Ananda Team

Two of Sri Lanka’s leading Buddhist institutions Ananda and Nalanda will come out once again when they clash for the 81st time in their annual Battle of the Maroons encounter for the Sujeewa Kamalsooriya trophy to be played on March 6 and 7 at the SSC ground.

Kamalsooriya was an outstanding sportsman of Ananda who led the cricket team in the year 1983. He met with a tragic death during the tsunami disaster that devastated Sri Lanka in 2004. With the Anandians having last won the encounter under the captaincy of Daminda Kularatne in 2003 the Nalandians on the other hand will go all out to break the 56 year old jinx of having tasted their last win way back in 1953 under the leadership of W.W. Silva.

The two teams this time are well balanced with both the teams coming into the game with a clean record of not having lost a match this season. Ananda have played 17 matches so far winning three against Dharmasoka, Zahira and Dharmaraja while Nalanda has played 18 matches and has a better winning record than their rivals.

They have played 18 matches winning five against Isipathana, Mahanama, Joseph Vaz, Thurstan and Lumbini MV. The performances of the two teams seem that the Nalandians have the edge over their rivals.
Ananda this year is led by Mateesha Perera with Madumal Jayaratne as his deputy. Mateesha has five other senior players in Geshan Wimaladharma, Sachin Dewage, Udesh Nadiranga, Ruvinda Shamen and Sachitra Perera at his disposal.

Nalanda this year is led by Dinuk Jayasinghe who will have players in the calibre of Nipun Karunanayake, Adeesha Nanayakkara, Prashan Wickremasinghe, Suranga Tennekoon and Sineth Gunawardena to guide them.

Nalanda will no doubt pin their hopes on Nipun who led the side last year. He has been in prolific form with the bat having crossed the 1000 runs mark. The other batsmen who are expected to do well are Adeesha skipper Dinuk, Prashan and Suranga TennekoonThe bowling will be spearheaded by skipper Dinuk who has taken 80 wickets this season along with Nipun, Suranga, Adeesha and Koshan Dhanushka who are capable to combine and curtail the Anandians.

Ananda’s batting will revolve around three players spearheaded by Sachin Dewage who is their top scorer this season and Geshan Wimaladharma who are the two centurions of the side along with Madumal. Udesh and Ravindu too are hard hitters.

From the 80 matches that have been played so far Ananda are in the lead with 14 wins against six to Nalanda with the rest drawn. But in most of the big matches the underdogs have fared better than the fancied side.

It all points to an interesting battle with the Anandians hoping to finish off the season on a winning note and record their second win after within six years and with the Nalandians aiming to break the 56 year old jinx.

Nalanda Team