HAUNTS NALANDA
Under 19 Division two semi-final
Two of Sri Lanka’s leading Buddhist institutions Ananda College and Nalanda College will confront each other in their annual Battle of the Maroons encounter scheduled to be played today and tomorrow at the SSC grounds with play commencing at 9.30am on each day.
This traditional clash between the two schools will be the 87th in the series played for the Sujeewa Kamalsooriya Trophy in honour of Kamalsooriya who excelled in sports at Ananda and led the cricket team in 1983.
Kamalsooriya met with his tragic death during the 2004 Tsunami disaster which devastated Sri Lanka and part of Asia.
The last result of the series was recorded by Ananda in the year 2003 when the side was led by Daminda Kulatunge while Nalanda has not been able to achieve a win for 62 years since their last win way back in 1953 under the leadership W.W. Silva.
However this time the battle between the Maroons is going to be a closely contested affair as both teams are evenly balanced and the final outcome is not that easy to predict. But as mentioned it’s high time that the Nalandians put in a positive approach to break the over 60 year’s drought of not having won the game.
Looking back at the performances of the two sides the Anandians led by fourth year coloursman Nisal Fransiso has played 14 matches so far recording three outright wins against Bandaranayake MV Gampaha, Dharmasoka MV Ambalangoda and Dharmaloka MV Kelaniya but their unbeaten record was tarnished when they lost to Trinity College, Kandy.
Nalanda led by third year player Dasun Seneviratne played 17 matches securing three outright wins against Thurstan College, Rahula College, This traditional clash between the two schools will be the 87th in the series played for the Sujeewa Kamalsooriya Trophy in honour of Kamalsooriya Matara and D.S. Senanayake College, Colombo but losing outright to Richmond College and S. Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia - both very badly.
Ananda have in their side two centurions in Kavishka Anjula and Kamesh Nirmal, both have scored two tons each. Kavishka is their top run getter this season having scored over 675 runs is a good all-rounder having taken over 40 scalps and is going to be one of the main players.
Skipper Nisal is the other batsman for the Nalandians to take a note of. He has scored over 600 runs inclusive of six half tons and will have the services of Sri Lanka youth player and captain of the side last year, Sammu Ashan. Sammu who was unable to play the full season due to national duties is a hard hitter and an experience player is expected to make a valuable contribution. Centurion Kamesh along with Asel Sigera, Kalana Perera, Rahal Avishka, Nipun Hakgalla and Supun Waragoda’s contributions will be expected to bolster the Ananda scoring.
The bowling will be spearheaded by their top bowler Dileepa Jayalath who has captured over 60 scalps this season with Kavishka and Supun Waragoda’s support being looked forward to curtail the Nalanda batting.
Nalanda have two centurions in Kasun Sandaruwan and Suhanga Wijewardena who has played only eight matches this season. But they will be pinning their hopes on skipper Dasun to lead them from the front.
Dasun has scored over 500 runs and Kasun is the other batsman to have scored over 500 runs and the duo have a fight on their hands to bolster the sides’ score to give some much needed confidence to the others. Malinga Amarasinghe last year’s captain along with Nimnaka Ratnayake, Dilan Suraweera, Kavindu Bandara, Thinura Hettiarachchi and Aroshan Kumara are the other batsmen expected to perform well.
The Nalnda bowling will revolve around, their top wicket-taker and deputy skipper Kavindu Bandara who has taken 93 wickets this season including six five wicket hauls and is expected to be supported by Dilan Suraweera, Ayantha de Silva, Asel Kulatunga, Nimnaka and Malinga
As mentioned earlier with the two sides being evenly balanced it’s left to be seen whether Nalanda could break the 62-year-old jinx or if Ananda will be able to achieve victory after 12 years or if the game will end in another deadlock.