‘Evening of Appreciation’ by Nalanda PCA
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(From left): Chinthaka Ranaweera (President, OBA), Kusal de Silva (Treasurer), Jayanath Seram (Chief Organiser), Thilak Waththuhewa (Principal), Nihal Pathirage (President, PCA), Palinda Samarasinghe, Upul Gamage (Head of Technical Committee), Dimantha Mathew (Secretory NJOBA), Chandrien de Mel (ONSC)
The Past Cricketers Association (PCA) of Nalanda College organised ‘Evening of Appreciation’ of individuals and associations who contributed to Nalanda cricket in recent past. Sri Lankan cricket legend Mahela Jayawardena was the chief guest. Among those who were felicitated was old boy Palinda Samarasinghe, who has contributed immensely to uplift cricket in Nalanda. Samarasinghe still continues to support cricket at Nalanda.
The Nalanda PCA, headed by Nihal Pathirage, a former captain of the school’s cricket team, also recognised the contributions made by other associations of the school, namely, the Old Boys Association, Nalanda Junior Old Boys Association and Old Nalandians Sports Club.
“Cricket was facing a decline at Nalanda in the recent years. Nalanda is well known to have produced world class cricketers such as Mahela Jayawardena, Roshan Mahanama and even
Sri Lanka’s first Test cricket captain Bandula Warnapura. As old boys who love our alma mater, we made a Distinguished old boys, former cricketers and the big match winning first XI cricket team of Nalanda, who emerged victorious against traditional rivals Ananda College at the annual Battle of the Maroons after six decades and members of the staff were also present at the special event held at the SSC last Wednesday.
(From left): Kusal de Silva (Treasurer), Manjula Narangoda (Secretory), Upul Gamage ,Jayanath Seram, Palinda Samarasinghe, Nihal Pathirage (President, PCA), Thilak Waththuhewa (Principal), Mahela Jayawardena, Gihan Weerasinghe, Dimantha Mattew (Secretory NJOBA), Chandrien de Mel (ONSC), Sisira Kumarasena (Curator)