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Two equally good teams St. Joseph's and St. Peter's College will battle it out for supremacy in the 65th annual 'Battle of the Saints' cricket encounter which begins at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium today.

Both teams are studded with some talented players and are determined to prove themselves in this important encounter. In addition this game has great significance for both teams as they are also in contention for the 'A' Division title of the Elephant Lemonade Cup tournament.

The two teams have recorded five victories each and they will be hoping to conclude the season with an impressive performance. But a result is very unlikely as the teams are packed with some fine stroke makers who are capable of making a big score.

Even then the Josephians should have a slight advantage mainly because of their penetrative bowling attack. Skipper Roshan de Silva and Ishan Hettiarachchi will spearhead their pace attack with leg spinner Dinraj Fernando and left arm spinner Anouk de S. Wijeratne adding variety into their attack.

The Peterites of course will be depending on the left arm spinner Chryshantha Peiris who is probably their key player in the side. He has turned out to be a genuine matchwinner and has played a dominant role in their success this year. In addition skipper Dilshan Rupasinghe, Amal Samsudeen and Nirmal de Silva all will be hoping to contain the strong Josephian batting line up.

Of the 64 encounters St. Joseph's have won 11, St. Peter's 7 with 46 matches left drawn. The Peterites recorded their last victory in the series in 1978 under the leadership of Suraj Abeysekera while the Josephians registered their previous victory in 1972 under the captaincy of Rohan Fernando.

The teams:

St. Joseph's (from): Roshan de Silva (captain), Johannas Jayasuriya (vice captain), Dilan Ramanayake, Ishan Hettiarachchi, Dilanka Perera, Dinraj Fernando, Dhanuka Pathirana, Anouk de S. Wijeratne, Sanka Rupasinghe, Glen Perera, Asanga Fernando, Dilshan Perumal, Prageeth Rajasuriya, Sandakelum Rodrigo, Suren Perera.

St. Peter's (from): Dilshan Rupasinghe (captain), Mahesh Perera, Chryshantha Peiris, Suranga Pinto, Sean Gunasekera, Angelo Fonseka, Kaushan Lokuarachchi, Amal Samsudeen, Nirmal de Silva, Gavin Lodewyke, Jehan Jayasuriya, Shenal Fernando, Bilendra Pathiraj, Sudeep Perera, Malin Silva.