A demonstration in which several players including Sunanda Jayasekara – who set a unique record in the first 50-over cricket match held between St. Peter’s College (SPC), Bambalapitiya and St. Joseph’s College (SJC), Colombo in 1975 – is scheduled to be held in conjunction with the 50th match to be held on 06 April, 2024, bringing back fond and victorious memories of half a century.
The administration and other stakeholders of both schools decided to hold a 50-over one-day cricket match between the two schools. The inaugural 50-over match was held on 16 March, 1975 at the SJC Grounds in Colombo. The SPC and SJC cricket teams were captained by Bernard Wijetunga and Thushan Soyza, respectively. The SJC team won the toss and decided to bat first.
In this historical match very first ball of the new series was bowled by famous Peterite fast bowler Sunanda Jayasekara, and the history was made when Josephian opening batsman Rohan Wijesinghe (Snr.) was out for a rising out swinger caught at the first slip by SC Roshan Fernando. With this sensational start, Josephines were on the back foot and were all out for 118 runs. This was recorded both locally and internationally as an event when a player was dismissed from the very first ball of an inaugural cricket match. Jayasekara also captured the last wicket of the same inning, dismissing SJC’s hard-hitting batsman Wayne Jansz for 28 runs. The SPC won the match with five wickets spare.
Commemorating the memory of this victory, a demonstration is scheduled to be held in conjunction with the 50th SPC and SJC one-day cricket match to be held on 6 April, 2024, in which several players who participated in the 1975 match, including Jayasekara, Wijesinghe and Fernando, will participate.