Battle of the North three-day cricket encounter played between St. John’s College Jaffna and Jaffna Central College will be played for the 117th time in Jaffna starting from today (7) and throughout the next two days.
For the past 116 matches, St. John’s college have recorded 38 wins, while the Jaffna Central College have registered 29. Of the matches held, 41 have ended up as a draw with no wins for either team. While results of seven matches are not available and one match got abandoned. Central College won the match by 9 wickets last year being their latest, meanwhile St. John’s have registered their latest victory in 2022.
In general, it can be mentioned that, this time, both teams are looking strong and equally balanced in terms of experience and based on performance this season. Both squads comprise seven players who have been part of the playing XI in the last encounter.
This time, in the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association's one-day tournament, the Jaffna Central College became joint-champions of Division-2 Tier-B, and St. John’s advanced to the semifinals of Division 2 Tier-A yet failed to qualify for finals as the match was washed out.
It’s important to mention that Vijayakanth Vyaskanth, who is showcasing his talents and skills in the LPL ILT20 series; Murfin Abinash, the Best bowler award winner of the recently concluded Major club 50-overs tournament; and Best Bowler of last year's under-23 Major club tournament, Theesan Vithusan. All these players have played Battle of the North representing their college. Viyas and Vithusan represented Jaffna Central while Abinash represented St. John’s.
Jaffna Central College
This is the first season for Jaffna Central in Division 2, As they earned long-expected promotion by winning the division 3 tournament last year.
Since winning the last edition of Battle of the North, grabbing back the trophy from St. John’s, Jaffna Central is consistently performing well. They were able to win the division 3 championship and recently became joint-champions in division 2, tier B one-day tournament.
For the big match, Central College opening batsman Nishanthan Ajay is leading the side. He has already scored a century and 10 fifties in the season. Batsman Sayanthan will be his deputy. Newton, last encounter’s man of the match, who identified himself as a left-arm fast bowler, has now established himself as an excellent all-rounder by developing his batting abilities. Apart from them, leg-spin bowler Paruthi and left-arm spinner Thison will be leading the bowling attack along with Newton.
Apart from them, the team's wicket-keeper Simlton, all-rounder Anusanth, middle-order batsman Abilash, debut player Sinthujan can be expected as an opening batsman, and fast-bowling all-rounder Kevin Derickson are the players to look forward to in the middle.
Their strong middle-order batting lineup and bowling unit are the strength for Jaffna central.
Kulendran Shelton is the coach for Jaffna Central College team. He managed Central's most recent victory in battle last year and led the team to win the Division 3 championship and subsequently led the team to become the Join-champions in the Division 2 Tier-B tournament this season.
St. John’s College, Jaffna
St. John’s had progressed to the semifinals in the one-day tournament of Division 2 (Tier-A), unfortunately the match was washed out due to rain, and St. John’s couldn’t qualify to the finals based on average points. The team is performing well in the tournament compared to their recent performances.
Ebenezer, Sachin Ganapathy, Ashnath, Graeme Smith, and Kinthusan are well experienced and looking forward to represent their college team for the fifth year. St. John’s is led by Ebenezer Jazial. The vice-captain of the team Sachin Ganapathy is their key batsman and he has already scored two centuries this season.
St. John’s bowling is led by left-arm spinner Ashnath and left-arm fast bowler Kajakarnan. In addition, Samson and Mathulan are capable of opening their career as bowlers. Samson is a left arm orthodox bowler while Mathulan a fast bowler with slinging action who could generate good pace.
Wicket-keeper Graeme Smith and spin bowling all-rounders Kinthusan, Randiyo and fast bowling all rounder Kavishan, who can contribute in both fields, add strength to the team whenever required.
The team is fielding a new opening couple this season, with Anusanth and Abhijoysanth starting the partnership. Among them, Abhijoysanth has already scored a century in the season.
St. John’s team is coached by Padmanathan Lavendra. He has been coaching the side since 2011. In between (2017-2018) he worked as a district coach. It is also noteworthy that he is the one who promoted the senior team of the college from Division 3 to Division 2 as the first team in the North.