62, Johanne De Zilva 45, Shevon Fonseka 37, Ranmith Jayasena 2/33, Kanishka Maduwantha 2/51, Tariq Saboor 2/51).