118th Battle of the North: St. John's emerges victorious for second time

St. John's College team and supporters celebrate the victory. Pix: Northeastern Monitor/I. Sivashanthan

St. John's College, Jaffna team won the 118th "Battle of the North" big match against Jaffna Central College (JCC) by five wickets (8) held at the JCC grounds today sealing its victory consecutively for the second year. 

With this year's voctory, St. John's College continues to lead by a margin of 40 : 29 matches.

Captain of St Johns College team Jeyachandran Ashnath all round play along with half century secured by Raymon Anushanth played a key role sealing the victory of the team. 

St. John's team started off their second innings this morning, the third day of the tournament, with a target of 93 runs as the winning target in this year's tournament. The team won after the lunch break by scoring 93 runs at loss of 5 wickets.

Udayanan Abhijoyshanth scored 33 runs and Jayachandran Ashnath scored 29 runs without losing a wicket.

On the third day of innings today, Jaffna Central College had resumed its 2nd innings from 135 runs for the loss of 8 wickets, along with an additional 7 runs while losing the last 2 wickets.

Special Awards

Best Batsman: Rayman Anusant (St. John's)

Best Bowler: Jayachandran Ashnath (St. John's)

Best Fielder: Anton Niroshan Abhishek (Jaffna Central College)

Best All-rounder: Ranjithkumar Newton (Jaffna Central College)

Best Wicketkeeper: Kirupakaran Sanjuthan (St. John's)

Man of the Match: Jayachandran Ashnath (St. John's)

The summary of the results of the tournament, which began last Thursday (06) and concluded today(8) as follows:-

Jaffna Central College team: 1st innings: All out 131 (Anton Nireshan Abhishek 27, Ranjithkumar Newton 24, Sathakaran Simildon 24, Matheeswaran Karthikan 15, Jayachandran Ashnath 38 - 5 wickets, Murfin Rendio 25 - 2 wickets, Kukathas Mathulan 27 - 2 wickets, Nageshwaran Krishan 6 - 1 wicket)

St. Jones College team: 1st innings: All out 181 (Reman Anusant 86, Jayachandran Ashnath 29, Kirubakaran Sanjuthun 22, Murfin Rendio 20, John Arnold 11, Ranjithkumar Newton 62 - 5 wickets, Murali Dison 47 - 2 wickets, Thakutas Abhilash 15 - 1 wicket)

Jaffna Central College team: 2nd innings - All out 142 (Sudhakaran Simildon 34, Thakutas Abhilash 28, Ganesalingam Madhusudhan 17, Murali Dison 16, Wigneswaran Paruthi 13 A.I., Jayachandran Ashnath 54 - 3 wickets, Kukathas Mathulan 17 - 2 wickets, Udhayanan Abhijoyshanth 5 - 1 wicket,, Murphin Rendio 34 - 1 wicket.)

St. John's College team: (Target to win 93 runs) 2nd innings: 93 - 5 wickets;. (Uthayanan Abhijoyshanth 33, Jayachandran Ashnath 29 ODI, Murfin Rendio 11, John Nethenia 11, Murali Dison 29 - 2 wickets, Ranjithkumar Newton 37 - 2 wickets, Thakutas Abhilash 11 - 1 wicket)-- (Pixs and reporting by I. Sivashanthan)