Nalanda beat Ananda by 09 wickets, 07th Big Match Win after 69 years for the School at Campbell Place

92nd Battle of the Maroons in Colombo – Maitland Place ( SSC Ground ), Colombo, Western Province – concluded on the 02nd day

Nalanda College put into bat, 289 / 9 dec – ( 61.2 Overs ) Vice Captain Chanul Athukorala 88 ( 3×6, 10×4, 89 balls ), Raveen De Silva 40, Skipper Dineth Samaraweera 33, Rusiru Vilochana 25, Yasiru Samarakoon 23, Vinuja Ranpul 23, Eranga Jayakody 23, Kushmitha Silva 17 – Rusiru / Yasiru involved in a 50 run opening stand, Raveen / Kushmitha put on 47 runs for the 04th wicket, Chanul / Eranga added 57 runs for the 07th wicket, Chanul / Dineth associated in a 75 run partnership for the 08th wicket – recovered from 148 / 6 – Shakthi Udara 5 / 90 – on debut big match – Pulindu Kiriella 3 / 57, Iruth Gimshan, Nushal Dharmarathne, Lakshitha Kularathne 02 catches each & 31 / 1 – ( 5.2 Overs ) Raveen De Silva 15no, Pulindu Kiriella 1 / 14, Mineth Premarathne 01 victim.

Ananda College in reply, 139 all out – ( 42.5 Overs ) Iruth Gimshan 70no ( 1×6, 7×4, 106 balls ), Shakthi Udara 21, Skipper Nethma Kularathne 16 – Iruth Gimshan / Pulindu Kiriella put on 35 runs for the 06th wicket, Iruth Gimshan / Shakthi Udara added 44 runs for the 08th wicket – lost the first 05 wickets for the addition of 35 runs, the last 03 wickets fell for the addition of 21 runs – 03 batters were dismissed without scoring, 03 others were dismissed lbw – Vinuja Ranpul 4 / 33, Raveen De Silva 3 / 33, Skipper Dineth Samaraweera 02 catches & forced to follow on 180 all out – ( 58 Overs ) Vice Captain Hansaja Jayasinghe 48, Lakshitha Kularathne 32, Mineth Premarathne 23, Tehaan Perera 17, Skipper Nethma Karunarathne 15, Nushal Dharmarathne 14, Shakthi Udara 14, Iruth Gimshan 10, Yehan Gunasinghe dismissed without scoring in both innings off the bowling of Vinuja Ranpul – Lakshitha / Mineth added 43 runs for the 03rd wicket, Hansaja / Shakthi put on 29 runs for the 06th wicket – lost the last 05 wickets for the addition of 47 runs – Raveen De Silva 4 / 80, Vinuja Ranpul 2 / 40, Rusiru Vilochana 02 victims.

Best Fielder : Nushal Dharmarathne – Ananda
Best Bowler : Vinuja Ranpul – Nalanda
Best Batter : Chanul Athukorala – Nalanda
Player of the Match : Raveen De Silva – Nalanda
Winners : Nalanda College – received the Dr. N M Perera Memorial Challenge Trophy

Ananda College :
Captain – Nethma Karunarathne
Coach – Tharanga Liyanapathirana
Teacher in Charge – Saman Hettiaarachchi
Prefects of Games – Jayasanka Unanthenna, A. Ranasinghe
Principal – Lal Dissanayake

Nalanda College :
Captain – Dineth Samaraweera
Head Coach – Prasanna Dahanayake
Teacher in Charge – Kapila Nandakumara
Prefect of Games – Jayasiri Marasinghe
Principal – Thilak Waththuhewa

The previous win for Nalanda College was in 1953, led by W W Silva. The losing captain was Henry Senevirathne. Ananda lead the series with 12 wins while Nalanda have recorded 07 victories.

Photos courtesy Indraratne Balasuriya