The 3rd annual encounter between Wesley College Colombo and St. Benedict’s College Colombo played for the James Cartman Trophy is all set to kick off today at the P. Sara Stadium.
Despite the fact that the annual encounter is still in its infancy, the two schools share a cricketing heritage of over 126 years. The two teams first met on the cricketing field way back in 1896. Despite such a long history in school cricket, the two teams decided to begin an annual encounter in 2021. The Cup is yet to be owned by either of the teams as both previous games ended in draws.
The two sides are also set to face each other for the Luke Shield in a limited over encounter on 25 March at the SSC Grounds. Currently Bens hold the trophy after winning the encounter in 2022 by 32 runs under the captaincy of Pasan Suwahas.
The Benedictines have the edge over Wesley, having got the better of them during their U19 Division I Tier A quarterfinal.
Wesley College is led by fourth year player Linal Subasinghe who is the younger brother of former hard hitting Wesleite batter Movin Subasinghe. Linal has struck over 450 runs including six half centuries.
Their leading run scorer this season is Sanithu Amarasinghe who has scored 484 runs with the best score of 91. Amarasinghe also has played a couple of games in the ongoing U23 Club Tournament. Lakshan Sudarshana and Uvin Perera are the other two key batters in the side.
In the bowling department, Uvin Perera led the list with 29 wickets. Shakesh Minon and Skipper Subasinghe have chipped in with 27 and 24 wickets each. Keerthi Gunaratne is the head coach of Wesley while Wasantha Kasthuriarachchi is the Master in Charge. They have two Assistant coaches in Shanuka Jeewantha and Kavindana Perera.
St. Benedict’s is led by fourth year coloursman Chamath Chathurya. Skipper has taken 40 wickets this season leading from the front. The key player in the side is none other than Sharujan Shanmuganathan who has scored 904 runs this season. He has four half centuries and two centuries under his name with a top score of 160 against St. Servatius College.
Second in the list is the big-hitting Shenel Samaratunga who has scored 575 runs with four half centuries and two centuries. Apart from skipper Chathurya, Mevan Dissanaike is the highest wicket taker with 47 wickets. Mevan’s brother Sheran is also included in the squad. Pemlal Fernando is the Head Coach while Rev. Fr. Dilshan Vimukthi is the Prefect of Games. Madushanka Kularathne is the Assistant Coach.
Source By the morning.lk
