Nalanda College squad: Back row standing: Osanda Pamuditha, Thisara Dewdunu, Kushmitha Silva, Yasiru Samarakoon, Sadew Samarasinghe, Risath Jayarathne, Senesh Wijesinghe, Akesh Manorathne, Eranga Jayakody, Minod Caldera, Janula Indusara, Thimath Herath, Sathmina Serasinghe. Seated from left: Malinga Surappulige (head coach), Rusiru Vilochana, MMJ Marasinghe (Prefect of Games), Sajitha Vithanage (vice captain), Thilak Waththuhewa (principal), Chanul Athukorala (captain), SWNS Kumarihamy (deputy principal), Kapila Nandakumara (master in charge), Ruwan Dissanayake (assistant coach).
Two leading Buddhist schools Ananda College and Nalanda College are set to move into their 93rd Battle of the Maroons cricket encounter to be played on March 4 and 5 at the SSC ground and this time once again two school boys, old boys and all other spectators are expected an exciting finish at this annual encounter.
After a wait of 69 years, Nalanda beat Ananda at last year’s encounter. At present Ananda leads the series with 12 wins while Nalanda has seven wins under their belt and 73 matches have ended in draws.
The boys from Nalanda will be skippered by batsman Chanul Atukorala who is a fourth year coloursman while his well balanced team hope to repeat their performance this year too.
Nalanda team is coached by former Nalanda paceman Malinda Surappulige. Nalanda played 15 matches this season and won just two games against Dharmaraja and Dharmapala College Pannipitiya while the rest were drawn.
This season Nalanda’s Rusiru Vilochana scored 1192 runs with two centuries and seven half centuries and was the first batsman to reach the 1000 runs milestone while the other run makers were Sadew Samarasinghe (611), Yasiru Samarakoon (562) and Eranga Jayakody (505). Risiru Vilochana is the match winner and his batting skills gave confidence to team members.
The most successful bowler of Nalanda, Minod Caldera with 46 scalps is the highest wicket taker while Sajitha Withanage (39) and Janula Indusara (29) were also among the wickets and will pose a big challenge to Ananda side.
Nalanda College already produced several talented players to the National side while late Bandula Warnapura was the first Test captain as well as opening bowler and opening batter and this was very rare occasion for Sri Lanka cricket. Warnapura family created history as father Bandula (1971) and two sons Madura (2004), Madawa (2008) captained the Nalanda first X1 team.
Nelson Karunarathna (1929) and his son paceman Susantha Karunaratne (1978) captained the Nalanda side while Chandrasiri Weeradinghe (1957) and his son Kushan Weerasinghe (1983) led the Nalanda side. Shantha Pieris (1965) and his son Sukitha Pieris (2001) also led the Nalanda side.
The present National under 19 manager and former Sri Lanka player stylish fielder and batsman Jayantha Seneviratne later was lucky to coach the Nalanda side while his brother Palitha Seneviratne (1968/70) also represented the Nalanda side. The late Upali Mahanama (1959) and his two sons Devaka (1978/79) and Roshan (1982/85) represented College side and Roshan Mahanama was one time best fielder and a technically correct batter who also represented World Cup winning team in 1996 and later captained the National team. Asanka Gurusinghe the stylish left hander from Nalanda was a key member of the 1996 World Cup victory.
The ICC cricket panel umpire Kumar Dharmasena who is also a World Cup winning team member and present international umpire Prageeth Rambukwella are two distinguished Nalanda cricketers while Shanuka Dissanayake and Tharanga Dhammika presently very talented coaches at domestic club level. All three players Prageeth Rambukwella, Shanuka Dissanayake, Tharanga Dhammika were members of the Nalanda team which captained by Mahela Jayawardena who was the most successful Sri Lanka captain and presently renown coach and Sri Lanka Cricket coaches consultant. The present Sri Lanka Cricket President Shammi Silva and former President Thilanga Sumathipala are two very talented cricket administrators produced by Nalanda.
Meanwhile other talented cricketers Kaluperuma brothers Lalith and Sanath, Hemantha Devapriya, Keerthi Ranasinghe, Gamini Wickramasinghe, Chamara Dunusinghe, Shantha Kalawitigoda, late Anura Ranasinghe, late Sunil Jayasinghe, Yohan Gunasekera, Ashan Priyanjan, Ishara Amarasinghe are the proud Nalandians to represent National side. Raveen de Silva the National under 19 team former deputy skipper is also a product of Nalanda.
Nalandian Chandrasiri Weerasinghe who scored 444 runs in big matches is the highest scorer of the series while opener Shantha Kalawitigoda who scored 149not out was the highest individual scorer of this big match series in 1997. Nalandian Yohan Gunasekera had a fine figures of 8 for 32 in 1976 which was the best bowling figures of this big match series while late Anura Ranasinghe had 8 for 39 in 1975.
The individual performance by the cricketers are good but as a team Nalanda, Ananda have to play positive cricket to get a result. The coach Malinga Surappulige who had very successful coaching training at UK always backed the team and college Principal Thilak Wattuhewa who is the President of schools cricket Association, present boys and old boys are giving much needed support to the Nalanda side.
The limited overs match between the two schools for the late P. de S. Kularatne Trophy will be contested at the same venue on March 12 for the 46th time with Ananda leading the series with 26 wins while Nalanda has 15 wins.
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